BigBendFishing.Net

hey guys i wanted to see what you guys do to target nearshore/state water grouper. my offshore expierience is a bit limited. i have caught a few grouper in the area before but have never "wore 'em out". in the past we have caught grouper by trolling baits like mann's stretch 25's or using live pinfish on a bottom rig.
we are planning on going out tomorrow and was searching for a few new ideas. I have done a good bit of inshore fishing lately and have not seen any pinfish on the flats. is anyone finding pinfish out a little deeper? if i can't find any pinfish tomorrow i will most likely be trolling all day. what colors and plugs do u guys have the most succes on? is there anyone around here who catches quality grouper using jigs? what type do u use? is it worth my time to drop some cut bait down?
any info is greatly appreciated! thanks in advance!

Sure wish I could help but the area we fish, you would need to go out thirty miles to find grouper. However, we did catch some 16" & 17" Gags around Dog Head out of Keaton this fall. Much to my surprise.

Hope this gets the pump primed and someone who can help you responds.

What area are you fishing? There are only a handful of places to consistently catch grouper in state waters off the Taylor County Coast. The water just doesn't get deep enough before you cross into federal waters, and the people who do know where to get em keep it a closely guarded secret. As you go Northwest along the panhandle or South along the peninsula, you will find deeper water closer to shore.
Trolling plugs like the stretch 25 & stretch 30 (I like a green one with a black back) is a good way to locate new bottom. Watch your bottom machine, when you cross over something mark it on your GPS. If you catch a fish, it's worth turning around and anchoring up. Drop a pinfish on a bottom rig and test out your new spot. Sometimes they're productive, and sometimes you just caught the only fish hanging out on that particular piece of structure. If you don't catch anything, it can be worth it to pull anchor and start making concentric circles, keeping an eye on the bottom machine. You never know what you're gonna find. Could be that you've just trolled past the edge of a large piece of structure that is holding fish.
Cut-bait works, although not as well as live pinfish. A box of fresh frozen cigar minnows or squid will work when you can't find pinfish. We will often times use the cigar minnows to catch a handful of grunts and use the grunts for cut-bait, although a hungry grouper will eat a frozen cigar minnow or squid. Great thing about grunts is that if you don't catch grouper, they taste awesome and there are no size or number limits. You will normally also find blackfish where you find grunts. They also taste great, but don't use them as bait, and don't keep any under 10".
It can take years of exploring and hundreds of gallons of fuel to find "the spot", but when you do, feel free to shoot me the coordinates in a PM. I swear I won't share them with anyone

We will be launching from st marks.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

That raises a question for me. i see from a post yesterday that some nice grouper were caught as shallow as 25' and other in 35' to 45'. It is my understanding that the grouper season in state waters was moved up three months in the big bend counties to give the average Joe recreational fisherman with a smaller boat (that’s me) an opportunity at catching a grouper while they are still in relatively shallow water. So it’s my understanding that Grouper move to shallower depths in the late fall thru winter and then move farther offshore to deeper water in the summer to fall. So I guess their migration must be triggered by water temps. So my question is, what is the temp range that triggers their movements and what are the months of the year that you have a reasonable opportunity to catch a grouper in 25’ to 35’? The reason I ask is that I have a small boat (Key west 1720) but on those calmer days I can get out there 10-12 miles and where I fish (Panacea) about 12 miles will put you in 35’ and in Federal waters. But I don’t want to go out there if there ain’t any grouper around in numbers.

Rhoads, the gags are around. My advice is put in at carrabelle and get on the other side of dog island and troll stretch 25s and 30s. They'll be hanging on structure when you pick one up circle around and drop a live pin fish.

If you can find structure in 15 to 20' of water they will be there also, but only for a short time as the temps are gonna start rising quickly.

Carrabelle makes more sense. Plenty of good grouper habitat within nine miles of the shoreline.... all the way to Cape St George.

So my question is, what is the temp range that triggers their movements and what are the months of the year that you have a reasonable opportunity to catch a grouper in 25’ to 35’?

Anyone? Anyone?

Right now and for the next 6-8wks, trolling for gags in state waters can be worth while. By June 1, red grouper will become more plentiful each week inside of 36'.

Matt Mullican wrote:Rhoads, the gags are around. My advice is put in at carrabelle and get on the other side of dog island and troll stretch 25s and 30s. They'll be hanging on structure when you pick one up circle around and drop a live pin fish.

Good advice, plenty of structure inside of 9 miles from shoreline. That will also place you out, into 35-38'. Live squirrel fish is also great bait.

Thanks guys for all the info. Well it looks like I’m being steered over to the Carrabelle area. I’m not familiar at all with that area….i’ve never been there. So just looking at the map the first question that comes to mind is where would be the best place to launch my boat? I would be coming from Panacea and I have a 1720 Key West on a single axle trailer, is there a county ramp? Next question would be, to get to the deeper water would it be best to go out around Dog Island thru the east pass (on the west side of island) or go out around the east side of the island on the dog island reef side? And the last question, is there good trout/reds fishing in that area?

Rhodes, get on the internet, while you are NOT ON THE WATER. Boat ramps will be there.

Go to florida-offshore.com. They will request that you register. Give them a fictitious name.... aka bouncer. Once you have registered, click on the Blue Water chart. Learn what you are doing. That will take about 45-60min...... while drinking a cup of coffee, warm inside, & without any waves rocking you around. Zoom in on areas of depth changes. It's all there, you just have to learn "how to see it". Us old fisherman had to look at archaic charts, spread on a dinning room table on Thursday nights, then wander around in what we "hoped" was the right place. We had no cursor (mouse) to give us accurate coordinates.

Nowadays, with the internet, you can move the mouse, & collect very accurate "fishy looking" numbers. If the depth changes 3 or 4 ft quickly, there is something going on in that area. The contour lines will tell a bigger and bigger story, each time you zoom in. With some practice, you will recognize ridges (they look like fingers) in 20,30,40ft, etc. Spend some big bucks and buy into Navionics and WOW, zoom in, & one ft contour lines really help you "see" where you need to be fishing.

And to think, I don't own a boat any more! LOL!

There is a link to interactive navionics blue chart maps here:
http://www.bigbendfishing.net/information/area-charts/
no login needed!

Bman, Yes sir the upper left of that link has access to the Navionics that I mentioned above. However, one thing is sorely missing.

Zoom in on the area south of Ochlockonee Bay. There are several Blue (30ft....aka 5 fathom) circles. As you zoom in, you will notice that all areas are divided in squares (blocks). That was done many years ago for oil leases. Some squares in that "interesting area" are numbered APBK 166, 209, & 210. To lower left of the chart is a "button". Once you have zoomed in so close, clicking that button will show ONE FOOT CONTOUR LINES. That is when you can "see" where you should be fishing.

Sadly, you need to purchase some additional program technology just like Google Earth uses and that will allow you to plot accurate GPS coordinates of those "fishy" areas. I have never been on those waters, but with that technology and my computer, I can plan a productive fishing bottom fishing trip anywhere...... without burning any fuel or spilling my coffee.

Go ahead fellas, give the above paragraph a try.

The Blue Water chart allows plotting without purchasing additional programs. IT DOES NOT HAVE AS MUCH TOPOGRAPHIC DATA (ACCURATE DEPTH SOUNDINGS) as found on Navionics.