Red Grouper Tactics For Winter
by Capt. Chuck Eichner
(YES, I love everything water!)
The only guarantee you have with winter fishing is that mother nature will create challenges for you. Grouper fishing in the gulf adds even more challenges. The obvious first step in planning a trip is finding the right weather day. Sounds easy right? Just find a calm day and go out. Wrong! Since most of the winter its windy it takes 3 days for the ocean to calm! The first couple days after a blow you can expect 3-4 footers.
Two grouper trips in January were on the third calm day and the winds were light and seas calm. The only catch is calm weather in the winter means developing inland fog with almost no visibility and/or offshore sea fog. Navigation in the fog is scary and dangerous. To manage this, I have Eisenglass snap on plastic windows and side curtains. This keeps my eyeglasses clear of water. You will also need others standing watch on port and starboard for other vessels. If you are lucky enough to have radar than you really have it made. My first trip in January we ran 40 miles from my dock in fog and the second trip we ran back 40 miles in a sea fog. Pretty miserable to be honest but the catching was worth it!
Successful red grouper fishing requires you to have a variety of baits. We start our day sabikiing baitfish offshore and catch pinfish, bluerunners, cigar minnows and squirrelfish. Also, our frozen bait includes sardines and chum blocks for snapper fishing. Grouper prefer different baits on different days and you have to experiment.
The next step is looking for fish. I don’t grouper fish in much less than 80 feet and deeper is often better. While running on plane look for baitfish near the bottom and “marks” on the sea floor. Set up a drift with bottom rigs or jigs baited up. I prefer a large bucktail tipped with a live fish. The type of rod you use makes a difference in presentation. A short rod at 5 ½’ will out-fish a 7’ rod most days because the vertical stroke and angle will keep the lure closer to the bottom with smaller “jumps” off the bottom. The distance behind the boat you fish your bait will change the presentation as well. Some days grouper fishing is as technical as largemouth bass fishing!
Another very important factor is controlling your drift speed. The gulf currents are quite strong any day and with wind the problem is larger. A drift sock or sea anchor is an important tool most days on my boat. If you drift too fast you will not catch nearly as many fish even with increasing your weight. Dealing with a sea anchor is a hassle but going way out into the gulf and going home fishless is worse. Two sea anchors, one off port and starboard is often the way to go.
Red grouper are a nomadic fish. They move around following their food source which often varies with water temperature. My game plan is the same. I move around constantly reading my bottom machine, telling my anglers to “drop em’” and then picking up and moving or resetting a drift. Many anglers drop lines and drift for a ½ mile or more but most spots aren’t much bigger than your boat! Grouper set up on small variations on the bottom to ambush bait. Rocks, holes in the bottom, live bottom with sea fans and coral provide enough of an ambush point for grouper to stage on.
The gulf is absolutely full of grouper right now and most are undersize but there are still large ones out there. Mangrove and lane snappers are also plentiful so coming home with dinner is pretty much a guarantee. By late summer I would expect catching a limit of legal grouper will be a breeze!
