Deep Water Fishing / Deep Drop Fishing

Catching a giant red grouper is fun.

Deep water fishing is a style of fishing, similar or the same as deep drop fishing.   It is where you are fishing in deep water or water that is too deep for most traditional tackle to be fun.   Off the coast of Orange Beach, Alabama, we deep water or fish on or near the bottom of the gulf in water 150 feet up to and including 600 feet of water.   This type of fishing is pretty cool, because you don’t ever really know what you are going to catch.   These trips require a full day 10 to 12 hour trip in length to get far enough offshore to fish for the many different species out there.

The ride to the fishing grounds is usually 3 to 4 hours in length.   It takes a while to get there at 12-13 knots.  Sea conditions such as wind and waves can make the ride shorter or a little longer.

The Fish We Catch Deep Water Fishing

Gag grouper are one of the species caught while deep water fishing.

Depending on the depth, we catch a large variety of deep water species such as yellow edge grouper, scamp grouper, tile fish, long tail sea bass, barrel fish, scorpion fish, scamp grouper, gag grouper, white snapper, vermilion snapper and a few more.    The deeper the water we fish, the more unusual the species we catch.   Most of the gag, scamp and red grouper are caught in 200′ of water.   The more exotic fish are caught at greater depths up to 600 feet.

Things That Affect Deep Water Fishing

The under sea current can also have an affect on how the fish bite and or being able to get the baits all the way down to the fish.    Sometimes the current is running 2 to 2.5 knots, which makes deep water fishing tough or impossible.   The moon, the tide, the wind, the sea height and the bite are all things that have to align in order to have a very successful trip.   There are a lot of variables in deep water fishing, but the rewards are pretty nice.

Scamp grouper are caught while deep water fishing.  Season Open Year Round.

The Fishing Tackle We Use

Depending on the depth and the fish we are targeting, we use either traditional tackle or electric reels.  If we use electric reels, we only fish two or three lines at a time.   This keeps the tangles down.  Often the under sea current can twist and tangle the lines and hooks up pretty bad.

Our electric reels are Daiwa Tanacom 1000’s and they are loaded with 100 lb test braided line.   The rig we use allow us to fish vertically in the water.  We put down multiple hooks with at least a 5 pound weight to get the bait to the bottom of the sea floor.   Depending on the depth, we often put down lights in dark or deep water to attract the fish.

Tanacom 1000 electric reels are work horses.

Fishing Seasons

Most of the deep water species of fish are in season year round.  However, gag grouper and red grouper have short seasons.  Red Grouper opens January 1 each year and closes the end of June.  Gag Grouper for 2024 opens September 1 and stays open 16 days and then closes.   Scamp grouper are open year round.