deep sea fishing in florida

[kirks5oh]

my buddy's 32 foot boston whaler. he bought it new about a year and a half ago, when he decided his 23 footer wasn't big enough. full compliment of electronics, fish finders, radar, every safety option, etc etc.

twin mercury 300's.

heading out to sea, like a boss. we usually go to the farthest spot out and work our way back--we're going about 60 miles out, and 150-175 ft depth. you have to go far out at this point in the gulf, to get to deep water

first catch--american red snapper, big one. we nailed a few of these the first day

large gag grouper---too bad they're out of season. this would have been an awesome keeper

this was the first day's take--not too bad. several american red snappers, a red grouper, and some smaller mangrove snappers

 

[kirks5oh]

day number 2---actually 2 days later. target, again, is a different spot 60+ miles out. first couple casts brought some small, non-keeper red groupers, and a few large gag-groupers (out of season). then i nailed this beast. probably 40lbs?? its an amberjack. unfortunately, out of season at this point.

our buddy mikey also nailed this large red snapper at the same time. doing my best impression of a troll face while he flexes like a jackass

then it was his turn to nail an amberjack. they don't call these 'reef donkeys' for no reason. they're a bitch to pull in. eventually we had to switch spots, as we were only pulling these bad boys up. we ended up leaving another spot that was riddled with barracudas--yeah, they look cool, but they kill anything you bring to the surface--you end up pulling a fishhead out of the water.

our second-to-last spot was a gold mine. we nailed red grouper after red grouper. we had 3 over 18lbs, and one was over 20lbs. we got 14 red groupers, 5 red snappers, 2 trigger fish, and several mangrove and lane snappers. keep in mind when you look at the picture below, that red groupers (the middle two rows) have to be over 20" to keep. we had an insane amount of fish

took us nearly 2 hours to fillet the fish. we probably had/have over 60lbs of fillets. crazy. you can see this pic was at 8pm, before we started filleting. both days we went out at 6:15am, and came back around 8pm. depending on how rough the seas are, it might be a 2 hour ride each way, just to get out to the spots. we froze all the fish and split it up

 

[paintless302]

looks like you guys had a great time, i've never been fishing in my life but the chaps at the office never seem to shut up about it

 

[04sleeper]

Damn. That looked like fun!

 

[mdever12]

Looks like a blast! Biggest thing i've ever caught was a 3 1/2 ft bonnethead shark :sleeping:

 

[NastyGT500]

Nice day! Beautiful boat! Looks like you guys had a great time!

 

[Grimster]

i went deep sea fishing in Maui,HI a month ago. we fished for 6 hours and didnt catch a damn thing! I'm jealous of your haul

 

[f ê r]

NICE! Im a Marine Biologist so I love the Sea and fishing is one of my fav parts too! Glad you guys respected the closed season on some fishes and their size limits! :beer:

 

[kirks5oh]

NICE! Im a Marine Biologist so I love the Sea and fishing is one of my fav parts too! Glad you guys respected the closed season on some fishes and their size limits! :beer:

my buddy is a safety, neat-freak. takes us hours to clean the boat. we all get the proper fishing licenses, life jackets, safety equipment, etc. he knows every fish that's open and what's not--we actually plan the trips around what's open and what's not. we take a captain each time just to have another experienced hand on board, and so we can learn new spots. even when the captain says its a keeper, my buddy has to measure it--lol. most of the red groupers at that distance are keepers by a fair amount. he's on the florida sportsman forum just like i'm on the car forums--when the fishing bug bites, it bites. the boat, the gear, all that stuff--$$$$$

we'll be back once amberjacks open up, as well as the gag's.:rockon:

 

[VirtualSVT]

so very very nice.

Nice catches.

 

[haz-matt]

Badass boat and a badass trip! 2 merc 300's? I bet that set him back quite a few!

 

[94cobramike]

OP,

in your second picture of your second day of fishing, the red snapper fish your buddy is holding............... what is in it's mouth??

 

[CGCobra]

my buddy is a safety, neat-freak. takes us hours to clean the boat. we all get the proper fishing licenses, life jackets, safety equipment, etc. he knows every fish that's open and what's not--we actually plan the trips around what's open and what's not. we take a captain each time just to have another experienced hand on board, and so we can learn new spots. even when the captain says its a keeper, my buddy has to measure it--lol. most of the red groupers at that distance are keepers by a fair amount. he's on the florida sportsman forum just like i'm on the car forums--when the fishing bug bites, it bites. the boat, the gear, all that stuff--$$$$$

we'll be back once amberjacks open up, as well as the gag's.:rockon:

Nice catch .. Just for your next trip the trigger fish are out of season in the Gulf until jan 2013

 

[kirks5oh]

Badass boat and a badass trip! 2 merc 300's? I bet that set him back quite a few!

he traded in his 2 year old 23' whaler on this one. was going to get the 28' boat, but decided to go with the 32' one. yeah, i couldn't imagine spending that kind of money on a boat, just like he doesn't understand why i have so many cars. you could buy a nice house for that kind of money

 

[kirks5oh]

OP,

in your second picture of your second day of fishing, the red snapper fish your buddy is holding............... what is in it's mouth??

it grips the fish's mouth, allowing you to hold it up, and has a built-in scale to weigh it.

 

[kirks5oh]

Nice catch .. Just for your next trip the trigger fish are out of season in the Gulf until jan 2013

i'll have to check with him. it varies on where you're at in the gulf---pretty sure they are open at this time, but my buddy and the captain are the experts

 

[CGCobra]

i'll have to check with him. it varies on where you're at in the gulf---pretty sure they are open at this time, but my buddy and the captain are the experts

http://www.gulfcouncil.org/Beta/GMFMCWeb/downloads/Gray Triggerfish Closure FAQs May 2012.pdf

Here is a link from NOAA .. Just trying to help out because it is a weird closure .. Good luck and post pics from the next trip :beer:

 

[94cobramike]

it grips the fish's mouth, allowing you to hold it up, and has a built-in scale to weigh it.

im not talking about the black and silver shaft/handle thing... im talking about the purple headed yogurt slinger looking thing? Looks alot like a ****...

 

[Cobra03Mach1]

Nice. I'm more of a fresh water fisherman but been on a few deep sea fishing trips. Got a 2 day trip in July on a tuna run.

 

[kirks5oh]

Nice. I'm more of a fresh water fisherman but been on a few deep sea fishing trips. Got a 2 day trip in July on a tuna run.

For me, once I ate fresh caught snapper/grouper, salmon fishing on lake michigan just doesn't excite me much anymore