Bottom Fishing Videos: Structure, Drift and Depth

These bottom fishing videos put you on the boat with working captains and expert anglers fishing structure from rock piles in 50 feet of water down to the soft mud where golden tilefish burrow 600 feet and deeper, in water from South Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to Costa Rica and Hawaii. Grouper, snapper, amberjack and tilefish hold tight to ledges, wrecks, hard bottom and mud because that structure feeds and hides them.

Every course here comes back to the same three decisions: finding the right piece of bottom, holding the boat over it, and keeping a bait where the fish will actually eat it. Everything else is detail.

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  Saltwater Bottom Fishing Videos

  Reading Electronics for Shallow Water Bottom Fishing

  23:52  ·  Capt. Vlad Moldoveanu

  Red is go. Capt. Vlad Moldoveanu reads his Simrad on Alabama’s artificial reefs and calls snapper, amberjack, or grouper before a bait goes down, then sets the drift that puts it on them. Learn how to read a fish finder the way a working charter captain does in 100 to 130 feet.

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  Saltwater Bottom Fishing Videos

  Bottom Fishing Rigs for Red Snapper, Amberjack and Triggerfish

  24:55  ·  Capt. Vlad Moldoveanu

  The knocker rig looked like a joke to Capt. Vlad Moldoveanu the first time he saw it. Now his first-timers fish it. Here are the four bottom fishing rigs he runs on Alabama’s artificial reefs, which bait goes on which, and the bite mark on a squid that tells him to switch to a triggerfish rig.

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  Saltwater Bottom Fishing Videos

  Catching Live Bait with Your Bottom Machine

  24:31  ·  Capt. Vlad Moldoveanu

  Most anglers drop a sabiki and hope. Catching live bait the way Capt. Vlad Moldoveanu does it means reading the sonar first, calling the drop on one red glob, and filling a pressurized livewell with hardtails for amberjack and bigger snapper from freighters anchored in the Gulf of Mexico.

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  Saltwater Bottom Fishing Videos

  Bottom Fishing Shallow Waters

  28:46  ·  Mike Hennessy

  Hard bottom and rock piles at the mouth of Golfo Dulce, along Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula, hold cubera and other Pacific snappers and African pompano in about 50 feet of water. Captain Mike Hennessy fishes live goggle eyes, threadfin herring and blue runners over the rock, and the African pompano that came up shows what this shallow Pacific bottom holds when a live bait gets down into it.

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  Saltwater Bottom Fishing Videos

  Bottom Fishing Deep Water Ledges

  34:34  ·  Mike Hennessy

  Deep water ledges off Costa Rica's Pacific coast hold Pacific sierra, African pompano and amberjack where current brings bait to the structure. Captain Mike Hennessy shows why setting up within ten feet up-current of the mark decides whether a bait ever reaches the fish, when power drifting holds position because the anchor will not, and how braid lets you feel the bite at depth.

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  Saltwater Mutton Snapper Fishing Boat Positioning Videos Bottom Fishing Videos Reef & Wreck Fishing

  Mutton Snapper Bottom Fishing with Ryan Van Fleet

  1:19:40  ·  Ryan Van Fleet

  Power drifting for mutton snapper in Florida Keys maintains boat positioning over productive bottom while presentations work through strike zones systematically. Ryan Van Fleet's expertise reveals when long versus short leaders create natural bait presentations, bait variety importance as feeding preferences shift with tides, and recognizing subtle bites requiring differentiation between current movement and actual strikes.

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  Saltwater Bottom Fishing Videos Boat Positioning Videos

  Bottom Fishing with Baits and Vertical Jigs

  29:57  ·  Shawn Rotella

  Deep structure off Kona at 75 to 80 fathoms, roughly 450 to 480 feet, holds amberjack (kahala) around ledges, wrecks and rock piles, and finding them is a drift problem before it is a bait problem. Captain Shawn Rotella sets up systematic drifts over that structure, drops baits and vertical jigs at the same time, and reads where in the water column the bites come so every drop that follows goes to the depth where the fish are feeding.

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  10.0/10
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  Saltwater Tilefish Fishing Videos Bottom Fishing Videos Boat Positioning Videos

  Bottom Fishing Techniques for Golden Tilefish

  41:02  ·  Chad Raney

  Golden tilefish create burrows in soft clay or mud bottom hundreds of feet deep where they live in colonies, creating advantages for anglers because fewer snags occur and multiple fish concentrate in areas. However, contending with current while maintaining bottom contact and keeping bait on hooks demands specific techniques Captain Chad Raney developed for drift management and presentation in low current environments.

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  Saltwater Red Snapper Fishing Bottom Fishing Videos Boat Positioning Videos

  Bottom Fishing Red Snapper with Kevin Adney

  22:20  ·  Kevin Adney

  Red snapper concentrate around Gulf Coast structure rather than dispersing across open bottom, making hard bottom location the foundation for success. Kevin Adney's approach develops the game of feel needed to detect subtle bites and position baits where fish feed, using rig construction and hook sizing that handles structure-heavy environments while understanding regulations and preservation techniques for quality catch.

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  6.0/10
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  Saltwater Grouper Fishing Videos Bottom Fishing Videos Boat Positioning Videos

  Bottom Fishing Grouper with Kevin Adney

  1:14:21  ·  Kevin Adney

  Grouper bottom fishing productivity depends on targeting natural reefs and wrecks where fish concentrate rather than random bottom. Kevin Adney's drift management approach keeps baits working productive structure zones systematically, but success requires understanding how current affects drift speed and positioning presentations where grouper ambush prey rather than sweeping past strike zones or hanging in barren areas between structure features.

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  Saltwater Tilefish Fishing Videos Bottom Fishing Videos Boat Positioning Videos

  Bottom Fishing for Golden Tilefish in South Florida

  24:46  ·  Mike Dumas

  Depth sounders reveal whether bottom at 600 to 800 feet contains the soft mud golden tilefish require for burrows or harder substrates holding no fish. Learn identifying proper bottom composition, what Gulf Stream current does to bait presentation at extreme depth, and how rigging must account for detecting subtle bites occurring hundreds of feet below the boat.

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