BigBendFishing.Net

please understand, just asking questions here..

I recently purchase a 22 bayboat..after selling my bass boat....I wanted to start fishing more in the saltwater, I looked and looked for the right boat,,,wanted it to be as Versatile as possible, since I live near atlanta and alot of my fishing will be for bass...but I wanted to to be able to drift the flats , get skinny (2 foot) for fishing up aginst the grass...but I wanted to be able to go near/off shore on the good days.....now that the boat is almost rigged, Trolling motor/depth finder-gps/vhf..I need to start asking HOW!!!!!

I will mostly be doing most of my near/off shore stuff out of Keatons/Spring Warrior/Econfina...and I did'nt really want to just buy a few rods and stretch 30's and start trolling, I want to target fish,, drop a bait down and drag them off the bottom..

had a friend tell me that I needed to start at the "crane" out of keatons, not fish it specifically but use it as a starting point, he said that within 2 to 5 miles of the crane is plenty of "LIVE" bottom...so here is another question<what is live bottom??? what would it look like on a Lowrance 520c depth finder???does anybody have any pixs of what I should be looking for?? I know private #'s are a big big secret, not asking for that, just an idea of how to locate things like live bottom and to know what it looks like....

Rods?
reels?
line?
hooks?
bait (live/sardines/squid)????

would love to learn to catch things like amberjack/grouper/snapper.....since my days would be limited, and added to that would be the weather, I would only go out on the best of days...but when everything did line up, I would want to be able to go out with a reasonable chance of catching something....

I know nothing beats expeience, and if it was inshore, I have plenty of experience....thats why I am asking questions here, alway a great group of people willing to help out!!!

any info on where to start or some pointers would be great!!!!

Sent you an email w/ phone #. I'm near ATL too and a call is easier that typing answers to your Qs.

Live bottom is anything other than mud and sand.
A chart of the local area will show mud and sand. Everything outside it is "live".
Look for undulations on your bottom machine. These peaks, ridges, valleys are likely places to hold bottom fish.
Trolling the stretch lures can locate fish. Mark the location and anchor up to bottom fish it.
Pay attention to the current and anchor accordingly.
Try the public hot spot numbers and work out from there.
When you catch a fish, mark it on the GPS. Just because you only get one fish today does not mean you won't load the boat there tomorrow.
More info to follow after you master these suggestions.

I would srart off with a few 50lb combos. Level winds are user friendly and reasonable. Asst. of weights from 2 to 8 oz, fluorocarbin leaders, 40 to 80lb and asst of circle hooks, I like 6/0 or 8/0 for grouper. I found crimps to be useful dealing with heavy leaders. Oh well this could go on and on. Im outside Atlanta as well.

P.S. Limitless may be a nice fellow.
However, I am not sure I would take advice from someone called "limitless".

Ugly stick rods, possibly the best production rods made,GTI penn reels,user friendly easy to find.GPS,good bottom machine,public numbers, and go slow into and out of those numbers.Troll slow with stretch lures, constantly watching bottom machine,mark anything that isn't flat, especially on really hard bottom,usually shows as 2 extremely dark solid lines.One other thing,I fish offshore in a smaller boat than you have,learn to constantly watch the clouds and weather, shallow draft boats usually have equally shallow freeboard,be cautious you don't want to get in trouble out there.

Jumptrout51 wrote:P.S. Limitless may be a nice fellow.
However, I am not sure I would take advice from someone called "limitless".

Heck JT51, "Limitless Fun"; "Limitless Enthusiasm"; "Limitless Opportunity", etc., etc. etc. ....

Limitless wrote:

Jumptrout51 wrote:P.S. Limitless may be a nice fellow.
However, I am not sure I would take advice from someone called "limitless".

Heck JT51, "Limitless Fun"; "Limitless Enthusiasm"; "Limitless Opportunity", etc., etc. etc. ....