Deep Sea Fishing

[waterdog101]

Where at? FYI, to make ya feel better, it doesn't matter how far you go out, its the weather that counts most. Been off shore Cape Hatteras on a dead calm day water was near glass most of the way out and in. Couple rollers near shore and at the jetties. By contrast, been on Lake Erie, just 2 miles off shore, and flet like it was an episode of Deadliest Catch.

Good luck, hey and share some pics!

hey man, I went yesterday deep sea fishing, it was out of ft myers, from the getaway marina on captian tonys boat. I met some of the nices guys ever, we went out 24 miles, couldn't see anything but water. they took up 2 dollars each for whoever caught the largest single fish. a 25 inch grouper won the big fish pool. most of the fish that were being caught were grunt fish. I caught 5 fish. it was fun but I thought the fish would be of better size. but over all it was a fun trip. didn't take any pictures the fish were to small.

[artcarney_agr]

hey man, I went yesterday deep sea fishing, it was out of ft myers, from the getaway marina on captian tonys boat. I met some of the nices guys ever, we went out 24 miles, couldn't see anything but water. they took up 2 dollars each for whoever caught the largest single fish. a 25 inch grouper won the big fish pool. most of the fish that were being caught were grunt fish. I caught 5 fish. it was fun but I thought the fish would be of better size. but over all it was a fun trip. didn't take any pictures the fish were to small.

If you're bottom fishing, the average size tends to be small, but the numbers are usually really good!

I've been offshore of Islamorada several times, and we did well on grouper, grunts, and bluerunner bottom/reef fishing. Grunts are something you can catch from pier near shore - I stayed in a beachfront house while in Islamorada that had a pier/boat dock. In the evenings it was nothing to load up on 50+ grunts in a matter of an hour or so...they are almost like the bluegill of the sea, next to the pinfish. We only had to go maybe 5 or 10 miles, if that, offshore to get to some decent grouper fishing. On one trip, I asked the crew if there was a way to skip the bottom fishing and just cast live bait off the side for some schooling fish...they allowed me to do that and I was able to hook up on some great king mackerel!

On the gulf side, you really do have to go out far to get to good reef fishing - those continental shelves go way out and it takes forever to get to deeper water. I went offshore several times out of Crystal River, FL and we had to go 40 miles out to get to some good reefs...but it was worth it in that the grouper and red snapper were plentiful and huge!

Congrats on the grouper! Those make some of the best fish sandwiches!!!

Any word on the King Mackerel there in Fort Walton? I always enjoyed walking the docks in the late afternoon as guys were coming in to see what the catch of the day was. That also helped me decide who to go out with the next day or what species to try and target.

[RoadToad]

Glad you had an enjoyable trip! I'm from Delaware, and I've done a lot of ocean fishing, but I don't know how much you'd call "deep-sea." Does 75' or so qualify? The charter boats I go on just go after whatever's in season: flounder, tautog, or sea bass mostly. But you never know what someone's going to pull up, like a sand shark, a skate, an oyster cracker, or God knows what else! That's a lot of the fun, trying to identify the strange things people catch sometimes.

[sweetwater]

Glad you had an enjoyable trip! I'm from Delaware, and I've done a lot of ocean fishing, but I don't know how much you'd call "deep-sea." Does 75' or so qualify? The charter boats I go on just go after whatever's in season: flounder, tautog, or sea bass mostly. But you never know what someone's going to pull up, like a sand shark, a skate, an oyster cracker, or God knows what else! That's a lot of the fun, trying to identify the strange things people catch sometimes.

Technically deep sea would have to be 1000 fathoms (6000 feet) or deeper. Since it is impossible to fish that deep with conventional equipment the term deep-sea fishing would be a oxymoron. A more commonly used term at least in the south part of the country would be offshore fishing. I hear the term blue-water fishing sometimes but that usually refers to the pelagic species.