# HEADING SOUTH**NEED SOME HELP FELLAS**



## zachgoodgame (Sep 10, 2021)

A couple of friends decided we are all spur of the moment heading down to OBA for the weekend. We brought our centerconsole with us and have all the public numbers and have done okay in the past, however it seems like we are always shooting in the dark as to what were going for and where to go. Any advice would be much appreciated. Wanted to try and throw some meat in the freezer if at all possible. Willing to pay for any help. Really appreciate any and everything we can get!


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## Joe Sixpack (Jul 30, 2011)

What size boat and how far out you planning on fishing? You can find fish on just about any of the public numbers if the charter boats haven't depleted them. I'd just head straight south out of the pass about 180° you'll follow the eastern edge of the public reefs area just watch for fish on your bottom machine and fish your way out to deeper water. When you get deeper look for rocks or holes in live bottom areas like Trysler grounds.

I'll usually fish chicken rigs on public spots for mingo and trigger then switch to grouper rig over live bottom.

Also look for AJ's over the deeper water wrecks.

If you see patches of grass while bottom fishing, throw a cigar or squid at it on an unweighted hook and maybe catch Mahi hiding in it.


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## zachgoodgame (Sep 10, 2021)

Joe Sixpack said:


> What size boat and how far out you planning on fishing? You can find fish on just about any of the public numbers if the charter boats haven't depleted them. I'd just head straight south out of the pass about 180° you'll follow the eastern edge of the public reefs area just watch for fish on your bottom machine and fish your way out to deeper water. When you get deeper look for rocks or holes in live bottom areas like Trysler grounds.
> 
> I'll usually fish chicken rigs on public spots for mingo and trigger then switch to grouper rig over live bottom.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the info! We are in a 23ft triton deep v. Ive taken it out to the nipple before when it was calm so not too worried about running 30-35 miles out while we are down here as long as the weather cooperates. We are hoping to hit some deeper water than the I-10 bridge rubble. Although we catch some stuff there it all seems like they are smaller fish. Hoping to catch Amberjack and Triggers while we are down here to stock the freezer.


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

zachgoodgame said:


> Thank you for the info! We are in a 23ft triton deep v. Ive taken it out to the nipple before when it was calm so not too worried about running 30-35 miles out while we are down here as long as the weather cooperates. We are hoping to hit some deeper water than the I-10 bridge rubble. Although we catch some stuff there it all seems like they are smaller fish. Hoping to catch Amberjack and Triggers while we are down here to stock the freezer.


You don't need to go deeper than that for Aj's.


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## fish head (Jul 6, 2009)

For public spots, my advice is to pick out some spots 30+ miles to the SW


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## Cant.Git.Enuf (Jan 21, 2013)

What Six Pack said.

If your gonna venture out to deeper water and want to troll, recommend a blue and white with some flash islander an a stretch 25-40. Give some top fish and something a little deeper an option around 5-9kts. Can speed it up to about 14 if your just wanting to target Wahoo.

Don’t forget to look around and see what the birds are doing. Gotta love finding a school of mahi and throwing some jigs at them based on the bird fish finder.

Lastly, the current can really rip out there. If you don’t buy pre made chicken rigs, I’d recommend at least a 6oz but like an 8oz weight better with a size 5 hook.


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## zachgoodgame (Sep 10, 2021)

Thanks for the advice guys. Didn’t get many pictures but caught a limit of trigger a few snapper and a Spanish on the way in. Got sharked by a big bull off tank 64. He followed it all the way to the boat but couldn’t get a picture before he kept his distance. It was overall a great trip. Had a blast!









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## H2OMARK (Oct 2, 2007)

Nice job fellas!


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## Boardfeet (Sep 27, 2007)

That is a SLOB Triggerfish!
Nicely done sir!


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## jack2 (Mar 19, 2010)

bigass trigger
jack


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## OutsmartedAgain (Oct 12, 2018)

Looks delicious! It looks like you're getting it figured out.

If you buy a CMOR/G3/strikelines HD bottom scan chart you can sit on your couch and mark thousands of fishing spots to try later. Other than that some solid generic advice people always give me is bring live bait and a couple different frozen/fresh dead bait options cause some days the fish have a clear preference. Use lighter, longer, fluorocarbon leaders, smaller hooks, run further out than most, and if you're gonna fish public spots, the smaller they are and the further out you get will generally be better fishing. Anyone can find and anchor on a barge or liberty ship, but many won't bother with a small pyramid or coop. Always throw a fly line out on the surface, you never know what bonus fish might be cruising by. The fish aren't alway on the X, and natural bottom spots are just where the fish were last time. If you aren't marking fish motor around, and if you don't see them move to the next spot. The search function on this site can be a gold mine for more tips too. 

This isn't to say that you can't catch keepers on hard hit public spots with rotten bait with 200 lb mono leaders, but when the fish are picky I've found the above tips can really help me salvage the day or when the bite is good put a better grade of fish in the boat. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the bite die off, switched from 80 lb mono chicken rigs to 30 lb flouro 10' leaders and went right back to catching even bigger fish.


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## zachgoodgame (Sep 10, 2021)

OutsmartedAgain said:


> Looks delicious! It looks like you're getting it figured out.
> 
> If you buy a CMOR/G3/strikelines HD bottom scan chart you can sit on your couch and mark thousands of fishing spots to try later. Other than that some solid generic advice people always give me is bring live bait and a couple different frozen/fresh dead bait options cause some days the fish have a clear preference. Use lighter, longer, fluorocarbon leaders, smaller hooks, run further out than most, and if you're gonna fish public spots, the smaller they are and the further out you get will generally be better fishing. Anyone can find and anchor on a barge or liberty ship, but many won't bother with a small pyramid or coop. Always throw a fly line out on the surface, you never know what bonus fish might be cruising by. The fish aren't alway on the X, and natural bottom spots are just where the fish were last time. If you aren't marking fish motor around, and if you don't see them move to the next spot. The search function on this site can be a gold mine for more tips too.
> 
> This isn't to say that you can't catch keepers on hard hit public spots with rotten bait with 200 lb mono leaders, but when the fish are picky I've found the above tips can really help me salvage the day or when the bite is good put a better grade of fish in the boat. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the bite die off, switched from 80 lb mono chicken rigs to 30 lb flouro 10' leaders and went right back to catching even bigger fish.


Thank you for the great advice. I will definitely check into the CMOR. We did not throw out a fly line/drift rig this time. The wind and current made it difficult to stay on top of the fish as it was. We rigged up a 3lb weight on a pool noodle as a marker bouy in hopes it would help us stay on the fish but it wasn't the best rig haha! Its been a lot of fun learning. Looking forward to more days on the water.


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## zachgoodgame (Sep 10, 2021)

Boardfeet said:


> That is a SLOB Triggerfish!
> Nicely done sir!


Thank you! We were excited


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## zachgoodgame (Sep 10, 2021)

jack2 said:


> bigass trigger
> jack


Thank you!


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## jwilson1978 (Mar 23, 2021)

zachgoodgame said:


> Thank you!


Where Ya'll from/live. Man in flag shorts looks very familiar not in any kind of bad way just wondering several boats around me showing up just wondering


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## zachgoodgame (Sep 10, 2021)

jwilson1978 said:


> Where Ya'll from/live. Man in flag shorts looks very familiar not in any kind of bad way just wondering several boats boats around me showing up just wondering


Just so happens, I am the guy in flag shorts. The other two are friends of mine. We are from Tennessee (just south of Nashville).


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

One thing you have to be careful of. Your Spanish is actually a juvie king. They've got to be over 24" .


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