Groupies II

[Gruntking]

Well, Smoker, the weather hasn't changed much. Blowin' too hard to go way out. We managed to scrounge up 2 keepers out of 20 or so fish. All within 4 miles of Sanibel beach. Yes the jig fish was measured and released.

[Fins0003]

You guys are so lucky... I wish we had a nearshore fishery.

[SWFLFisher]

Nice fish. Always wanted to figure out the winter grouper fishin around here.

[Smoker_John1870]

Awesome stuff. You gotta love this time of year when you don't have to run far to find good fish.

Did ya'll try any trolling? You can cover more ground and it is a great way to find new spots. When you get a bite on the troll I'll often circle back and take a drift on it if it looks nice on the graph.

Have not found any "BIG" gagger's yet nearshore winter fishing. I believe it is due to not having as many "secret" numbers than to they're just not there.

You guys are so lucky... I wish we had a nearshore fishery.

Yea, it is nice. However the continental shelf is like 200-300 miles offshore. I would absolutely love to get out there with some ROFF's reports and do some serious blue water fishing.

If you've looked at a bathymetric chart of the shelf it looks like someone just ran their fingers through sand. There are canyons and shelves and all sorts of great stuff like weather buoy's and the loop current. The fishing has got to be unbelievable.

If anyone has a way to get out there. I have tackle, skills, and my fair share of the gas. Spending a few days offshore would be nice.

[Gruntking]

Did ya'll try any trolling? You can cover more ground and it is a great way to find new spots. When you get a bite on the troll I'll often circle back and take a drift on it if it looks nice on the graph.

I won't claim any great knowledge on this grouper stuff, I fish with Larfishing from the other forum. He has all of the numbers, tactics and flat out gets 'em, but yes, we did troll the hell out of this area. We used 3 different manufacturers plugs in 5 different colors and never had a bump. 30 fow so the plugs were bouncing off the ledges. Typically, we will drift and jig, anchor and live bait and troll plugs. Sometimes only one of the tactics works for some reason.

Yea, it is nice. However the continental shelf is like 200-300 miles offshore.

imo, you're better off running 120 miles or so to the Tortugas and camping at the park. Jurassic park type fishing there. A friend of mine does this quite a bit. Of course he's got a 36 Yellowfin!

[capt.keithswalton]

Nice Gags. I got out (Naples) yesterday (see report under this section) between these fronts to a spot I usually limit out on big red grouper at, but I could not buy a grouper yesterday. I only managed about 6 and the biggest of those was only about 16 inches...Not sure what the problem was, if it was the bright moon shinning all night or the weather fronts. It was like the hand of God came down and wiped all the grouper out of there.