Limited-Out on Red Grouper in Carrabelle on March 21, 2026

[John21:6]

Carrabelle--With a break in both work and weather, I finally got to run the boat again. Because we were fairly successful last March between S Tower and the 20 Fathom Break, we followed more or less the same plan.

We headed from the Carrabelle River to East Pass, and then miles beyond the pass, we looked for bait schools. We thought we found large schools of cigar minnows, but we were not catching them in high numbers. We changed plans for live bait and headed further out to a spot where we always catch sandperch, pinfish, and pigfish on our DIY double-hook bait rigs baited with squid. Strangely, we were catching lots of cigar minnows with both baited rigs and unbaited Sabiki rigs. Although we caught a few sandperch, we didn't catch any pinfish or pigfish.


With a livewell full of bait, we headed south. Just past S Tower, we experimented with trolling lures in hopes of catching blackfin tuna. After a mile or so of trolling, we ran out of patience with trolling, reeled in our lines, and headed to our red grouper spots.

At the first spot, we didn't have to wait for bites. However, the fish we were catching were dinks--until we were just about to move. Soon as we decided to move, my friend's son caught a tank of a red grouper. This kept us fishing at the spot a little longer. Then, the pattern repeated. We had to catch about ten dinks for every keeper, and every keeper was much longer than the 20" minimum length.



After the bite slowed, we fished two or three more spots in the general area. We kept catching and releasing dinks until we had our limit of keepers. This pattern went against my usual thinking that big fish and small fish don't occupy the same spots. I guess big grouper and small grouper hangout together at least sometimes.



Here are a few underwater pictures from the GoPro:






To see my underwater video visit my instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DWR9PAHlH8 ... RkY3o1Mw==

On this trip, the bigger fish seemed to prefer live bait. However, we caught keepers on frozen squid and LYs. The offshore water temperature was about 65 degrees. Bait schools down deep seemed to be about everywhere in water deeper than 70'.

Putting fuel in the boat at Pirates Cove was a little more painful than after the last outing. Instead of the usual $4.69 per gallon of 89 octane, the price was $5.69 per gallon.



Here's the trophy fish pile:

[doomtrpr_z71]

A good time, except for the fuel bill, I see we should have ran out to 90ft to find the fire trucks.

[John21:6]

A good time, except for the fuel bill, I see we should have ran out to 90ft to find the fire trucks.

Yes, we burned a lot of gas and the fuel bill was more painful than normal.

Anyway, according to my fishy math/economics, we did great. I like to think that each one of those red grouper yielded at least 4 pounds of fillets that were worth at least $40 a pound. 8 fish x 4 lbs. of fillets per fish x $40 per pound = $1,280. Additionally, I am blessed to have a few friends who are happy to chip-in to subsidize my fuel bill.

[FTReelty]

Keep em coming! Hope to head to Aucilla tomorrow and try for trout and reds... Will post up report.

[DWilliams]

Thanks for the report. Those are some quality red grouper.

[John21:6]

Keep em coming! Hope to head to Aucilla tomorrow and try for trout and reds... Will post up report.

I'm looking forward to your report.

I fish offshore because I never figured out how to catch redfish.

[John21:6]

Thanks for the report. Those are some quality red grouper.

Along those lines, every fish, except one that I screwed up, went through the full ikejime process to ensure the flesh is of the highest quality. Yes, most of my fishing buddies think I’m nuts until they see the process, taste the fish, and do a little of their own research on ikejime.

Ikejime begins with spiking a fish in the brain to stop its suffering and the associated production of pain chemicals and some of the fish's muscle activity. An animal that suffers less as it dies will taste better than one that doesn't.

After the brain spike, I push a shinkei jime wire through the brain and down the length of the fish's spinal cord. This wire destroys the nerve and stops much of the involuntary muscle movement of the brain-dead fish. Stopping muscle movement stops the production of lactic acid, the consumption of ATP or the energy of the fish, and slows rigor mortis that can tear a fish's muscles. Running the shinkei jime wire is the most difficult part of ikejime if you are trying to run the wire from head to tail. Fortunately, it's probably not as important as the brain spike and bleeding.

To bleed a fish, I cut the membrane on each side of the fish's gills and place the fish in a bucket of water for a few minutes. Bleading fish in a bucket of seawater prevents the blood from clotting. By bleading a fish, you remove a food source for bacteria (bacteria are what make fish stink) and prolong the shelf life of a fish. When a fish has been blead, you can really see the difference. Its flesh looks clean and translucent, like sashimi. Once you realize the difference between a bled and a fish that has not been bled, fish that have not been bled look nasty.