5 Seceret Tips for Gag Grouper
Gag grouper can weigh over 50 lb. The Gag Grouper is extremely powerful and aggressive. Grouper have the power to bend hooks and even break rods. Anglers need every advantage possible to catch these amazing powerful fish.
Tip 1: Know Where the Fish Are
Gag grouper can be caught in a variety of different places, from a few feet to a couple hundred feet of water. They can be caught in inshore, nearshore, and deep offshore waters. In the summertime when the water is hot Gag grouper, move into deep offshore waters where the water is colder. A good way to find what depth range the grouper are in is by simply staying up to date with the local fishing report or even contacting a local charter boat and asking what depth they are getting the most grouper in. Although, going in deeper water in the summertime increases your chances of catching, that is not to say that you still won't also be able to catch them in shallower water. As the water gets colder these fish will start moving into shallower waters. In the winter they will move in shallow water. You can then target these fish in shallow nearshore water and even inshore waters. Any time of year that you go after grouper, make sure to target them around structure such as artificial reefs, wrecks, hard and live bottom areas, ledges, rock piles, springs, and other structures. Inshore your best bet would be fishing deeper dock, pilings, buoys, holes, bridges, rock piles, and even grass flats. Having a newer and bigger fish finder makes finding these spots much easier. Here is a link to all our fish finders available for you: https://dbmarinesupplies.com/collections/marine-electronics
Tip 2: Have the Right Bait
Gag grouper are not very picky eaters, they eat almost anything that fits in their mouth. Often the best bait for Gag's is live bait. Although, it is not a bad idea to start with cut bait or whole dead baits, then switching to live bait when the bite slows down. This is a highly effective tactic to fire up the grouper. Good dead baits include squid, shrimp, octopus, sardines, bonita strips, threadfins, pilchards, pinfish, sand perch, cigar minnows, and really any other bait fish. Good live baits include pinfish, sardines, cigar minnows, pilchards, threadfins, sand perch, grunts, and any other fish that they naturally prey on. Often the best bait is the bait you catch on the spot
you're fishing because it is the fish they naturally are preying on. Bait can be caught in a cast net or using a sabiki rig.
Tip 3: Rig for Success
Often a trip is decided by how well you prepare at the dock. How you rig your gear and your boat will determine how likely you are to be successful on the water. Everybody should have a plan that is subject to change for when they go out fishing. The conditions and the bottom will determine how you will fish which could be trolling, drifting, or anchoring. If you are fishing a big area you should start trolling or drifting until you find your desired area to set anchor or you might find the tactic that you were using was producing the desired result and continue doing it. You should have several strong rods for grouper with reels that can output a lot of drag to pull grouper off the bottom is very crucial. Here is a list of our recommended reels for grouper: https://dbmarinesupplies.com/collections/grouper-reels It is a good idea to have a few rods rigged with big lipped plugs or some other type of bait that you can troll. Make sure to have a variety of different things you can troll that way you can switch up spread until something starts working. It may not even be a bad idea to bring your down riggers or planners so it can be easier to present your baits at the bottom were the grouper are. Also, make sure you have rods rigged up with rigs for drifting and anchoring. Some of the best rigs for anchoring are D&B Knocker rigs because they are highly stealthy, strong and give anglers a great advantage edge over the fish. Here is a link to all our grouper rigs available to you: https://dbmarinesupplies.com/collections/grouper-rigs
Tip 4: Chum Effectively
Using chum while fishing is a great tactic. This gets fish fired up and can often lead to many bites. How you chum will be decided by the current. Chumming can be as simple as cutting up chunks of fish or dropping a chum block to the bottom. With little to no current dropping down chunks of fish can be effective. When there is lots of current dropping down a chum bag or chum cage with a brick in it close to the bottom is a great idea. Also, creating chum balls by mixing chum and sand can be a great way to get chum to the bottom while chumming the whole
water column. In addition, shallow water chumming with live bait can also be effective. Chum can be bought from the store or made at home. How you chose is up to you.
Tip 5: Getting Unrocked
Sometimes even when you are doing everything right you will still get rocked up. There are several tricks you can use to help get the fish in the boat. One way is to simply put the real in free spool and let your line go slack. Once you start to see your line get tight reel down on it with max drag and get it off the bottom. This is like a second chance. After the Grouper, first bite, they go down to the first place that they can hide until they no longer feel any pressure. By letting your line go slack it often tricks them and they will swim back to their desired place. The second trick is by thumping the line. This irritates them and causes them to swim out.
For all your marine and fishing supply make sure to shop only on our website: DBMarineSupplies.com