Fishing past the red tide, great fishing

Had a group of 6, some local, some from Denver Colorado looking to get out and bend some rods.  We departed from Pineland Marina at 645 AM and made our way out thru Captiva Pass. I will say the water around the marina looked decent. No Crazy nasty smells, no dead fish apparent. Didnt see anything until we got outside Captiva Pass in the 30-40 ft zone. We had a strong east wind and an outgoing tide at the time. 
We pushed on out to the 65-70 ft zone and found nice clean water with lots of fliers and birds working the area. We dropped down knocker rigs and were greeted by some decent lane snapper and short RGs immediately. Only a few minutes in we hook into something bigger, turned out to be a nice 23" Red Grouper. The wind and tide were both pushing pretty hard, and we were fishing solid 3-4s with 15-20 mph steady winds.  The boat drifts pretty darn god in these conditions, and you really dont notice the seas till its time to run back head into them.  With the cat, you push it harder into the waves and the ride gets even better. 
With enough fish on ice for dinner, we decided to run in a bit and see if we couldnt get something much larger.  We made our stop just a few miles in, and dropped down some 1-2 lb chunks of bonita.  Less than 2 minutes later and the rod tip starts to move and we come tight on a big girl.  We had her 1/2 way up when the hook pulled. We repeated the process a couple more times, each of which resulted in the fish coming off... Try number 4 was our charm.  Fish inhaled the big bait and we came tight . She ripped some drag off the 50W and the rod was doubled over.  A few back and forth's and a solid 150-200 lb Goliath Grouper was brought alongside the boat, then safely released to fight another day. 
Was a fun and productive day on the water. 
On the way back in, saw more dead fish and sea life (namely turtles) floating dead in the 30-40 ft zone being pushed out by the wind and tides. The dead fish continued all the way back in thru captiva pass where you could see 2 definitive lines of dead fish, mostly cat fish, pinfish and pilchards.  I wouldnt want to risk fishing inshore right now, but offshore 8-10 miles out and further seem to be good right now. ​