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Blue water action offshore continues to be excellent, with good catches of blackfin tuna and wahoo west of the USF weather buoy.
The Elbow, 70 miles west of John's Pass, traditionally produces good catches of both pelagic speedsters as well as bottom fish. Trolling the Elbow for tuna, wahoo and dolphin while watching your bottom machine to locate stacks of bottom fish is a technique we have used for years. Record the location of the stacks and end your day anchored over one to catch grouper and snapper. Chunk for tuna late in the day.
Grouper fishing has been good in 100 to 120 feet of water. Drifting dead and live bait to locate fish is an excellent technique. Once you catch a fish, save the spot with your GPS or Loran, mark the spot with a float and weight, then anchor over the spot where you caught the fish. This technique not only will produce more fish but help you store more fishing spots into your GPS.
Drift fishing requires heavy sinkers and normally slow tides to drift. Use live bait and dead bait while drifting. Most of the grouper will be big, slow reds. The gas pipeline and mitigation areas offshore also are producing fish, such as nice catches of mangrove and yellowtail snapper. Downsize your tackle to 30 pounds using fluorocarbon leaders for the best results.
- Larry "Huffy" Hoffman charters out of John's Pass, Treasure Island. Call 727 709-9396 or e-mail him at huffyl@tampabay.rr.com