Three Tampa Deep Sea Fishing Tactics

There is a variety of Deep Sea fishing available in the Tampa area. Florida is of course the fishing capital of the United States. Tampa is built directly on the Gulf of Mexico and offers some great Deep Sea fishing.

One deep sea fishing tactic is locating a wreck or other for of structure on the bottom of the ocean. Typically these wrecks occur in water approximately twenty feet deep but can be found in water from twenty to well over one hundred feet deep with the correct equipment and patience. You can also buy books that list the various known wrecks and form of structure by their gps coordinates.

Once you locate a wreck you need to skillfully position your boat so that it rests direct above the target area you will fishing. This can take some skill and expertise as you need to judge the tide and strength of the current in positioning your anchor properly.

It is also essential that you have the proper equipment when fishing wrecks. It is very important that you use a very heavy action stout rod. If you are lucky enough to have a large Grouper or other large game fish take your bait it will immediately head into the wreck once it realizes it has been hooked. You therefore need a heavy action rod to stop these fish in their tracks and pull them towards the surface and away from the impediments to your line.

For the same reasons listed in the previous paragraph you need a reel that is large enough to hold at least two hundred yards of line with a heavy test strength, at least thirty pounds. It also will help immensely if the reel has a large enough gear ratio to give it the highest possible power when cranking a fish towards the surface.

You can use a wide variety of bait in this situation. Live bait as always will work best. Live shrimp will catch just about everything. If you wish to target specifically larger fish you can switch to a live mullet, large blue crab or whatever type of large bait fish is generally available.

It can help also to chum the area with a ample portion of finely ground chum.

When fishing wrecks I like to use the free spool of my reel and allow my bait to sink all the way to the bottom of the ocean. I will then reel it up about one to two feet from the bottom. This way I can feel it directly when the fish grabs the bait. It is imperative that you feel pickups immediate and act to move the hooked fish away from the structures that will cut your line. This technique allows for that action.