Outdoors

A trip to the edge worth the mileage

By ED WALKER
Published July 21, 2007

Late summer is the best time of the year for blue water pelagic fish along the edge of the West Florida continental shelf. Though reaching this area is not simple, with the right boat, proper planning and a lot of fuel, Nature Coast anglers can catch blue marlin, sailfish, yellowfin and blackfin tuna, and wahoo.

Upwellings of nutrient-rich water draw baitfish to these areas. Out on the open sea, where there is bait, there are gamefish.

Journey to the edge

From Tarpon Springs, the edge of the shelf is roughly a 120-mile run, depending which heading you choose. Here the depth changes rapidly from 600 feet to more than 2,500 in just a few miles. The Gulf Stream usually flows along, or within a few miles of, this relatively steep slope.

To get there, operators of large, twin-engine boats typically carry spare fuel, then pump it into the tanks as soon as there is room. Some temporary fuel bladders can hold more than 200 gallons and once emptied can be stowed, so they are becoming popular. In the past, 50-gallon drums were set on the back deck and filled to capacity. Once emptied into the primary tanks, the empties were strapped to the bow rails to get them out of the fishing area.

Multi-day trips

To allow sufficient fishing time out in the blue water, most veteran skippers schedule these trips for two or more days. Generally speaking, the boats head out before sunset and run at speed until dark, then slow to 6 or 8 knots for the duration of the night. This saves precious fuel, is far safer than running at night and when planned properly, puts you on the fishing grounds at daybreak when the action often is the best.

Tackle and techniques

Since the blue water of the Gulf is seldom fished with regularity, locating the right temperatures, currents and weedlines requires covering a lot of ground. Trolling lures is the standard technique.

A six-lure spread of skirted lures and an assortment of attention-getting teasers are pulled between 5 and 7 knots. Ideally some of the rods are rigged with lighter tackle and smaller lures for dolphin and wahoo while 50- to 80-pound class gear is trolled alongside in hopes the big marlin takes them. It is not uncommon to have a big marlin eat the smallest lure on the lightest rod.

Lure color

There are few things in fishing debated more than the "best" trolling lure color. The old school of thought used to follow the color-spectrum acronym ROYGBIV; short for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

In the morning you pulled the lighter colors and as the day progressed you moved closer to the darker. Every boat captain has his or her own "secret weapons," most of which do not follow the old theory. The few color combinations that nearly everyone agrees must be in your spread are blue and white, green and yellow, and black and red.

Recent reports

While trolling 80 miles offshore in late June, we hooked a bonito that was promptly attacked then eaten by a blue marlin over 300 pounds. We hooked him but lost him after a 15-minute fight. We later hooked a double header of sailfish and saw another half-dozen sails finning on the surface.

A week ago, Capt. Kevin Farner ran to a spot on the shelf known as "the Steps," catching and releasing a 500-pound marlin, several wahoo up to 70 pounds and numerous dolphin.

[Last modified July 21, 2007, 07:02:35]