West coast of florida blue water fishing

[west coast fisher]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and very impressed with alot of the info on bluewater fishing I have found already. I fish out of the west coast of florida in Clearwater. I have a few questions and would love some input if possible. I get to fish offshore maybe 20 or so days a year. When i say offshore I mean 100 to 150 miles west of clearwater which is where we have to run for good bluewater fishing. I am going on a 5 day trip this Sun and have always wanted to try to fish the weather bouy 210 miles off of Captiva Fl. The bouy is in 10,000 feet of water. I hope this is not a stupid question but is this too deep for swordfish? I really hope to catch some Yellowfin Tuna and Swordfish near it. I have caught 10 or so pup swords and only 1 keeper in the past 5 years. Its a very Largo bouy does anyone think it would hold some good fish? My weather window looks good and cannot find anyone who has fished this bouy at all. Would like to know if anyone thinks this is the dumbest idea or what. I am leaving Sun and will post report when I get back. Thanks fo any input

[Boboe]

The fishing off of Destin and the rest of the Panhandle is off the hook. I talked to one of my friends today who went marlin fishing last weekend and here's the report I got...

1st white marlin hooked up at 6:15 am, with only 1/3 of the spread put into the water so far. Good whitey...about 70lbs

Good sized dolphin action sporadically throughout the day.

1 whitey in the spread who would not eat

1 white in the spread who took a bait very briefly, only to spit it right back out in true white marlin fashion.

1 white marlin caught at 5:45 pm. Same size as the first.

Nice sword hooked in "an area that doesn't have swordfish" at 5:30 am. Fish fought for 45 minutes in standup tackle, to the leader three times and seen each time...6' body length!!...only to dump the Tiagra 50W at the 45 minute mark as if it hadn't even been on the line at all. Impatient angler increased the pressure on the fish and pulled the hooks shortly thereafter.

Last week somebody got THIRTY shots in a single day, 6 being blue shots, 1 or 2 shots at sails, and the rest whites. Talk about world-class!

Now, regarding buoys....
They can be good, and they can be covered up in big damn sharks. With the water being so nice and the fishing so good, I'd think you'd find some good fish on it. That said, I've fished the 100nm buoy straight south of Destin and know it to be much scarier than any Jaws movie. 10'+ sharks patrol the penumbra at night in packs, while the smaller ones swim right up near the light. If we got something hung in the wheel out there...well...we'd be adrift for a good long while. It was waaaaaay too sharkey.

Best of luck, and report back!

[BaylorSalty]

Originally Posted by Boboe

The fishing off of Destin and the rest of the Panhandle is off the hook. I talked to one of my friends today who went marlin fishing last weekend and here's the report I got...

1st white marlin hooked up at 6:15 am, with only 1/3 of the spread put into the water so far. Good whitey...about 70lbs

Good sized dolphin action sporadically throughout the day.

1 whitey in the spread who would not eat

1 white in the spread who took a bait very briefly, only to spit it right back out in true white marlin fashion.

1 white marlin caught at 5:45 pm. Same size as the first.

Nice sword hooked in "an area that doesn't have swordfish" at 5:30 am. Fish fought for 45 minutes in standup tackle, to the leader three times and seen each time...6' body length!!...only to dump the Tiagra 50W at the 45 minute mark as if it hadn't even been on the line at all. Impatient angler increased the pressure on the fish and pulled the hooks shortly thereafter.

Last week somebody got THIRTY shots in a single day, 6 being blue shots, 1 or 2 shots at sails, and the rest whites. Talk about world-class!

Now, regarding buoys....
They can be good, and they can be covered up in big damn sharks. With the water being so nice and the fishing so good, I'd think you'd find some good fish on it. That said, I've fished the 100nm buoy straight south of Destin and know it to be much scarier than any Jaws movie. 10'+ sharks patrol the penumbra at night in packs, while the smaller ones swim right up near the light. If we got something hung in the wheel out there...well...we'd be adrift for a good long while. It was waaaaaay too sharkey.

Best of luck, and report back!

Now that's where I ought to be fishing

[Ed Walker]

I have fished that buoy with the founder of Calcutta baits and his friends. It was a 225 mile-one way run. Massive fuel management issues. Supposedly the commercial guys say it can be yellowfin paradise but after 2 days running to get there we found it to be vacant. Talk about a disappointment. On another day it could have been different but man is it a long way out there, especially from Clearwater.