Hey Frank, My family and I are going deep sea fishing on the Double Eagle on July 7. Could you give some advice as to what kind of bait and setup to use, to have the best chance of being able to bring home some fish? Thanks, Dave

A: You’ll probably do well using the gear and bait they provide. However, you might check with them to see if they have facilities to hold live bait; a dozen pinfish about 4 inches long would give you a great shot at some lunker grouper. You would need the usual bottom rig to handle these big fish--80 pound line, 100 pound leader, 4 to 8 ounces of weight above the swivel, 6/0 to 8/0 extra strong hook.

Another possibility is to take along a couple of sabiki rigs. Drop these down over the reef and reel up fresh baitfish, whatever bites. Then immediately put them on your big rig as bait. (Remember, though, you would have to have the jumbo weights on the sabiki to hit bottom out there, too.)

Last but not least, it might be worth trying some of the largest Berkley “Gulp” artificial baits. This stuff has an amazing scent attraction for all sorts of fish. I haven’t heard of anybody using it on the reef fish yet, but I’d bet it will work.

Tight lines, FS