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Has anyone got any tips on how to catch the larger black bass this time of the year? I have been catching several of them while fishing for trout but most of them have been short. I would love to catch a limit of keeper black bass to fry up. Someone told me to try fishing the edge of sandy areas in 10 to 12 feet. I have also read that deep water structure such as rock piles is the best place to find them. We have a trip planned for Keaton next weekend and are trying to get some good tips ahead of time. Thanks!

Most of the black sea bass you catch while trout fishing are going to be small. The larger ones will be in a little deeper water. I have good luck in 30---40 feet around some kind of structure. As far as table fare, I think they are better tasting than grouper.
Good luck

what i hear from some comm. boys we may all be fishing for black bass

BETTER THAN GROUPER????? Shame, Shame Grouper is King. Myabe you haveven't noticed the price of Grouper in the supermarket. (LOL) All kidding aside, be careful of posting such comments about Sea Bass. Everyone will start fishing for them. Tight Lines!!!

MAV wrote:what i hear from some comm. boys we may all be fishing for black bass

The Black Bass are what a lot of the commercial stone-crabbers turned to this year because the crabs weren't crawling. I went on a few commercial trips last Fall. It was nothing to bring back 200-300 pounds in just a few hours (they only sell for about $0.90 a pound, so you really need about 500 pounds to make a good profit, but we were just doing it for fun and selling the fish to pay for the trip). They can be a lot of fun on a multiple hook chicken rig. We would focus on 30-40 feet, although I've seen them really thick in 20-25 feet.

You should do OK in the 10-12 foot range, but a lot of what you catch there will be shorts, and they're not nearly as thick as they can be further offshore. Just find a good rockpile and drop a jig to the bottom.

The meat is as good or better than most grouper and snapper species, you just don't get a whole lot of it.

Plus they pull like a freight train!

If your familiar with the Econfina area, go toward Rock Island look for the bird racks out about 3 miles. Go just past the racks and look for spotty bottom and chunk out a straight grub of any color and hang on. We have caught some gooduns out in that area.

Got any advice for the Panacea/St. Marks area?

Thanks for all of the info from everyone.

I have a 18.5' bay boat with a 90hp and I suppose that 20 to 25 feet is achievable with this boat even though I have never ventured out that far. I hear that the Florida snapper (white snapper) may also be in the same area and they are supposed to be a good eating fish as well. What is the best way to rig up for these two species? Most of my tackle is geared up for trout and red fish.

Trout or redfish tackle is fine- they are sporty fish on light weight tackle.

You can bounce a regular jig on the bottom or sweeten it with a bit of squid.

Or fish a double dropper hook rig with the weight on the bottom - like you see people surf fish with.

They are not picky

Yeah, Blackshear, But you might up-size jigs to 1/2-oz or greater (up to 1-oz). 3/4 to 1-oz egg weight rigs work good, too; sorta a miniature grouper rig.