If you’re one of the hardy souls who’d rather pull up a big grouper than daintily reel in a baby trout, got a perfect offshore trip for this season. Don’t know what the GPS setting is, but in the good old loran days, I’d set my destination to an area we used to call "The Double 300s." Its so named because the site is where the 14 and 45 loran lines intersect at their 300s (i.e. 14300, 45300.) Incidentally, to our more advanced GPS users, one can always convert these numbers to Lat/Lon coordinates and get somewhere in the neighborhood.

"The Double-300s" is about 25 miles from the north end of Anclote key on Florida’s West Coast, It is a hard bottomed area in about 35 to 45 feet of water off Bayport. I should hasten to say that these coordinates are merely a good starting point for your explorations. You’ll still have to hunt down appropriate structure and fish.

Turning on the recorder, you’ll see heavy limestone outcroppings and coral reefs, housing ample populations of gags, mangrove snapper, cobia, king mackerel and an impressive array of lesser species. Much of the seabed appears flat and hard, but there are numerous holes and undercuts, that most sounders don’t pick up. Believe me, they hold a lot of fish. You should also see many peaks and deep breaks, all of which hold lots of fish.

The best fishfinder is a trolled large plug, spoon, or skirted Sea Witch type lure enhanced with a strip of mullet. There should be at least 30-feet of leader from the planer or downrigger to the bait. When a grouper strikes a trolled bait in this area, I’ll guarantee your he’s one of many hungry fish ready to eat.

The moment you hook a grouper trolling, have your "jug person" toss out a marker. Then, swing around and troll back over where you nailed the first fish. When you get another hookup, drop a second jug and set up between the markers.

Another spot that should be rested from reduced fishing pressure is a site divers call "The Gardens," so named because of its picturesque sub-surface scenery. And you don’t even need a loran to find it. Just take a 320 heading off the north end of Anclote key and look for the Pasco’s two artificial reefs. Go past the first one out to an expanse just inside the second reef. The bottom is laced with acres of lush vegetation, limestone outcroppings, corals and numerous ledges. It makes for a beautiful dive, but will also produce for grouper diggers.

Finally, there’s a favorite grouper spot I have that is about 17 miles due west of the Tarpon Springs South Buoy. It is another area of heavy-duty bottom that party boat skippers refer to as "The Humps." Many is the outing where I parked on one of its several deep ledges and caught impressive catches of bottom fish.

So, while all those flats boats are zipping around the flats, why not let them fight it out amongst themselves? If you can afford the fuel, head out to the much more peaceful and productive offshore waters of the Gulf. And save a grouper fillet for me!