After a breezy weekend, it looks like the seas will stay churned up for the next couple of days and then smooth out near the end of the week. Taking into consideration Gulf water temps, smooth seas will be welcome when making long runs offshore.

The gag grouper has come to a crawl inside of the 80-foot mark. When looking for gags plan on running out to at least the 100-foot mark before making your first drops. While the gag grouper bite may be slowing, the red grouper bite has been picking up. Fishing over areas of hard bottom in 120 to 150 feet due west of Anna Maria has very productive. We have been finding a good mix of red grouper, mangrove and lane snapper and an occasional gag on areas of hard bottom.

The most consistent bite has been mangrove snapper and amberjack. Fishing wrecks out past the 130-foot mark we have been able to get limits of jacks to 40 pounds and a fair number of decent mangos. The biggest drawback to fishing the wrecks for snapper is most of the fish get inhaled before you have a chance to get them five cranks off the bottom. Goliath grouper are thick on just about every wreck in the Gulf and tend to make quick work of just about any fish hooked near the bottom. When wreck fishing, try chumming the snapper up off the bottom before you start fishing for them.

Captain Randy Rochelle runs the “Gotta Go” out of St. Petersburg and can be reached at (727) 365-3218 or www.islandercharters.net