Key West Wreck Hunting

Targeting wrecks off of Key West, Florida, is always productive when you're out there with Capt. R.T. Trosset. The bite varies from blackfin tuna off of shrimp boats to amberjack and cobia, and Trosset is an expert at landing it all. Photos by Pat Ford.

Shrimp boats in the Gulf act like big dinner bells for tuna, bonito and barracuda. Once the shrimp boat hauls its nets, the tuna show up to feed on the scraps. Leaving the dock early is the key to finding the boats and bumming a bucket of shrimp trash for bait.

Schools of big mangrove snapper ripe for the taking hang out at nearly every wreck in the Gulf of Mexico.

Calm weather and shrimp boat trash combine for some epic fishing northwest of Key West in the summer months. You never know what might show up behind the boat, so be ready for anything and everything.

Lots of the deeper Gulf wrecks hold red snapper. The snapper will follow a chum line up toward the boat and take a free-lined bait.

Amberjack are always available if you're looking for a good workout. These brutes pull like a freight train.

Capt. R.T. with a nice cobia that he spotted traveling with a whale shark and a 50-pound-class mackerel that showed up in the slick.

While some may call barracuda a trash fish, they are blast to catch on light tackle and fly. This one shot out of the water to snatch a live bait.

Summertime is the ideal time to target big cudas on fly. Hooking barracuda on fly is a lot easier than landing them. You need good gear and a heavy-gauge shock tippet.

Cero mackeral show up at times, which are fun to catch, but barracuda like them too.

There aren't as many shrimp boats during the summer but with a little local intel and radar you can find them and once you do it won't take long to attract a variety of species to your boat.

While some may claim that the bite slows down in the dog days of summer off of Key West, it never seems to slow down for Capt. R.T. Trosset. With decades of experience in the Keys, R.T. can always find fish.

Massive schools of jacks roam the Gulf of Mexico wrecks all year long.

Blackfin tuna can be caught behind the shrimp boats during the warmer months, but it's hard to get to them through the dozens of bonito.

Capt. R.T. with a nice summer blackfin. The big boat in the background was cutting in on our shrimp boat action, but we still put tuna in the boat.

Sharks are abundant on Gulf hot spots, especially wrecks. Reel your catch in quick.

Whale shark sightings are rare but amazing to experience. The big gentle sharks often have cobia following them, as well.