Hi all , my wife and I plan on going off shore this Tuesday to try for some ARS, the problem is that we have not fished more than 25 miles out of Clearwater or about 70'. Are we better off trailering to Ft. Desoto or John's Pass to hit the depths need for snapper? If so what should we look for to find the fish? I don't have any specific numbers for that far out but I do have Off Shore hunter to find some areas. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hard bottom in at least 120-130 try pinfish. You should get 6-9 pounders in that range. Even the wrecks will have ARS on them.

Like never_skunked said...at least 120'...hard bottom, wrecks and ledges. Mitigation areas near the Pipe will hold them. Pinfish, frozen sardines, or squid will get them along with butterfly jigs. Once the bite gets going, the bigger ones will be higher up in the water column. Good luck and give us a report on how you do!

What both guys above have said... any ramp out of Pinellas and by heading to 120+ you are more than guaranteeing yourself some ARS... there are some after the 100' mark but scattered and not as easy to come by if you don't have the #'s...

Use your software and concentrate on a specific area... the spring/sink NW of the Mexican Pride holds a ton of smaller fish with a few pigs mixed in... find that in your software and all the other spots within say a 5-10 mile radius... should be plenty of #'s within that circle for you to explore...

*Go with what you personally think would be the less visited / less popular spot... may hit pay dirt!!!

And for goodness sake, watch that bottom machine the whole time once you are in at least 120'... sometimes the smallest relief, roll off or break can house a ton of fish... I have compiled a book of numbers using public #'s and using them at reference points... A to B... its what I find in between A and B that counts!!!

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll put in south, it seems to be closer to deep water. I'll let you know how we do.

Sure hoping you can get out. Was suposed to be coming in right now. Never got out last night because of the conditions. Second time I got "blown in" and have never gotten out. That's what's sick about having a short season and having that season during the dangerous, unpredictable Summer time.

Lots of water currents offshore right now. It's really churned up and moving. Expect to see smaller fish shows and down near the bottom.

Hope you get into them.

Went diving at the mitigation site Sunday in 115 ft not any red snapper looked like all fish packed up an left never seen anything like that before caught very few red grouper.just plain no fish there

We did go off shore yesterday, not quite as planned. We left out of Clearwater and couldn't find any bait around the bridges so being a bit impatient I figured we would find plenty around the Blackthorn which was on our way out. It was there but all tiny stuff or huge black spot. Plenty of Macks and Bonito crashing the little stuff. Did pick up a few usable baits so moved about ten miles west to 90'.
We bottom fished and had non stop action on short red grouper and a few gags on frozen bait, Squid,cigar minnows, blue runners and pinfish. When we dropped our four live baits down all rewarded us with keeper reds to 25". I could kick my self for not working the near shore hard bottom for pins and blue runners, we would have limited out easily with live bait. Oh well, It was a great day, great weather and no problems other than some sore arms. Out at 6:15am and in by 1:30 pm.

3rdmate wrote:
That's great! Red snapper or red grouper? I always load up pins either with my pinfish trap or chum them up and net them. Never leave home without them! haha

All grouper, no ars or mangos.