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© St. Petersburg Times, published April 2, 2002
The red grouper bite has been off for two weeks but improved as we got further from the last full moon. On a recent trip to 120-140 feet of water, we caught red grouper between 10-20 pounds using frozen sardines on areas of hard bottom.
To catch nice reds, watch the depth/fish finder, looking for activity on the bottom. After spotting a show, send down a couple of frozen sardines using 4-6 ounces of lead and drag the baits along the bottom. If there are no bites after a few minutes, move on. Some spots we fish are just tiny blips on the fish finder that at first might not look like much. But on the second pass, the grouper rise out of their holes to feed.
Watch for shrimp boats. The tuna bite has been incredible for the past month and should remain good through spring. Head out early and find a shrimp boat anchored in 90-plus feet.
Pull up behind it, throw some chum (chopped-up Spanish sardines work well) and flat line a couple of live baits (Spanish sardines or scad work best) in the chum slick using 20- to 30-pound class tackle. It might take a couple of drifts to get the tuna hitting. -- Capt. Randy Rochelle runs Islander Charters out of St. Petersburg and can be reached at (727) 528-1213 or by e-mail at islandercharters@ij.net.