Anyone done it? Experiences?

What kind of grouper are we talking about here? The ones in 160ft of water on a wreck? Or the pink grouper you troll for at the Florabama?

Gags mostly but Reds can be trolled as well.

Same fish as we normally find deep on wrecks/reefs.

Never done it, but you have me interested in learning about it.

Nope. Always had way more luck drifting across structure with live baiting or jigging them. I've bump trolled reefs before, but can't say I've ever hooked up on a grouper doing it.

I will hate to put stainless rod holders on Mrs. Geno's pretty bow rider. I ordered them today. You guys also finally got me to spend 15 clams on a lure. Ordered three of them today too. I figure if I lose 50 bucks worth of lures in one day, the fishing should be back to frozen bait or over with anyway.

In the bay she lives closest too, the gags start at about 7 feet deep (within sight of shore). The reds are further out around 15 or 20 (a honking 7 mile run).

What happened to all the yak fishing talk?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmO5vGR_3uQ

The yak is for places I don't want to take a boat. I'm not putting a motor or a drive on one though - too expensive and too much crap to have to haul around by hand. Besides, If I can't subdue big stuff in a relatively safe manner, it's not happening.

The locals pretty much ignore you when you try to ask about the groupers until you make friends with them. I'm still working on that. lol

You can catch them trolling parallel to the pilings on the mid bay bridge that runs between Niceville and Destin from now thru the end of the year. Best plug is a Mann's stretch 25. Runs true, solid hooks and built to take abuse. Best color in my opinion for this application is the white with the red head. 5-20 pounders on the gags. Use a stout rod and when one hits, immediately turn the boat away from the bridge and drag him into open water and away from the pilings. As a bonus, you'll also catch a ton of bull reds in the 15-35lb class doing this.

Sounds like some fun for some mighty fine eatin.

Does sound fun.

We are going down this weekend for a wedding in orange beach, taking the boat. I was planning on redfish/trout fishing, but have been looking for alternate plan.

Was thinking of trolling for mackerel if Gulf is smooth like it is supposed to be

Appreciate the tip abolt. Will be giving it a try.

If they are suspended midway up or on the shallower pilings 10-20 ft deep, use the stretch 12s. Also be sure to use a 3-4 ft piece of 50-80lb shock leader on them or it will get expensive quick. Good luck with it.

Lastly, have a couple heavy spinning rods or bait casters rigged with some 5" powerbait pre-rigged swim baits. If you hook a big red, circle back and toss them in and hook up everyone on the boat. If you catch one, there will be 30-40 just like him following him or sitting in the same spot. I use a 50lb mono or flouro shock leader throwing these.

Rapalas over Swiss cheese bottom. I've done it near crystal river

The bottom to the east of our launch point is limestone with rock piles and swiss cheese holes the size of basketballs.

3 miles out is a public reef with short grouper in 22 feet year round. I can't wait to get decent electronics and some flush mount rod holders on her pretty little boat so she will go with me. I'll get her a license just so I can keep more of 'em.

I've tried to catch em down below the Dam at Guntersville. Never caught a single one. I think EHD killed em all.

By the time they get all the way up there, they are so tired they won't hit anything. You gotta use a snatch rig to catch em.

Or a telephone rig.

I caught them trolling yo zuri stick baits around the bridge pilings at 7 mile bridge in the keys but that water is only from 5 to 15 ft deep in most places. Troll on the up current side of the bridges and it'll come by a piling and wham, then you crank down hard and the driver throttles up a little and drives directly away from the bridge so they can't get back in their hole. Never done it in open water though. We always caught blacks

The water temps need to be in the 70's. The NOAA buoys are showing 80.6 this morning.

I'm dragging the boat down to Tally this weekend.

Saturday
East winds 15 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet. Dominant period 4 seconds. Protected waters a moderate chop. Slight chance of rain.
Saturday Night
East winds 15 to 20 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet. Protected waters choppy. Slight chance of showers and thunderstorms.
Sunday
Southeast winds 15 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet. Protected waters a moderate chop. Chance of showers and thunderstorms.

Never mind.

Where would you launch down that way Abolt? We fish out of St Andrews but would like to try the fishing up that way.

Good call.

Probably the best place for you to launch, not knowing the area, would be the public launch at Fred Gannon (Rocky Bayou) State Park right off HWY 20 coming out of Niceville . Good ramp, deep water, safe location to leave your vehicle and trailer (it's patrolled), 5.25 miles from the launch to the mid bay bridge. Come out of Rocky Bayou and head straight east. Also it's pretty much a straight shot across the bay to the Destin East pass if it was flat calm and you wanted to try to run out and fish the gulf.

Thanks for the info.

Anytime. Good luck.

Geno, if you are serious about it get up with me before you buy any of the trolling lures. I got interested in it years ago, bought a bunch of trolling/diving lures and immediately got side tracked. Would be glad to get rid of them at a substantial discount

I am interested - PM sent.

Just about everything in the Gulf will eat a Stretch 25 white with a red head.

I have a similar lure - mirrolure 111. I had three colors but lost one (pink) to the rocks in the Warrior while doing testing.

Thanks to BradB for loading the Geno household up with too many monster trolling lures to fit in a five gallon bucket.


Going offshore tomorrow to try them out. One of Mrs. Geno's fellow professors from Florida State was out day before yesterday and caught 16 gags to get four keepers for the two men in the boat. They averaged 12 pounds. They then went to two of the public reefs and loaded up on grey snapper and black sea bass.

I just loaded my old bottom rigs up with 50lb mono and hammered the drags down tight. We'll see what happens.

Any luck Geno?

We couldn't buy a fish on the trolling gear even though we found several rock piles that had fish on them and big clouds of bait. We came back to the best looking two rock piles and bait was still there. We fished for about two hours with bait before it got dark and caught two gray snapper, a wad of undersized black sea bass, a short snapper I can't identify and three groupers that were all short - largest was 22", smallest was 20". We lost a dozen or so really good fish we never saw.

There were a ZILLION boats out yesterday and the good fish were line shy. The gags we caught were on 12 lb line and rocked us up every time. We gave them a bunch of slack and put the rod in a holder and in about 5 or ten minutes, they swam free and the fight was back on. I will tell you - an 8-10 pound grouper on 12 lb line is an interesting thing to do. Mrs. Geno even managed to land one after he got rocked up. She used the gunnel as a fulcrum and I was sure she was going to break my bass rod she was using. Once we figured out what they wanted to eat and how to fish for them, we had about 45 minutes of daylight left. We caught all three of them in that time and they were still biting like crazy when we had to leave and run as fast as was comfortable back to the launch.

I would be back out there this morning but I have a ton of yard work to do and Mrs. Geno had a bad feeling about me going out alone.

Mrs. Geno got up and said she would like to go fishing again - we are heading back out.

Couldn't get the fish in for the sharks today. Lost a half dozen to them then only hooked sharks as far as I can tell. We caught a 6 foot tiger and an 8 foot tiger. Can't keep them in FL so back they went. I am a tired puppy.