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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2002
When I'm lucky enough to catch a calm day between fronts, I've been fishing the hard patchy bottom in the 150-foot depths. The calm wave action will allow for drift fishing. This allows you to cover more productive bottom than anchoring.
Using cut bait such as strips of mullet, bonita or squid attached to a 2-ounce lead-head jig will work well as a fish-finding rig. When a desirable species is located note the spot and return for more of the same.
When you are grouper fishing you mostly catch red or gag. But the deep water also holds a variety of other noteworthy grouper. The most common of the deep-water grouper are the scamp, rock hind and speckled hind. All of these are excellent table fare and are worthy adversaries on light tackle.
Scamp are often confused as small gag grouper. The way you tell the difference is to examine the caudal or tail fin. This chocolate brown fish will have elongated rays that give it a broomlike appearance on the tail.
The rock hind is one to the smaller groupers. It has reddish spots and dark blotches.
Speckled hind are more commonly known as Kitty Mitchell. This tasty grouper is dark gray with small creamy, white spots all over its body.
Remember these colorful fish count toward your aggregate grouper bag limit but are well worth it. Also check the minimum size limits; they are not all the same.
-- Tom Turke charters The Mixed Bag out of St. Petersburg. Call (813) 854-5779.