Grouper in 25' or less?

[tallykenj]

My wife, daughters and I have never caught a keeper grouper. Last year we went to Rotary Reef and caught a grouper that was .25" to short, Catherine tried to stretch the little guy but couldn't make it. We would love to catch one (or more) this year. Is is possible to catch one this time of year in 20' - 25' of water? This weekend we poked around Wakulla Reef and didn't find anything. I know the public reefs are under a lot of pressure but we have to start somewhere. My guess is that we could start in a public reef area and troll within a mile radius to see if we can find some natural spots.

Any advise, anyone?

[Jhults11]

Start at the buoy 1 (sea bouy) out of st marks, put 2 stretch 25s in the water and troll at about 3-4 miles per hour SSE. Use braided line like 65-80 pound power pro on the reel with a 3 foot section of 80 pound mono to allow the plugs to make it to the bottom (less friction with braid vs mono). Put them back about 3x the length of the boat or unitll they start bumping the bottom then pull them in a few turns untill they are running a few feet off the bottom. If ya get a hit mark that spot with your gps and troll back over it. Their are a lot of rock piles and small ledges within 5 miles of the sea buoy that holder lots of keeper gags in the spring and fall. In addition you can luck up and get a king or cobia by using the trolling method. The better colors vary from day to day but we find the chartruse, hot pink, and white body/red head strecth 25s by manns bait company always produce. Good luck with it

[tallykenj]

Start at the buoy 1 (sea bouy) out of st marks, put 2 stretch 25s in the water and troll at about 3-4 miles per hour SSE. Use braided line like 65-80 pound power pro on the reel with a 3 foot section of 80 pound mono to allow the plugs to make it to the bottom (less friction with braid vs mono). Put them back about 3x the length of the boat or unitll they start bumping the bottom then pull them in a few turns untill they are running a few feet off the bottom. If ya get a hit mark that spot with your gps and troll back over it. Their are a lot of rock piles and small ledges within 5 miles of the sea buoy that holder lots of keeper gags in the spring and fall. In addition you can luck up and get a king or cobia by using the trolling method. The better colors vary from day to day but we find the chartruse, hot pink, and white body/red head strecth 25s by manns bait company always produce. Good luck with it

[Badbagger]

Great info and post, thanks!

[Ranaman]

TallyKenj, YES I think was Mr Hults response Our first Saturday afternoon was a 28 incher in 22 ft of water!

[Badbagger]

This is going to be our first season and we're going to give trolling for Grouper a shot. Any other tips and tricks for a couple of novices ?