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With a burning desire to eat and sharp teeth able to destroy a plug, these fish provide lots of hard-striking action when the conditions are right.
By MIKE SCARANTINO
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 8, 2001
Like gluttonous pigs headed to the trough, grouper come seeking food.
With razor-like teeth, the fish tear, cut and crush their meals -- even if that meal happens to be plastic.
Just look at what grouper will do to a new large plug trolled through their transitional feeding grounds. They will smash it and dig for the bottom.
But this bottom is flat, offering no caves or holes to hide in. It is just a tug-of-war between titans -- the angler and fish.
Every once in a while, the fish find a sharp edge to cut you off. More often than not, though, the plug is pulled free by an angler exerting too much pressure.
Conditions have to be right for this hard-hitting action.
All possible variables have to coincide. Weather, tide, moon phase, air and water temperatures, and location have to be in sync. The results speak for themselves.
Few people go fishing when weather conditions are less than perfect if they don't have to.
Most folks prefer to try their luck on fair-weather days with blue skies. A few go regardless of awkward situations. They go to find out where the fish are and how those fish are reacting to changing weather patterns.
Hudson guide Tom Post is one who fishes to understand those changes.
Last week, he was hollering frantically that the big bite was on. Post sounded crazed, but then who wouldn't when big grouper are smashing plugs in 10 feet of water over absolutely flat bottom.
Post had been hauling in fish as big as 32 inches -- lots of them. In a two day span, he and a friend caught more than their fill of large fish.
I couldn't resist the thought of getting in on some of that action, but I couldn't until three days after Post's call. That day coincided with the full moon.
I don't enjoy fishing the day of the full moon if I don't have to. Many species will eat during the night, foregoing their daylight foraging.
For whatever reason, the fish ate that day like they hadn't eaten in a month of Sundays. Post acted as our guide. Bill Smith of Spring Hill and I did the catching.
Everything was perfect -- warm weather, soft breezes and fish that nearly chewed out the bottom of the boat. All of the grouper we caught, even the shorts, had been gorging themselves. Their bellies were swollen. Even when the conditions are right, you have to be in the right places to find grouper migrating toward shallow structure. Trolling over soft barren sand will not produce as well as working your magic over hard flat limestone plates.
Around the edges of these tectonic pieces of structure, sand gets pushed away by strong currents. Those edges make small bits of structure for fish to hold to.
In these places, anglers can see all manner of small rocks, limestone edges, kelp grass beds and sponges. Baitfish and other natural offerings will congregate in such areas, making ground that's barren much of the year fertile.
Trolling for grouper is not rocket science, especially when it's done in such shallow water.
For those trolling from single engine vessels, 1,200 RPMs is a good speed. It calculates to approximately 5.25 nautical miles per hour depending on hull design. If your boat has twin engines, it is advisable to use one and raise the other. That will avoid imposing too much drag on the vessel, thereby reducing speed.
No special gear, such as planers or downriggers, is needed. Plugs with medium bills for shallow running are best. Grouper will come right off the bottom to strike these offerings.
Make certain the plug used is tuned properly and not running sideways. Unnatural looking baits will go untouched.
To be sure the plug is tuned, let out about eight feet of line, bring the boat to trolling speed and watch to see if it's running straight. If all is well, set the lure back about 100 feet, then enjoy. When grouper hit a trolled lure, the forward motion of the boat makes them rise toward the surface at first. Once the vessel is in neutral, the torque is released and the fish will fight hard for the bottom. Bear down but give the fish its due.
The best line to use is a light one. It keeps the plugs running at the right depth.
Whether the tackle is conventional or spinning, 20-pound test is enough if you remember that grouper have no where to go but home for dinner.
- If you have a question or comment, call Capt. Mike Scarantino, (352) 683-4868.