Blackbelly Rosefish in Miami
Blackbelly Rosefish or “rosies” are tasty but strange looking deep drop fish. They have big yellow eyes and look like they would be poisonous but they’re actually harmless. Rosies inhabit rocky bottom from 750-1200 feet of water. Deep Dropping with chicken rigs is the primary technique for getting down to these fish. Because of the extreme depth, electric reels are standard practice for rosies. We use 4-8 pounds of lead on 130lb rigs for rosies (you never know when you’ll hook something bigger). The fun part of rosy fishing is when they’re really biting you can load up on these tasty little guys. They are usually 1-3 pounds but taste great nonetheless.
Deep Drop Charters
The most important part of rosy fishing is having a good bottom machine and finding structure in the optimum depth. My favorite thing about fishing for rosies is the by-catch sometimes. I have caught stud tilefish on my favorite rosy spots as well as snowy grouper. Fishing for rosies isn’t an all day affair but if you are in the area it’s sometimes worth taking a quick deep drop. We sometimes take a drop when our clients really want meat and we happen to be fishing near a rosy hole.