anyone trolling the steps or elbow or middle grounds in the gulf?

[leftcoast]

I heard it is a great place with lots of fish and little pressure.
It's about 100 miles out from st. pete

[mrkarn]

Some people do with downriggers, from what I've seen, I mainly just bottom fish for grouper.

[leftcoast]

In the middle grounds or all over out deep?

[Capt. Tommy Z.]

There is some trolling to be done out there. More towards the Elbow and the Steps. But, be prepared for a lonnnggg run out and back. Wahoo, yellowfin, blackfin, dolphin, sails and some marlin can be caught there. Also look at "The Loop". Kinda the Gulf's version of the east coast's "Gulf Stream".

[leftcoast]

Maybe we should cruise out together sometime? I have a 34 yellowfin CC. On a nice day I can cruise at around 40. I would like to start hitting that area when the weather gets right.

[Biloxi Regulator]

Hot bite out there last season double digit shots. I was working on a boat in St. thomas and my dad and them were posting better numbers than many boats in St t at the time.

[leftcoast]

do you know what area they were fishing? I am out of st. pete. I know where the elbow is but where are the steps. I would love to get a general starting point with gas prices the way they are!

[787337]

Mrkarn, do you take your 207 out to the Middle Grounds? I just bought one and was thinking that the Middle Grounds was out of my range.

[Bitefish]

The Steps and Elbow are fished out of Destin (I've done it many times) but I didn't know guys came out of St. Pete for it..... they can be very fishy.....

[cass]

We had lots of billfish bites(ie every trip), wahoo, and dolphin, and saw tuna at the elbow- released blues, whites, and a sailfish, and i hear you can catch swordfish at the elbow at night but look more to the spur and steps for swordies,

[captkenr]

From Clearwater to the "Steps" you are looking at a 150 mile (SW) one way trip. I've fished the area many times but always on multiple day trips. The "Elbow" is about half way out there. Considerably closer out of Ft. Meyers.

You'd do better to subscribe to Rolfers and make the trip under optimum conditions. Consider fishing the "Old Salt Loop Tournaments" when there will be lots of boats in the area. Organizers of the Loop Tournament sometimes have an offshore "gas station" where you can take on fuel. This "gas station" is a big shrimp boat with lots of drums of fuel aboard.

I've seldom seen any better rips than in the "Steps" area.

Safety first. You'd definitely be better off to trailer your boat to Venice Louisiana. With marine fuel costs, if you fish 3 or 4 days out of Venice, LA, you will save money, be safer and fish the best sport fishing area in the US. Another plus is sleeping in an airconditioned room that isn't rolling at night.

[leftcoast]

I wonder if there is more than 1 elbow? The one on my chart is about due west of Tampa Bay maybe 80 miles. I do use Hilton Navigator to monitor the loop, temps and current. What is the lat and long you guys have for the elbow and steps?
I have 330 gals of gas with twin 250 outboards. 150 miles one way is out of my range for sure.

[285exp]

We fish both these areas out of Orange Beach. The Steps are around 29 19.00 N, 87 40.00W. The Elbow is around 29 39.00 N, 87 17.00 W.

[jsrodguy]

We do some trips to the Elbow every year from St Pete. We catch Wahoo, Tuna, Dolphin, Snapper & Grouper all the time. I'm sure if we spent more time at it we would see more Billfish also.

[leftcoast]

I thought we were talking about different areas. Our elbow is around 27-47 & 84-11
Not sure if our area is as fishy as yours?

[285exp]

Not familiar with your area, so I can't make a comparison. Both of these are usually productive. The Elbow is basically the west wall of the DeSoto Canyon. Very good billfishing last year; we raised at least one nearly every trip. Wahoo and blackfins very commonly found.

[go4big1]

I am pretty sure this is the elbow..and a good spot to fish.. 27 41.28 N 84 10.94 W.. Someone is going to take me out there before I have to go to the old folks home.

[leftcoast]

I saw both elbow areas on Hilton Navigator (competitor of Roffs only lots cheaper) and yours is way up north.
I will try ours this spring and summer and hope the $900 in fuel is worth it??

[go4big1]

I hear a lot of people say they find good fishing going 100 miles south west of Ft. Desoto.. I had a chance to fish the Mexican Pride and the Pillsbury and there was plenty of action.. I know a extra 50 miles west has to have some hot spots.. I bet if you ask around some you can come up with some numbers that will work for you. Gas is high alright.. I think it you had the safety equipment ..Gettiing out there and camping our a few days would make the trip worth the run. just my two cents worth .. I am sure you have a lot of plans kicking around.. .. Just stay safe.

[Shaft]

We're heading out to the middle grounds this weekend and the Elbow next weekend. MG trip is for the snapper, and red grouper.

The Elbow trip is what I'm really looking forward to. Full moon wahoo bite, hopefully with a side of BF tuna, Mahi and Sailfish.