# Going When Satellite Imagery Says No



## Crimson Tide (Jul 24, 2009)

This is a general fishing philosophy question for you pros. My yield is already pretty poor for blue water trolling, so I have been waiting for the blue water to come closer and all the Hilton's imagery to align to perhaps give me a better shot. Of course, we have a post now about the Nipple being "on fire" despite the current imagery not being very good. Do you guys just go when you can or wait? I really don't have the setup to chase blue water 50 plus miles out. Thanks.


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## Tim_G (Feb 22, 2008)

Go when you can. There are no fences out there. Find something fishy and stick with it.


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## atlantacapt (Oct 2, 2007)

nipple was on fire because the bait was there...flyers everywhere...acres of them. Also, big bait balls down deep. Where there's forage food, pelagics arent far behind.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

It really boils down to a confidence game. Most only feel confident in blue water, but blue water doesn't attract fish. Food supply, preferred temperatures, proper salinity levels and a few other equations attract and hold fish. 

I have caught far too many fish in green water to not go because of a lack of blue. The nipple area saw the hottest White Marlin bite in over a decade last week and the water was clean, but not cobalt. 

There were some comments in a thread last week that made me shake my head. They were talking about how slow the fishing was and many said they don't fish in August because of the heat and that it slowed the fishing down. Meanwhile, that thread continued while guys were raising double digits of billfish in a trip. Many of my best trips have been in August, especially where Wahoo and Billfish are concerned. 95% of fishing trips in our area are not reported and the reports that are made need to be taken with a grain of salt. What that crew did reflects little on what you and your crew may due on the same day. Your speeds, spreads and technique may differ just enough to get the bite.

My point of this rambling is......

Regardless of water color, month of the year and others reports; you will never catch a fish if you don't get out there and the fish are always out there.


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

Chris V said:


> They were talking about how slow the fishing was and many said they don't fish in August because of the heat and that it slowed the fishing down.


Absolute nonsense. If I only used this site especially, for basing my decision on when to go based on the reports only, I would never go! Heat making fishing slow. That's funny.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Might be too hot for the anglers maybe...

Can't argue with that I guess. It's pretty dang hot out there


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

But to get back on point, the satellite right now says "YES"! There is beautiful water around the nipple, elbow and edge and the conditions are right for some great action


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## marlin77 (May 8, 2014)

Just friggin go if you can. You'll never know until YOU try it.

Start at the nipple, zig zag the contours to the elbow, turn around and go back to the nipple. Repeat (unless you find a good rip). That area can rival many of the top spots in the world in late July-October. 

My first trip (not with dad or other adults) was in high school on my buddy's single engine 21 foot seacraft. It was myself and 3 other runts. We had a roffer's that said basically 'don't go', but decided to go anyway. Nipple was the only place we get realistically get to in our rig. We kind of knew what we were doing. We all had some experience as 'swabs' and had caught a few fish between us. The dads wouldn't let us use their good stuff, so we took 4 old arse penn senators, 6 moldcrafts, one blue/white Ilander, a gaff, a pair of gloves and a case of bud light that we took out of the dad's garage. No camera, no safety lines, no outriggers. It was late August and we decided we would give it a shot. Within 4 hours we were 0-7 on white marlin and 0-2 on blues (including a 500+ pound fish). All were within that same route mentioned above.

We ended the day 2-9 on whites, 0-2 on blues and landed 3 wahoo. It was the most fun I have ever or will ever have billfishing and was the best learning experience I've ever had. 

The point: you don't know until you go. Don't wait on reports (unless it shows chit brown). Those reports are really really good, and are pretty valuable, but should not be the gospel. They are trying to give you an indication of what could/should be good or bad areas, but are far from an exact science. Just fish.


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## ALFisher (May 26, 2010)

I've been billfishing (will not call it bluewater fishing) out of OB since I was a teenager. While it is certainly true that your chances for YFT and large blue marlin go up in "blue" water, that does not mean you cannot have a great trip at the places mentioned above. All you need is clear water, bait, and current. Right now, the water at the nipple is good, and the current/moon conditions are right. I've made many a trip to the nipple/elbow when I knew the water wasn't blue and caught plenty of great fish. A few years ago, there was an article about a couple of older guys (may have passed away) who fished the nipple/elbow area exclusively. I cannot remember their names or the magazine. It was a great story about water conditions, bait in those areas, etc. Bottom line is that they had piled up an amazing list of catches by going nowhere other than that area regardless of whether the water was perfect. Go out there, and have fun.


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## Crimson Tide (Jul 24, 2009)

Thanks so much for the comments. You don't know how much better I feel reading this. I am inspired again!!!


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

Always go. Unless the satellite shows a hurricane, then don't go.


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## Magic236 (Oct 1, 2007)

Offshore fishing, especially Bluewater-Bilfishing in the Gulf has a good deal of art in it. It is not Black or White. The Gulf is not like St Thomas, fish in front of the full moon of July/Aug/Sept or Oct at the North Drop dragging lures and you will get a shot at a Blue!

Satellites are only one of my guides as to whether to go or not. I consider the weather not just for the upcoming weekend, but what it has been doing for the past few weeks or month, and what the forecast indicates after the trip. I also talk with my buddies that are on the water much more than me. There are times I decide it isn't worth it and there are times we go for it. It takes experience and that is why it is so cool to catch a billfish in Gulf, 'cause it ain't easy.

I will say, if you can, go and hurry. The bite has been very good the past week and a half, it may last or it may die, but now is about the best time we've seen for close in billfishing in a while! We raised a White Sat 26 miles out of Destin.

Good luck, tight lines. 

Keep asking questions, there are a lot of folks that will provide great info on this site, just got to be street savy to sort through the cyber-bull


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## JVT (Jun 5, 2009)

I am an admitted novice to billfishing but the Hilton's charts I read says go. There is a plume of dirty water running from the MS River east and a pocket of clean blue/green water 'trapped' in the northern tip of the DeSoto Canyon (i.e. Nipple). Altimetry in this area is also good. Combined this likely means bait which means pelagics like the Whiteys being caught in good numbers.


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## Waste-N-Away (May 20, 2009)

MrFish said:


> Always go. Unless the satellite shows a hurricane, then don't go.


now that is good advise....:thumbsup:

we are going to try it with the rest of the herd tommorow, in the 110deg heat. hope there is some life out there


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## Kim (Aug 5, 2008)

I can remember the first fishing trips with my Dad here. The only electronics on the 28 Bertram was the light on the compass, the VHF radio and a strip chart recorder that he turned on every now and then to see how deep it was. To go fishing we went "35 miles SSE to 285 feet of water" to get to the spot. The pitot speed indicator wasn't the most accurate measuring device and you had to mentally calculate and adjust for drift. Did my Dad and and uncles worry about the moon phase, how hot it was out or the time of year? Nope if the seas were calm enough, they made sure there was beer, bread and bologna, sodas, water, bait, tackle on the boat and the tanks were full and off we went.

They knew that at certain times of the year, with such and such wind , current and wave conditions you would find bait and fish in such and such area based on experience. So even with todays electronics the old school methods still apply. Keeping a logbook like someone mentioned is the first step in that direction Tight lines all.


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