(ECONFINA)+NEAR SHORE GROUPER

DeerNfish88 · Post by **DeerNfish88** » July 9th, 2003, 5:52 pm

i was wanting to try and get some grouper from econfina but are boat is 21 1/2 bay hull w/ 150 merc. so didnt want to get to far out but i was wondering if any one was caughting any a little closer in some holes or something ....

jka_gator · Post by **jka_gator** » July 10th, 2003, 9:41 am

I can't speak personally, but my wife's aunt says they're catching plenty of grouper in about 20'. I'm going to try it Friday if the water's calm enough so I'll let you know.

DeerNfish88 · Post by **DeerNfish88** » July 10th, 2003, 4:26 pm

ok thanks and about how many miles is that ..

jka_gator · Post by **jka_gator** » July 12th, 2003, 12:44 pm

Went out Friday in my 14' Cobia followed by a buddy in a bass boat. We left the ramp St. Marks lighthouse at 8:00. It was a little rough for him but not too bad.

We stopped in 17' at first. I told him I was going to ride and look for some holes. While I was looking, his son landed his first grouper (16").

We ended up moving to 20', not more than 6 miles from the ramp. I found a good hole and we both anchored. His boy was the only one that found grouper and no keepers (16", 17", 19"). But we loaded the boat with black bass, pinkmouths (grunts), and some huge trigger. Also caught a nice shark and about 4,000,000 trash fish. By my count, we landed 12 different types of fish. That made it quite a learning experience for a rookie like me.

Anyway, we had a great time. I never realized we could get into those kinds of fish with that short of a run. I'll definitely be trying that again next time!

I'm not familiar with the Ecofina area. Others on this site could give you a lot more info. But on the chart, it looks like it would probably be more like 8-10 miles to find 20'.

DeerNfish88 · Post by **DeerNfish88** » July 12th, 2003, 11:00 pm

ok cool sounds good i will check the charts out and try in find some hole .... what were u using as bait

jka_gator · Post by **jka_gator** » July 13th, 2003, 11:46 pm

Mostly squid. Also cut up some of the sand perch we caught. The trigger took a lot of the squid before it hit the bottom. That was a lot less of a problem with the perch.

chugbug · Post by **chugbug** » August 7th, 2003, 4:23 am

jka-gator...Shoulda kept the sand perch alive. That is one of the best live baits for Gouper. Also, any of those "trash" fish sent down hooked behind the dorsel fin or through the lip is sure to get snatched by something.