Deep Sea Fishing: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners and Enthusiasts

Deep-sea fishing, while it can be an extremely expensive endeavor, can also be extremely rewarding both in the sense of game fish and table fare. Deep sea fishing, or what I would call offshore fishing, is truly one of the most fun aspects of fishing that I have ever gotten to partake in. 

Offshore fishing provides the unique opportunity to not only catch fish that taste excellent but also to catch fish that can put up some serious fight. The reason offshore fishing is so popular is mainly because of the size and quality of the fish that you can catch. I mean, other than deep-sea fishing in the open ocean, where else in the world can you catch fish that big and tasty? 

Deep sea fishing is also very unique from any other kind of fishing. It requires very different gear and tactics from a typical day of bass fishing. Additionally, the pursuit of deep-sea fishing requires a lot more money simply because of the tools required to do it. Some of these tools include a boat, fuel, expensive rods, reels, and lures.

While deep-sea fishing does require a certain level of expertise, both experienced and novice anglers can enjoy this hobby. Now, it will be significantly more difficult for a novice angler to catch offshore species. It certainly can be done if you have the gear, and I will tell you how to do so in this article. 

As always, knowledge and experience are super helpful, but another great tool is the Fishbox app. For deep-sea fishing, an understanding of the weather is one of the most important parts of the game. Luckily for you, the Fishbox App combines all these metrics together to essentially give you a score for how good the fishing will be. Take advantage of this resource and download the Fishbox App today.

What is Deep Sea Fishing

Deep sea fishing, by definition, is fishing where it is at least 100 feet deep in a saltwater body. This being said, most of the offshore fishing we do is, by definition, “deep sea fishing.” Deep sea fishing differs dramatically from most other types of fishing, such as inshore or freshwater fishing.

For one, the fish are just bigger. They put up more of a fight and have a lot more space to get bigger. 

Number two, you are more than likely going to have to size up your gear exponentially from something like freshwater fishing. This is due to the fact that deep-sea fishing opens the doors to a variety of species that could quite literally pull you into the water if you are not equipped to fight them. 

Number three, deep-sea fishing is far more expensive than any other type of fishing. You need more and heavier lines, bigger and stronger rods and reels, a boat to get you to someplace, and much more. Now, I want to be abundantly clear: I am absolutely not trying to discourage you from deep-sea fishing; I simply am trying to inform you of some of the risks you will be taking by picking up this hobby. It is an addictive type of fishing, and you will go broke if you start to get involved in it. Before I move further in the article, I would like to list some of the commonly caught species while deep sea fishing. These include king mackerel, snapper, grouper, mahi, Wahoo, tuna, sailfish, marlin, triggerfish, swordfish, and so much more. I hope the possibility of catching these species gets you as excited as it gets me!

Essential Gear for Deep Sea Fishing

There are a variety of different gear components that play into deep-sea fishing, so let’s break them down. Before I even begin, I want to highlight just how different this gear can be based on what you are targeting and how you are targeting the fish, be it live bait, planar trolling, etc. This being said a good bit of rod and reel selection is going to be a straight-up preference. To make this slightly easier to follow, I’m going to divide this gear section into a few different sections and then further break those down. Let’s get started. 

Bottom Fishing

One of the biggest, if not the biggest, facets of deep-sea fishing is bottom fishing. Bottom fishing provides the ability to fairly easily fill a color with tons of tasty fish, all while keeping your boat in the same spot.

Rods and reels

This is probably the most important part of bottom fishing, but it does offer a little room for preference. Depending on what you are more comfortable with, you can either use spinning or conventional tackle. I prefer spinning because I can work with a fish more easily, although some prefer conventional tackle because of the torque it offers. When you are bottom fishing, you are most likely going to be targeting snapper and grouper—species that are notorious for testing tackle and fighting super hard right off the bat. If you can get those fish 20 or 30 feet off of the bottom, you have already won the fight. This being said, we’re going to need a rod with a backbone. We don’t want to give the snapper or grouper any time to go back into their holes and break us off. Additionally, we want a reel that gives a good ratio of line reeled in per turn of the handle, and we also want high drag to apply lots of pressure to these fish. For my deep-sea bottom fishing setup, I have an Okuma Cedros combo, which I highly recommend. Since I haven’t used every bit of bottom fishing equipment, I would recommend you visit thehulltruth.com for more information about preferred rods and reels for deep sea bottom fishing from guys who have done it their entire lives.

Baits and lures 

At the end of the day, your bait is what is going to set you apart from the rest of the competition. Additionally, bait selection also depends on what you are targeting. If I’m going from grouper and snapper, I want a hardy live bait such as a pogy, pinfish, croaker, or blue runner. You may be tempted to say these baits will be too big for the fish, but I can assure you that this snapper and grouper can open their mouths wider than you think. For smaller snapper species, I would almost always recommend cutting bait, whether that be bonita or squid (squid is preferred, in my opinion). 

Trolling 

Offshore trolling is another great way to put tasty fish in the box, except this time, when you’re mostly targeting pelagics like mahi, tuna, Wahoo, and billfish.

Rods and Reels 

This is really where you are often going to have to break the wallet and get into some high-dollar tackle in order to handle these fish. For the most part, you’re going to be targeting tuna, Wahoo, and Mahi, but the occasional billfish will find itself in the mix. This being said, I would recommend 30 wide reels and 50 wide reels. You can use the 50 wides to troll planers for Wahoo and the 30s for applications such as trolling live bait or even dead ballyhoo. Again, these rods and reels are, for the most part, a preference once you get into a certain price range. On the rod side of things, you are going to want rods with some backbone, especially for the 50s, because you could be potentially handling very large fish in addition to the planar, which puts a large amount of stress on the rod. Since I don’t have a ton of experience with offshore trolling gear, I would highly recommend consulting YouTube reviews and The Hull Truth to see what anglers are saying about their preference. For the most part, I would recommend staying within the big brands like Penn, Shimano, and Okuma.

Baits and lures

Baits can differ a ton from species to species, but one thing that I commonly see used over and over again is ballyhoo. These prove lethal to almost any pelagic.  Now, obviously, there are plenty of other baits out there to use, but ballyhoo seems to be the repeated theme in my research. Again, I would recommend consulting other experienced offshore anglers and getting some of their takes on what baits you should be using. For lures, my research seems to point me to Nomad lures due to their durability and action in the water.

Read also: How and Where to Catch Live Bait in Saltwater

Safety Equipment

While rods, reels, bait, and lures are all extremely important in the game of deep-sea fishing, safety is the first priority, so let’s talk about what we need on the boat in order to stay safe on the water. Here are some common safety devices:

• Flare and EPIRB: These are used to give the position in the unlikely scenario that your vessel is compromised.
• Radio: This will allow you to communicate with other boats around the world and even the United States Coast Guard if necessary.
• Life Jackets: This is probably the most crucial thing to have on the boat in terms of safety equipment. I don’t care how good of a swimmer you think you are; you need a life jacket on the boat for each person on board. It is always good to wear a life jacket at all times, but at the very least, have one for each person on the boat.
• General First Aid Kit: These can treat minor cuts, scrapes, etc.
• Tourniquet (optional): When I have my own offshore boat one day, Lord willing, I will definitely be carrying a tourniquet on board simply because there are so many offshore fish that can really make you bleed. At the end of the day, I’d rather be safe than sorry. 

Other Accessories

Before I move on to further topics in the article, I would like to hit some other accessories you may want to have with you when you are deep-sea fishing. To name a few:

• Cooler/Fish Bag: These can be game changers, especially in smaller boats without a lot of in-deck fish storage. This will keep your catch in pristine, tasty condition.
• Gaff: I doubt I have to say many words about having a gaff on the boat. I wouldn’t recommend trying to land a mahi with a net. You’ll thank me later. I prefer a manageable 6-foot length.
• Pliers/Scissors/Knives: These can help untangle and dehook fish or dispatch them quickly if need be.

Techniques and Tips for Deep Sea Fishing

Basic Techniques for Beginners

• Casting in Deep Water: I would recommend casting with the intention of replicating a real fish. This will mean varying the retrieve speed and motion of your bait to best mimic a struggling baitfish. Especially if you see fish on the top, chances are they aren’t that particular. Just try to get bait or lure in front of that fish as quickly as possible to elicit a reaction strike.
• Trolling in Deep Water: Vary. Your. Baits. These three words will often spell the difference between success and defeat on the water. Don’t limit yourself to one type of bait or lure or presentation in your spread. Here’s the reason: all the fish must do is not like that one presentation, and you won’t see bites all day long. Mix it up; maybe some of your baits have skirts, and others don’t. Maybe troll two different types of lures. Maybe have one line that is deeper than the others. Mix and match to see what the fish want and go from there. Don’t be stubborn and/or lazy, and restrict yourself to just one bait.
• Jigging in Deep Water: Much like the casting tips, you want to mimic the baitfish. Unless you want to spend all day wearing yourself out with jacks, I would drop your jig, let it hit the bottom, real up a few cranks, and then start bouncing it. If you are over a good bottom and you bring that jig anywhere close to the middle of the water column, a jack will almost inevitably eat it. 

Advanced Techniques for Experienced Anglers

• As you get more experienced in the field of deep-sea fishing, I would recommend specializing your tackle and investing in nice gear designed for a specific purpose. For example, let’s consider jigging. Instead of just rerigging one of your go-to rods to do some jigging, maybe consider getting a unique slow-pitch setup. While this will cost you some extra money, it will give your jigging some better action in addition to opening up another rod for something else or what that rod should be being used for in the first place.
• Another huge tip I would recommend is to find your own spots. Sure, you can find tons of spots on the maps out there, but I would also encourage you to look around and explore on your own. Look for some live bottom on your meter and go from there. Then, you can develop your own little secret spots.

Tips for Finding the Right Fishing Spots

Reading Weather Patterns and Ocean Currents

For starters, you want to pick a day that’s going to be calm and relatively stormless if possible. You should be able to find weather data at an offshore sea buoy somewhere near where you will be fishing. Don’t just look at the wave height just out of your home inlet, as the waves are very different offshore than inshore for the most part.

Second, I would recommend looking at current and temperature breaks in the water—especially the temperature breaks, as this is often where bait and, thus, predatory fish can pile up. These services are mostly hidden behind paywalls but are definitely worth considering if you will be doing a considerable amount of offshore fishing.

Using GPS and Sonar

If you are a beginner, I would highly recommend asking experienced offshore anglers where you should try or go to a popular spot either known by map or word of mouth. From there, I would suggest using your sonar to mark bait. You want to fish in areas where there is bait—that is the ticket. While this is still important while trolling, it is extremely important when bottom fishing if you want to have success. There doesn’t necessarily have to be a cloud of bait, but if you’re going to bottom fish a spot, you better see some sort of life on the sonar in order to justify stopping to fish that spot.

Handling Large Fish 

When handling very large fish, especially when deep sea fishing, there are a few tips I want to give you guys. I will break it down into these three sections:

Hooking:

 For the most part, you shouldn’t ever really have to set the hook—especially if you are using circle hooks as they set themselves. Also, when trolling, the fish essentially set the hooks on themselves.

Read also: Most Common Types of Fishing Lures

Fighting: 

You want to ALWAYS keep tension on the fish. When trolling, this means keeping the boat in gear, and when bottom fishing, this means smooth, methodical reeling and not the jerking I always see. Be patient with the fish and coax them into coming to the boat. Horsing the fish is a sure way to lose a big one.

Landing 

When the fish gets ready to be landed, and you see what it is, decide whether or not you want to keep it or release it. If you want to keep the fish, depending on the size, you may want to gaff the fish, as it can be way easier to land a large fish this way. When bringing these fish onboard, be extremely careful when flying hooks and teeth. If you have a coffin box or cooler, I will highly recommend just opening that up and throwing the fish inside right away until it calms down a bit.

Dehooking 

With deep-sea fish, I almost always use pliers to dehook my fish simply because of how toothy most of the fish are. This is just safer. If you are releasing a fish and don’t want to get near its mouth (for example, a barracuda), I would suggest just cutting the line above the hooks.

Patience and Persistence

This may seem cliché, but these two words can make the difference between a good fisherman and a great fisherman. For myself, I define patience as the ability to wait out a tough bite or wait on that one shot you need to get a big one. Persistence is the ability to pick your head up after a tough day on the water and to go do it again, anticipating better results than before. If you can add these two attributes to your tackle box, you will be a far more successful angler and a more successful person. Attributes like these go further than just the fishing world, trust me. 

Preparing for a Deep-Sea Fishing Trip

Planning and Research

What Do You Want to Target

Before you go out on your deep-sea fishing excursion, it is extremely important to consider what species you want to target. To go out deep sea fishing without a plan is very risky and will often result in a poor day of fishing. So, before you even get out on the water, even a day or two in advance, plan out what you want to catch and how you plan on doing so, giving yourself some wiggle room and backup plans in case what you originally wanted to do falls through. In addition, I would also note that you should see what is in season and biting well to determine what you want to target—this is often how we plan our own offshore fishing trips.

What to Pack

There are a few different personal items you want to pack depending on how long you will be out on the water and the weather conditions. If you are going to be out in the water for an extended period of time, plan on bringing a good amount of food and lots of water because it can be very easy to get dehydrated in the water. Second, if it is even remotely cold, I would recommend dressing warmer than you think you need to dress because that wind chill, especially when the boat is moving, is going to bite. Trust me, I know this from personal experience. If the weather is very sunny, I would also highly recommend sunscreen. While it is annoying to put on, it can not only save you from the pain of sunburn, but it also helps to prevent long-term damage like melanoma and skin cancer. So, keep this in mind next time you get out on the water.

Rules and Regulations

For this section, there are a few things to consider. First of all, you and all of those on the boat fishing need to have a valid fishing license for the state you are fishing in. Just get this figured out before you go out to sea because you likely will not have service while on the water. Secondly, research the regulations for fish ahead of time and get to know them so you know what is in and out of season, as well as the size and bag limits of the species you plan on keeping. The Fish Rules App is a great resource for this.

Safety Tips for Deep Sea Fishing

The Importance of Wearing Safety Equipment

Now, a lot of you reading this section of the article will be tempted to believe that most of the safety requirements on boats and those that I suggest are pointless because emergencies never actually happen. I would caution you against this set of beliefs because in the last few years, just around my area of Ocean Isle Beach, NC alone, I have heard of plenty of anglers who either were confirmed to have died on the water or just disappeared and never came back after going out to fish. This being said, I would advise you guys to consider safety as a first priority so that you can always make it back home. I mean, come on, if you don’t make it back home, you don’t get to tell those fish stories anyway. Here are some safety tips I would like to recommend:

Never Fish Solo

This one might be somewhat controversial for people to hear, but I would like you to consider my perspective. Anytime you are near water, there is always going to be the potential for drowning. You could easily slip, hit your head, fall off the boat, and drown right then and there. There are really two ways to prevent these kinds of accidents—I suggest considering both. First, wear a life preserver, especially if you are fishing alone, and/or bring a friend with you to fish. This is much safer and allows for one person to respond if something goes wrong for another. In addition, another person on the boat makes landing fish far safer and often more fun.

Wear Your Life Preserver ALWAYS 

You never know when you could fall off the boat when offshore fishing. There are random waves, swells, and wind gusts that could accidentally sweep you off your feet. This being said, always be prepared and ready by having that life preserver on.

Wear Your Kill Switch

If you are fishing alone, you definitely need to be wearing your kill switch. Over the years, countless anglers have been lost at sea because they made a simple mistake and fell out of a running boat. Now, some of this could obviously be attributed to negligence, and one could even go as far as to make the claim that fishing by oneself is negligence, but you want to be wearing that kill switch if fishing alone—especially offshore fishing. Even if you are drifting and you fall out of the boat, the boat could move away quicker from you than you could swim. After that, I don’t know what else there is to do other than stay afloat and start praying. The odds of survival get even worse if you fall off while your boat is in gear trolling. When authorities ultimately find that boat, it could be miles and miles from you. In a sense, I am trying to scare you into wearing these safety devices because they could and have saved lives in the past.

Tips for Seasickness

Seasickness is a very common theme amongst offshore anglers—especially those who aren’t as experienced. For starters, I would recommend taking Dramamine a few hours before you go out. This over-the-counter medicine helps fight the symptoms of seasickness and even prevent it before it happens. Another medicine I would recommend is sea patches. These sit behind your ear and have the same function as Dramamine. I believe you are supposed to put these on a few hours before you go out as well. I have never gotten seasick before, but my dad, who does get seasick, recommends the patches over Dramamine. The third and final recommendation I would give is to just spend time on the water. The more and more your body gets used to the constant swell and beating of the waves, the better it will respond going forward. 

How to Deal with Emergencies

Bad Weather

Now, if you encounter bad weather while offshore fishing, I’m going to assume you didn’t do a great job checking the forecast. While this is the case, most of the time, squalls can pop up out of nowhere. If this happens, try to run inland and away from the storm if possible. If you are going to have to ride out the storm, try to get away from metal and just wait for it to pass over. Honestly, there’s not much you can do if you encounter bad weather on the seas unless you can run around or away from it.

Read also: Ice Fishing Basics

Equipment Failure 

If you have fished long enough, you absolutely know equipment failure is going to happen; it’s just a matter of when. This being said, I always recommend having some kind of backup pump or bucket in the boat in case you start taking on water, whether this is because of the bilge going out or some other issue. Additionally, I would recommend bringing a small toolbox to repair small issues if possible. Lastly, I would HIGHLY recommend some kind of marine service, whether that be SeaTow, Tow Boat US, or some other service. This can save you hours upon hours of trouble and is well worth the price because you will need them one day. 

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Overpacking or Underpacking Gear

The amount of gear you take on the trip depends on how much room on the boat you have. Especially if you are invited on someone else’s boat, don’t be that guy who brings every single snack in his fridge. Bring what you need. With regards to underpacking, the only things that I can think of are gear itself and water. You can never bring too much water, and it’s always good to have backup plans for fishing, which might include extra gear. If you plan on trolling, bring some bottom rods just in case, and vice versa.

Ignoring Weather Updates

The header should have enough information. If there is a small craft advisory, don’t take your boat out. Be smart, plan your trips ahead of time, and don’t jeopardize your safety just so you can fish for an extra day, let alone a couple extra hours. Listen to local guides and captains and base your weather decisions on their advice.

Improper Handling of Fish and Gear

Don’t try to dehook a fish with your hands. Don’t ever wrap the leader around your hand unless you know how to properly do this (people have died this way). Watch where you are swinging your gaff around. Don’t kill a fish if you don’t need to. Get all the necessary equipment to safely release fish back to the depths. In summary, just don’t be dumb and respect God’s creation, which He has blessed us with.

Deep Sea Fishing for Beginners vs. Experienced Anglers

Tailoring Techniques Based on Experience Level

There truly isn’t much I can say about varying techniques based on experience level. There aren’t many hard and fast rules as you get more experienced with deep sea fishing. At the end of the day, I would suggest spending more time in the water to gain experience. From this experience, you will learn to test new skills and hone your craft. The experience will come with time and patience. As you get more invested in the unique opportunity that offshore fishing presents, you very quickly might find yourself addicted to the sport. You still have a family to support, so don’t blow all your money on deep-sea fishing gear.

At the end of the day, the only tip I have for beginners is to try, fail, and try again. Repeat this process until you get better, and always chase the bigger fish. YouTube doesn’t catch you fish; time on the water, hours put in, and effort do.

Conclusion

I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this article. As you can tell from the length of this thing—deep-sea fishing is my passion. I’ve fallen head over heels for it and don’t plan on ever going back. Get out there and try it for yourself. As always, good luck and tight lines!

---

Photo Source: All photos in this article were provided by expert Pierce Latta.

Visit his Instagram profile.

Subscribe to his YouTube channel.