# Strikeline Charts



## troygem (Jul 27, 2015)

Are they worth the money?


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

Nope.


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## MikeH (Jul 14, 2009)

This has the potential to be a 10 pager....


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

I have over 800 spots in my GPS from over 14 years of running a Charter business. I'd say realistically, there's 700 confirmed spots. What's that worth? when I sell my boat, someone's gonna get a lot of experience and time on the water packed into that thing... but I may just delete it all and take them to my grave with me....  That's cute, but.... IDK.... LOL


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## troygem (Jul 27, 2015)

HA! 

By the way that sounds, I'm guessing there are some strong opinions on both sides of that...

As someone who is relatively new to fishing the GOM and fishing from a boat in general... I am wondering if it will help me to fish some areas that are "off the beaten path" so to speak. I'm thinking that when snapper season hits it going to be a little bit crazy on the public reefs... 

I'm a new boat owner and don't have a trolling motor so I will have to drop anchor to sit on my fishing spot... I guess I'm looking for ways to avoid traffic as well as increase my chance to catch fish.

All thoughts and opinions are appreciated...


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

I haven't anchored in years. Drift. If it's holding fish then drift it again.


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## old school (Nov 16, 2007)

*charts*

There are SOOOOO many Red Snapper on public numbers you do not need private numbers. Chumming and good live bait will help you catch more and bigger snapper, but private numbers are not necessary.


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## CalvinandHobbes (Jan 25, 2014)

Yep you done stirred the hornets nest with that question.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

There is so many snapper on the AL reef system they are starting to swim to FL.


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

search around here on the PFF, from time to time people post a few lat and longs that may help you out. Here's a couple to get you started... Can't say for sure what's there, its been a while since I've visited these spots.... 
N30 12.599 W87 21.152
N30 12.531 W87 21.132
N30 12.508 W87 21.123


N30 13.136 W87 19.335


N30 06.091 W87 23.512


If you remember, post up what's there so others may be able to enjoy the spot... again, its been a while, but if I remember right, some nice trigger, snapper and other shit came off these spots... Enjoy.... welcome to the Gulf, where the fishing is great, and the people are okay.... ha ha


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

I had the numbers for the Mass but it floated away.


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## gator75 (Aug 11, 2016)

I’ll answer. I bought a few of his and it was great investment for the first year. Next year, they were a ghost town. Bought a few more and they were all duds. I think his number are very hit and miss. Fish the public stuff further out. The tanks off orange beach to the west are killler snapper spots. You should be able to limit out on the Pensacola fishing bridge rubble or I-10 rubble pretty easily as well. If you anchor, bring lots of chum and should have no problem getting good bites.

I got my own coops dropped by Walter marine. They are fire. Have been for years.. I’m sure they’ve been found. Hell, SLs probably found and sold them by now. Still have hundreds of big snapper and trigger as of last month. Got my money’s worth a long time ago though. Especially with all the kids I take. Spots are close to both ob and Pensacola pass.

I’d recommend them and a little patience if you want a guaranteed private spot.


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

Ok, so I'll probably get flamed for even having them, but I was given numbers when I moved here by a high school friend of my wife's, whose fishing club went in on buying some numbers years back and he never really used them. He told me he had 'some old numbers in the bay if you want them' and i said sure. Turns out, they are the Strikelines package.

I have looked around at most of them and I actually catch fish on exactly two of them, and only one has every produced something worth talking about. Others are probably hit or miss and maybe I'm missing out but I have found more by accident just keeping my Lowrance turned on and running at all times while I just cruise around than I had by way of that package. The public numbers you can get from FWC for the spots 'offshore' will yield more and better fish than than the Strikelines bay numbers, in my limited and admittedly novice experience.

I don't know what they cost, but unless they are recently updated and completely 'newly improved' I don't think they're worth paying for. If you do, it's like sleeping with the homely girl at the end of the street. You just don't talk about it. :whistling:


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

There are so many public spots put down in the last 10 years. On a calm weekend there aren't enough boats out there to have a boat on every reef. Get the public numbers and a good bottom machine and you will get all the fish you need. 
Besides Strikelines has acomplished what he wanted, finding most of the unpublished numbers with a.sidescan sonar he contracted, selling the numbers making enough money to start a restaurant and pissing off a lot of old time hard working fisherman. 
Speaking about restaurant's. Maria's seafood has last week opened a restaurant on cervantes at there fish house. Has nothing to do with striklines. Go try Maries restaurant out. I deal with Marias and have nothin to do with there restaurant other then to let people know about it.


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## Splittine (Nov 24, 2007)

SurfRidr said:


> Ok, so I'll probably get flamed for even having them, but I was given numbers when I moved here by a high school friend of my wife's, whose fishing club went in on buying some numbers years back and he never really used them. He told me he had 'some old numbers in the bay if you want them' and i said sure. Turns out, they are the Strikelines package.
> 
> I have looked around at most of them and I actually catch fish on exactly two of them, and only one has every produced something worth talking about. Others are probably hit or miss and maybe I'm missing out but I have found more by accident just keeping my Lowrance turned on and running at all times while I just cruise around than I had by way of that package. The public numbers you can get from FWC for the spots 'offshore' will yield more and better fish than than the Strikelines bay numbers, in my limited and admittedly novice experience.
> 
> I don't know what they cost, but unless they are recently updated and completely 'newly improved' I don't think they're worth paying for. If you do, it's like sleeping with the homely girl at the end of the street. You just don't talk about it. :whistling:


Fishing club...buying numbers... What kinda shit is that.


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## BlueH20 (Jul 9, 2018)

I have the strike lines topo maps for the edge. Shows a lot of detail for bottom fishing.


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## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

I bought a subscription to fishingstatus.com a few years ago. It's pretty cheap and has all the public spots, not only in Florida, but world-wide. I'd rate it as a C as some spots are seemingly nonexistent but much of what it shows, I've caught fish on. I agree that there are plenty of public spots. Actually there are so many public spots that if someone isn't tuned into which are more successful for holding fish than others, you're literally wandering in a forest looking for the few prime trees! If you live in the area, it may take a few years of trips to build that "database" of solid fishable spots where you can limit nearly every time....but that's why it's called "fishing".


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

Get you a good radar and zap people. Better numbers that way.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

I fish nothing but state water public reefs and I think I catch a ok amount of fish, being my 2nd year having a boat.


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## salty_dawg (Mar 21, 2013)

We were out hunting lionfish this past weekend an I can assure you public numbers hold plenty of fish. We were diving outside state waters but hit only the small public structure like pyramids and tanks. About 1 out of 4 spots would have nothing except small bait fish but usually at least one lionfish. As others have noted, get a good bottom machine and start scanning.


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## troygem (Jul 27, 2015)

Gentlemen. (and I use that term loosely)

Thank you soo much for your input! and opinions... 

My bottom machine is a Lowrance Elite 7 ti... So when you say "get a good bottom machine"... will this fit the bill? 
I just updated the machine's software a few weeks ago so I think I'm good there. 

I had a bit of frustration the last time I went out finding "the spot". I'm finding out that this is not like using your GPS in the car...It doesn't drop you on the front door. I'm guessing that it takes some practice or trial and error actually locating the structure... Am I wrong about that or am I just doing something wrong?


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

Could be +10-20' or miles, even the county sites give you #s of stuff deployed by them and their way off.

Look at this site, you can order or go to bottom of the page, click on view fishing map, move map around to the area you want and start copying #s.

https://fishingstatus.com/places/maps/map/IndexID/605736

This is pretty accurate #s if you are out of Destin.

https://fishingdestinguide.com/


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

troygem said:


> Gentlemen. (and I use that term loosely)
> 
> Thank you soo much for your input! and opinions...
> 
> ...


Did you get the Elite 7 with a transducer capable of sidescan? If so, when you're looking for a spot, it can help to use the sidescan in case you're off by a little ways. In 60 feet of water you might be seeing a 'cone' of only about 15 or 20 feet ... so if you miss the spot by more than that you might not see it. That's not a lot of margin for error. Depending what you're looking for, some GPS numbers that hold fish might not have any visible relief on the sonar; 
some of my spots I can only find because there are fish on them, or if they are older numbers (and most of them are), some of them have been silted over or moved with current / storms and there might not be anything there.

Try to criss-cross the spot you're looking for at multiple angles; set up the approach so that you cross it several times from different angles. Try to make your search pattern cross it like the spokes of a wheel so that you cover an area around the spot in case the numbers aren't precise.


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

Splittine said:


> Fishing club...buying numbers... What kinda shit is that.


I dunno man, that's what he said. I think it was a bass club, and he never really used the numbers because he decided he didn't feel comfortable taking his boat on the bays. 

Guy offered me numbers, I said sure. :thumbsup:


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## lettheairout (Mar 11, 2008)

Get you a walleye boat and go catch a pile of just legal snapper in the bay. 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

salty_dawg said:


> *We were out hunting lionfish this past weekend* an I can assure you public numbers hold plenty of fish. We were diving outside state waters but hit only the small public structure like pyramids and tanks. About 1 out of 4 spots would have nothing except small bait fish but usually at least one lionfish. As others have noted, get a good bottom machine and start scanning.





Huge thanks for doing that. :thumbsup:


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

lettheairout said:


> Get you a walleye boat and go catch a pile of just legal snapper in the bay.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk





I got this little guy at the pier, dude!


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

troygem said:


> Gentlemen. (and I use that term loosely)
> 
> Thank you soo much for your input! and opinions...
> 
> ...


I use a 17 year old Lowrance and can find the spots.


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## troygem (Jul 27, 2015)

Good stuff. Thanks. 

My unit does have the sidescan... But for the life of me, I never see anything on it...


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

troygem said:


> Good stuff. Thanks.
> 
> My unit does have the sidescan... But for the life of me, I never see anything on it...


Make sure the width of scan range is set to about 3x the depth you're in, as a general rule.


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## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

troygem said:


> Gentlemen. (and I use that term loosely)
> 
> Thank you soo much for your input! and opinions...
> 
> ...


Before you venture out in the gulf with it...I'd make sure to tune your fish finder appropriately. Using the "auto" function as far as surface clarity and noise drastically reduces the scan too....so while you'll see bottom, you may be driving over fish and other bottom structure. I use a Lowrance HDS7 Touch 2...which is generations older and I can mark fish. I'd also use the fishreveal function of your scanner and as mentioned above, try sidescan. Here's an example on your plotter-


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## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

Also as far as navigation...make sure you not only know how to use your unit's GPS unit, but can also navigate with your compass....safety is a priority on the water.


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

photofishin said:


> Also as far as navigation...make sure you not only know how to use your unit's GPS unit, but can also navigate with your compass....safety is a priority on the water.


Using your compass will also help you get on your spot. The GPS shows your location and direction but there is some delay in that, so looking where you are on your chart and using your compass to move toward the mark, I find helpful if it's a small / precise spot.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

MrFish said:


> I use a 17 year old Lowrance and can find the spots.


$5000 lowrance?


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

jlw1972 said:


> $5000 lowrance?


Since this is a Strikelines thread, it's worth way more than that if I leave the 1,000's of spots in it.


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## NativeSlayer (Sep 5, 2017)

Strikelines definitely can provide you with a jump-start on locations for a price, but learning how to use your fishfinder is priceless. As far as numbers for structures they can be found everywhere for little or no cost. As several people on here have already said, there are lots of fish on the public numbers and you can be very successful if you learn how to catch your targeted species. There are also several people out there that will sell you their (Secret Honey Holes) or Someone Else's private numbers. There are also several people out there that will help get you on the fish for free and even go with you and show you how it's done.


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