# How far out are which fish?



## Paolo (Jul 15, 2011)

Hey guys,
This is a truly great forum, loving it. I have been able to profit a great amount and am really greatful for it.
Now to my question:
I was wondering, how far out do you go for which species? (especially snappers, porgies, mahimahi, cobia, bonito, wahoo, king mackerel, AJ, grouper,etc).
I visited my dad over in mobile Al last september and took my new boat out a couple of times. Even went like 10miles out one day as the weather was perfect, but the only thing i caught that day was spanish mackerel, red snapper, bluefish, and a lot of stupid catfish. Now, i saw on the charts that that part of the GoM doesn't get deep as fast as the orange beach or pensacola area gets. And i was thinking maybe the water has a lower salinity bc of the mobile bay??!??
Any info at all would be awesome.
Thanks, tight lines,
Paolo


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## Orangebeach28 (Jun 3, 2009)

It's gets deeper faster toward pcola. Out of DI, it's 25 + for legal Aj's. Past 25 you'll find big grouper, mingo's, and wahoo.


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## Trophyhusband (Nov 30, 2011)

Where and when are you talking about going? I'm not sure when the water starts to warm up, but I'm guessing it's soon. That said, what's true right now may be totally different to or three weeks from now. One thing that will be constant is the closer in the wreck, the more it gets beat up on the weekends.


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## Paolo (Jul 15, 2011)

Orangebeach28 said:


> It's gets deeper faster toward pcola. Out of DI, it's 25 + for legal Aj's. Past 25 you'll find big grouper, mingo's, and wahoo.


Yeah, that's wht i figured. It's soooo shallow there. How far out do you need to go out of pcola?


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## Paolo (Jul 15, 2011)

Trophyhusband said:


> Where and when are you talking about going? I'm not sure when the water starts to warm up, but I'm guessing it's soon. That said, what's true right now may be totally different to or three weeks from now. One thing that will be constant is the closer in the wreck, the more it gets beat up on the weekends.


It'll be may/june till i come again, unfortunately.
I have a 18' dc hydrasports with a 115HP evinrude, so i'm somewhat tied to closer in.


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## SouthAlabamaSlayer (Oct 13, 2011)

If you're going out of Dauphin Island:
Little snapper-rigs 5 miles out
Big snapper: 20-30 miles out on a reef or wreck, rigs don't hold many big ones.
Mahi: have to find blue water, so around 40-50 minimum with the depth change not as much as out of Perdido Pass
Cobia: caught next to tankers that anchor approximately 12 miles straight off DI
Kings: Schoolie kings anywhere from 10-20 miles out, trolling dead cigar minnows next to tankers that you cobia fish at is best tactic
Smoker kings:20-30 miles just gotta find them, depending on season will patrol beach 1-2 miles out
Bonita: can be caught trolling next to tankers also, but anywhere from 3+ miles, schools can be seen as big as 20 acres large busting the surface.
AJ: gotta find around 120ft of water usually, the old suspension bridge rubble is usually the closest, sometimes rigs from 15+ have them
Grouper: rigs and wrecks 15+, rare out of DI due to juvenile snapper around most of these

All this changes out of Perdido Pass due to the continental shelf drop off closer to the pass.


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## Paolo (Jul 15, 2011)

SouthAlabamaSlayer said:


> If you're going out of Dauphin Island:
> Little snapper-rigs 5 miles out
> Big snapper: 20-30 miles out on a reef or wreck, rigs don't hold many big ones.
> Mahi: have to find blue water, so around 40-50 minimum with the depth change not as much as out of Perdido Pass
> ...


Awesome info, thanks a lot.
I guess i'm gonna get a florida saltwater fishing license and make the trip over to at least perdido pass as much as possible. Sounds really worth it. All that range come closer in by like a couple of miles if you leave drom perdido, right?


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## SouthAlabamaSlayer (Oct 13, 2011)

You don't need a FL fishing license from Perdido Pass, technically still AL waters. Yes, the range changes. I have a honey hole that I catch 20lb snapper at approximately 10 miles out. I also catch grouper there and the AJ's hold at liberty ships and sunken tanks approximately 10-20 miles out. Kings and cobia can be caught bump trolling over wrecks and reefs a lot of times.


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## Paolo (Jul 15, 2011)

I saw a video of a guy catching bonito pretty mich off the shore around pcola... Made me mad, i wanted to catch a bonito last summer sooo bad, but could not find them to save my life. But i was out of DI, so i guess that's the reason.
I went on a charter once off of destin and we were catching snapper and triggers and even a mahi only like 4 miles from shore. That was nice.


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## Paolo (Jul 15, 2011)

SouthAlabamaSlayer said:


> You don't need a FL fishing license from Perdido Pass, technically still AL waters. Yes, the range changes. I have a honey hole that I catch 20lb snapper at approximately 10 miles out. I also catch grouper there and the AJ's hold at liberty ships and sunken tanks approximately 10-20 miles out. Kings and cobia can be caught bump trolling over wrecks and reefs a lot of times.


Wow, that rocks. Frustrates me though, cuz i went out from DI like 6 times and never really caught anything really nice. And a LOT of hardheads. Next time i'll def be venturing out towards perdido, or even pcola (that's why i mentioned the fl license, thanks though.)


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## SouthAlabamaSlayer (Oct 13, 2011)

Also public reefs 6miles out hold triggerfish during the summer


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## SouthAlabamaSlayer (Oct 13, 2011)

When you come down, hit some of us up that live down here and we'll be more than welcome to help you out when you get down.


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## minkmaster (Apr 5, 2008)

If a charter tells you, they run anywhere between 45 to 60 miles out, thats not blue water out of Port St Joe?


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## Lyin Too (Aug 31, 2009)

Get the list of artificial reef GPS numbers from alabama marine fisheries and fish those spots. Hundreds of spots and some never get touched. Some as close as 3 miles out. Hilton's also has a chart thats good. Trial and error is all it takes. This past summer we caught huge snapper 6 miles south of Perdido, Fl. Several nice gag grouper also.


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