I'm going on a half-day chartered boat ocean fishing off of Sarasota, FL in a few days.
The fishing company says the major target is tarpon, a beautiful silver fish. There are also red snapper, snook, cobia, king mackerel, yellow fin and others. Apparently, the greatest prize is a Mahi Mahi, but they are very rare, as TugBoatCap mentioned in another thread.
Ive never been ocean fishing, only lake and river fishing. Hopefully we won't be attacked by sharks or barracuda.
Does anyone have some fishing tales of glory, or any advice for me?
Billfishes are awesome, just released them when you have done your business, there are less and less year after year.
GULF Fishing. Ocean fishing would be on the East Coast of Florida. There is a big difference and if you say Ocean while on the Gulf and a native hears you, you will be corrected!
Actually, Dolphin/Mahi Mahi are not rare at all! You just have to pick when it's been very calm offshore and a good grassline or trashline has formed. Mahi Mahi like to hang out under stuff in the shade. VERY good to eat and a blast to catch on light tackle.
King Mackerel usually run on the outter sandbar that forms near shore in the Gulf and trolling along that bar will usually result in at least one good size King during season.
Yellow Fin Tuna you catch around reefs and wrecks, usually in 50+ of water. Snapper you also catch in these same areas.
Wahoo and Cobia also like to run around grasslines and you catch most of them trolling along the line or over a good sized wreck.
Never been a big fan of Tarpon.
As far as Billfish are concerned, he won't be catching any off of Sarasota unless they go WAY out. The 50 fathom curve is nearly 200 miles out from Sarasota and you usually don't catch Billfish in less than 300+ feet of water. The reason the Pensacola/Destin, FL area is so popular for Billfishing is that the 50 Fathom curve comes in to about 75 miles offshore, the closest point in the US on the Gulf of Mexico.
Tugboat"Fishing Offshore of Pensacola Since I was 7"Cap!
Awesome info TBC!
GULF fishing. Got it. now I'll sound like a local hopefully!
You sure know tons about this stuff!
Did you ever think about getting a little 22 foot boat, starting a charter service for the tourists, and becoming an offshore fishing captain?
I know I'd hire you as captain and fishing guide!
My brother and I already own a 42' Hatteras Sportfish that never gets used. We keep it rent free at my Family's Marina in Pensacola and it gets used maybe 2-3 times a year. It was a trade-in from my family's Yacht business back before I left Pensacola and he and I decided to keep it. Where I currently live is about 3 hours from there. My brother doesn't have any excuse, he still lives in Pensacola! LOL!
We fished the heck out if it in the 90's, not so much in the early 2000's and now we keep it hauled out on the yard until one of us decides we're going to use it and he gets it put into the water a few days before we use it. We completely rebuilt it in 2011 and I've been out on it twice since. With things finally settling down at work and my hiring more help for our department, I'm going to make sure I use it more next spring!
Every time we go out though, we go through a case of fuel filters because of the algae that grows in the fuel tanks, even though we've treated the fuel.
In fact, I'm heading there tomorrow to go out fishing this weekend, before my shoulder surgery next week takes me out for the rest of fishing season...
Tugboat"Not looking forward to Rotator Cuff Reattachment Surgery"Cap!
Sounds like great times!
As I live on the atlantic coast/eastern seaboard to be precise, ocean fishing is part of my heritage, my way of life. GULF FISHING? That's for pussies!! If you're not facing the harsh North Atlantic Ocean and 30 foot seas, you've got it easy!!!
Hey Bone, tell that to Ernest Hemingway after he landed a 600-lb blue marlin off of Key West!
Lol now who will venture to the Beaufort sea off Antarctica and the 200 mph gusts?
Well, it was somewhat of a disappointment.
We only caught grouper, a tiny shark and some small snapper. We had to throw back 80% of our catches because they were too small. We did get to keep some grouper and we took it to a local restaurant and they fried it up for us. It was good eating. But still, it was quite an adventure, and it was awesome to be out on the water.
Nice. Now you got me wanting to charter a boat and go deep sea fishing.
First, I LOVE the Atlantic when it's rough after being in the Gulf. The wave frequency is a much longer waveform than the Gulf Of Mexico which has a much shorter wavelength/waves closer together. Try taking a boat built for the Atlantic in the same height waves in the Gulf and you'll be beat to death and wet in the Gulf where you ride much smoother and dryer in the Atlantic. I've been out in the Gulf in 18'-24' seas in a 100' ocean going tug in 90mph winds and I don't intend on ever doing it again!
Ricky, it sounds as though they must have put you on a small wreck near shore. How big was the Grouper? I hope over about 40lbs. so it was fun! Too bad about the Snapper. GOOD EAT'N FISH!
When I was about 18, I "accidentally" hooked a 150' Black Grouper one time off the stern of a tugboat while we waiting for high tide at the Sea Buoy off St. Marks, FL in 15' of water on fairly light tackle and it just about killed us before we got that damn thing aboard. The fight took so long, we almost missed the tide going into the St. Marks River with our barge! LOL! (working for my family, I would have been in some kind of trouble if we had to wait 12 hours until the next high tide because I wanted to land that fish...LOL!)
Tugboat"I used to take at least two fishing poles/rigs with me everywhere I went on a boat when I was younger"Cap!
Yes, JS, you should try it! It is an adventure.
To answer TugBoatCap, the grouper was small, by your standards. It was probably only 8-10 pounds, about 30 inches long. It was good eatin', for sure.
I'd love to live near the ocean. I'd try to get my own boat and go fishing a lot. It is a rare day when you go fishing and don't have fun. You might not catch anything, but it is time well spent, 90% of the time.[/quote]