Deep Sea Fishing in FL

[dclassic]

Hello all,

A couple of guys at the shop here are interested in going deep sea fishing off the FL coast. I was wondering if any of you guys could help us out as far as recomending a good contact for such an endeavor. None of us know anything about it but it sounds like big fun. Thanks in advance for your help.

[Donzigo]

Florida has a lot of coastline.................which coast? There are a number of good guides in the St. Petersburg area.

[dclassic]

Donzigo, We will be coming down from GA and can go wherever yall recomend. We don't really care which coast. We know nothing about this so it will be a learning experience. Thanks.

[Fish boy]

just a couple of thoughts:

deep sea fishing can involve a lot of different things. There is bottom fishing- generally grouper, snapper, etc these are on the bottom and generally involve going to a spot, anchoring up and fishing. You could also troll in deep water. Baits are on the surface, and likely fish will be tuna, marlin, salifish, dolphin (mahi), wahoo. You could also target particular fish that are seansonal such as Kingfish whihc will begin running in about a month or so depending on the weather, or ovber the winter months the sailfish run heavy off the east coast.

One of the reasons I mentioned the above is that it will impact your decision where to go. If you want deep water trolling, you will have to go approximately 60-100 miles off shore on the west coast, but approximately 10 miles off shore on the east coast to get into deep enought water to find these fish. Advantage East coast. During the winter months, bottom fish move into shallower water. Since most of the year you have to travel so far off shore on the west ocast to get to deep water, they are not hit as hard as the east coast fish which are easily accessable. Theefore, winter bottom fishing (after they move in) is IMHO a little better on the west coast. King fish runs are good on both coasts and you can find them as close as 20 yards off shore to several miles. Advantage both coasts.

If you have no preference and just want to catch some fun, exciting, good eating fish, I would suggest either a mid west coast trip closer to min november, or mid East coast. Weather should still be good, and on the west coast Kings will be running hard (my favorite fishing) and there should be some good keeper sized grouper not too far off shore. can probably get all in one trip. The East coast will also be fruitful about the same time, but you also have to chance of getting a Tuna, or a wahoo, and possibly an early season sailfish or two. you just might not be able to do all in the same trip.

Sorry to ramble, an I am sure poodle should have some good advice for the miami/ft.Lauderdale/ Key West area. I purposely left it out since he does it all the time and is waaaay more qualified than I to give advice for that area.

[Team Jefe]

Sorry no advise hear, just wanted to give kudos to FIsh for a good report.

And I'm waitng on Poodle's response :hyper:

[RickyR]

It really depends on when you want to fish, and what kind of money y'all want to spend. You asked too broad of a question..Narrow it down to a time frame, and how much money you guys want to spend..

I'm east coast biased. If you can wait until January the sailfish are hot from Ft. Laud all the way up to Ft. Pierce, and sometimes up to Canaveral. When the strong cold fronts come through, that's when the sailfish are biting big time.

You can find a moderately priced sport boat in Stuart's Port Salerno, or go a little more expensive in West Palm Beach's Singer Island. Sailfish marina has some big dogs for charter there..It seems the further south you go, it costs more money to fish..(usually)

There is a guy named Chip Shaffer in Ft. Pierce who is a great fisherman. I think it is the Pelican Yacht Club where he keeps his boat. He is usually pretty well booked year 'round. We fished against him in Cancun and he was usually outcatching everyone in the fleet.
If you want to drift fish on a "cattle" boat, don't waste your time. It is cheap, and will allow you to get your lines wet, but very packed and usually a twisted up mess with the lines. They do catch fish though..
If you want to party and fish, hit Islamorada. The Tiki bar is a great hangout, and there are some sport boats there for charter too.
Key West is also a great place. Stock Island Marina has some nice boats that are off the beaten path for charters, and you may find a deal there...
Good luck..
Ricky...seeya...

[fasttrucker]

If you come down to go out on a charter.You could also go out on a head boat night fishing.They are a lot of fun they say no beer and when I open my cooler,which is full of beer they say ok,Then I play the pool which a few years ago when my dad went along,he won!We like to go out of pompano beach.Fish City boat.But ive caught a lot of fish on other boats as well. :dolphin:

[Cuda]

Fishing in Florida? Nah, I don't know nothing about it. :)

[Cuda]

Here's a couple "snake" kings. In the late 70's, you couldn't catch a king on the west coast. Now there are tournaments every weekend that the run is on. I agree with Fishboy, kings are my favorite to fish for. I got hooked at an early age on kings. They will start running in NW Florida by the end of the month. You can always tell if the kingfish are out, because the wind is blowing 20+ knots. :(

[tmdog]

I fished a solid 25yrs. on both coasts, primarily off of Lauderdale and Miami. Since moving to Ga. 8 yrs. ago I have been back to S. Fl. 3 times. Those trips I went fishing aboard a charter boat and the cost was 8 to 900 hundred for a full day. It was worth it in the kind of fish caught. Four sails and released, Dolphin which are very good eating . After the mate filet the good eating fish, we wound up with 40 to 50 lbs. We chartered the boat at Haulover Inlet in Miami. Bring your own food and beer. Everything else is provided. The boat was 48 foot long. Quite comfortable. Needless to say I am partial to the east coast. Know the waters quite well and loved S. Fla waters. They will take up to a party of 6 for the price and when broken down is very reasonable.

[Donzigo]

....of course, if ya come to tha West Coast, partner, and the fishing is no good, the West Coast crew will keep you busy sucking down Coronas at Shell Island or some local watering hole, like the Bridgeview or the Wharf, where even when the "fishing" is bad, the "lies about fishing" are good!