The Complete Guide to Inshore Grouper Fishing Florida
The best way to fish for inshore grouper in Florida is to find deeper water with structure like bridge pilings, rock piles and deep dock pilings. Any live bait or fresh dead bait presented to them will be eaten if you get it down to their holes with enough lead weight to pin your bait to the bottom.
Once you find those grouper, then you will need a 5500 series reel filled with 50 pound braided line and a 50 pound leader. A nice stout medium/heavy 7 foot rod with a lot of backbone will be needed to drag them out of their holes before they can turn and lodge themselves in.
Inshore grouper fishing is a lot of fun. Most fishermen think of grouper as a species that you have to go way offshore to catch.
There are a lot of big grouper inshore in some very surprising places. You can find them under docks, around bridges, inshore rock piles, mangroves, inlets....
If you want to learn how to catch more inshore grouper the next time that you go fishing, then this is the article for you. It will cover the best baits, lures, tackle, tips and techniques to max out your grouper fishing trips.
The great thing about grouper is the challenge of getting them out of their holes after the initial hit. They don't last long but the fight is vigorous at first.
Another great thing about catching grouper is when they are filleted and released into the grease. Grouper make excellent table fare.
I am an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida and I have been fishing the mangroves and docks around Florida for more than 40 years.
In the article below, I will teach you simple tips and techniques to help you when inshore grouper fishing in Florida. Let's get started.
Watch the video below to catch more inshore grouper with dead baits.
Inshore grouper fishing Florida--GEAR and TACKLE
Gear--You need to get yourself a decent pair of polarized sunglasses to protect your eyes from the sun and so you can see into the water. An upper end pair of polarized sunglasses will run you around $250.
A cheap pair with glass lenses will run you around $25. There are some really cheap ones with flimsy plastic lenses that you can get for around $5. Whatever price range you decide is for you, you definitely need a pair of polarized sunglasses.
I got a $250 pair for my birthday and there is definitely a big difference in performance. They expensive ones let me see into the water better than the cheap ones. The expensive ones are also made much better. They are a lot more sturdy than the cheap ones.
The best colors lenses for dirty or murky water are amber, rose and copper. The best colors for clean and clear water is blue and gray lenses. Not only will polarized glasses protect your eyes from the sun's harmful rays but you will be able to see bait and other things that you would have missed without them.
You will also want to stock up on UV performance fishing shirts. These shirts employ microfiber technology with built in UV protection. They also are moisture wicking which evaporates you sweat more efficiently to keep you cool out on the water all day.
Tackle-- The tackle that you need for inshore grouper fishing depends upon the size of the fish that you are trying to catch and the kind of structure that you are fishing.
If you are catching grouper less than 10 pounds around a mangrove drop off or a rock pile, then you can get away with a 4000 series reel loaded with 20 pound braided line. You will also want a 7 ft. medium/heavy action rod.
If you are catching grouper that are in the 20 to 30 lb. range around bridge pilings or a deep water docks, then you will need to beef up your gear. You might need a 5500 series reel loaded with 50 or 80 lb. braided line and a 7 ft. medium/heavy action rod.
There are goliath groupers inshore around inlet, bridges and docks that can weigh over 100 lbs. You are going to need some serious tackle to bring those big boys up to the boat.
I would estimate that 99.9 % of the fish that I target are under 50 lbs. I don't ever target groupers that size so you will have to do more research to find out what tackle you need for those sizes of inshore grouper.
Watch the video below to learn tips and techniques for grouper fishing in Florida.
Inshore grouper fishing Florida--MANGROVES
Catching grouper around mangrove drop offs used to be accidental for me. I would be targeting big snook and redfish and end up with a gag or a goliath grouper on the end of my line. I eventually figured out how to target grouper inshore along mangrove river banks.
I have found that bigger grouper seem like the water to be at least 10 feet deep. They like to back into holes in the mud bank that have a good amount of current running by them as well. If you can find this scenario, then I will bet you that you can catch some grouper there.
When you find a suitable environment to target grouper anchor down current to cast lures or anchor up current if you are going to drift a live bait past their holes with the tide. It is not imperative that you drift your live baits with the current but I have found that you are less likely to alert the grouper to your presence that way.
The best live bait is anything that fits in their mouths. I am only partially kidding. Grouper eat just about anything but a palm sized pin fish or a finger mullet have worked the best for me.
Use as little amount of weight that you can get away with. All you want to do is get your bait near the grouper hole. If there is a lot of current, then you will need more weight and vice versa.
The best lures for getting grouper out of their holes around the mangroves are scented jigs. The larger 5 inch Berkeley Gulps swimming mullet with a 1/2 ounce or larger jig head work very well in this scenario. I like white and natural color combinations the best and a red jig head.
Cast your lure up current and bounce it slowly by the grouper hole. Sometimes the hole is further up in the water column so you will have to swim the bait by the hole in that scenario. The combination of the scent and the presentation is what will get you a strike.
A feather jig with a shrimp or piece of squid will also do the trick in this scenario.
Grouper will hit spoons too. I have caught my share of goliath and gag groupers by casting a silver spoon close enough to their holes to elicit a strike. A slower retrieve works best for me.
Watch the video below for vertical jigging tips and techniques.
Inshore grouper fishing Florida--INLETS
Inlets are a great place to catch grouper. Inlets with rocky bottoms are a great place to catch a ton of groupers. They will be facing into the tide by some sort of structure. It can be a reef or some rocks or even a large sponge or coral head.
I used to snorkel in the Lake worth inlet back in the day before you got hassled for everything fun. I would see these 15 to 20 pound gag groupers sitting behind this little rock or sponge in the middle of the inlet waiting to slam unsuspecting prey item. Some days I would see half a dozen of them in a 100 foot area.
Once I saw that behavior I realized that drifting with the current and vertical jigging is a great way to catch those grouper. Drifting live bait is even better.
The best live bait is anything alive BUT a pin fish is my go to bait in the inlets. A mullet works really well too. Just sink it to the bottom and try and keep it just off of the bottom or you will get snagged. The key is to keep the rod tip high when drifting the inlets with live bait.
You can drift dead bait like squid and get excellent results too. It's the same deal. Keep the rod tip high and keep the bait within a foot or so of the bottom.
The best lures are scented jigs in my opinion. You can use the Gulp swimming mullets with enough jig to get them to the bottom or a squid or shrimp tipped feather jig. Just get it near the bottom or bounce it off of the bottom for the best results. You can also vertical jig a silver spoon in this scenario.
You can troll lipped plugs over shallow reefs or rocky bottoms for grouper as well. This technique is very effective with the proper sized lip on the lure to get it down to within a few feet of the bottom. Your trolling speeds also have to be just right or you will be too shallow or so deep that your lures get snagged on the bottom.
Watch the video below to learn the best lures and techniques for inshore grouper fishing.
Inshore grouper fishing Florida--BRIDGES and DOCKS
It is hard to beat bridge and dock pilings for a better place to target inshore grouper. If you haven't ever snorkeled around a deep bridge or dock piling it is amazing how much life is around these structures. You will see corals, sponges, oysters, mussels, barnacles various plants.......
My point is that bridge and dock pilings are very fertile areas and this attracts shrimp, crabs and small fish that in turn attracts predators. Predators like grouper.
The grouper, snappers, snook and a host of other predators will prowl the pilings waiting for an easy meal. Your job is to give them that easy meal with a nice sharp hook in it.
You will definitely need to beef up your tackle for the deeper water pilings that you fish. In my mind, a 20 foot or deeper water level is what I consider deep.
You can use the same tactics that you did with the mangrove mud banks mentioned earlier. You have to present your live bait and your lures from up current. All of the grouper will be facing into the current and you don't want to spook them with you bait from behind.
You can use live pin fish, mullet or just about anything else for bait.
In my opinion, the best dead bait is squid in this scenario. The good news is that you may send down a dead squid for a gag grouper and end up with a big cubera snapper. That is a happy problem to have.
Use the same scented jigs or a shrimp or squid tipped feather jig for best lure fishing results.
A 2 ounce flair hawk style of snook jig will work wonderfully for night time grouper. Just add a piece of squid and let her rip.
Dock and bridge fishing is good in the day time but it is excellent in the night time. Make sure to focus your fishing efforts around the lights on the bridges and deep docks.
About the author: The author of this article insists upon everyone referring to him as The Grouper Storm Trooper BUT everyone ignores him. He is just called Mike, the co-owner of FYAO Saltwater Media Group, Inc.
Conclusion:
Inshore grouper fishing is a blast and you can find some huge groupers inshore. I have seen fishermen catch 200 pound groupers from a dock. It is amazing where some of these monster groupers can be found.
The key to grouper fishing is to find a place where they will feel safe. Groupers love to hide in a hole of some sort and wait for something delicious to swim past them. They will run out and devour the prey item and then run right back into their place of safety.
Your job as an inshore fishermen is to find inshore underwater structures that can house large grouper. It can be a sunken ship or some pipes that fell off of a barge. It might be a large piece of a dock that was torn away during a hurricane.
Whatever structure it is you can be sure that there are groupers, snappers, sheepshead, snook and lots of other desirable inshore species living in or around it. You will be amazed at how many groupers you can find inshore if you just think about structure.
I hope that you catch a ton of fish or at the very least have more fun trying. Thanks for reading my article.
Inshore grouper fishing is a blast and you can find some huge groupers inshore. I have seen fishermen catch 200 pound groupers from a dock. It is amazing where some of these monster groupers can be found.
The key to grouper fishing is to find a place where they will feel safe. Groupers love to hide in a hole of some sort and wait for something delicious to swim past them. They will run out and devour the prey item and then run right back into their place of safety.
Your job as an inshore fishermen is to find inshore underwater structures that can house large grouper. It can be a sunken ship or some pipes that fell off of a barge. It might be a large piece of a dock that was torn away during a hurricane.
Whatever structure it is you can be sure that there are groupers, snappers, sheepshead, snook and lots of other desirable inshore species living in or around it. You will be amazed at how many groupers you can find inshore if you just think about structure.
I hope that you catch a ton of fish or at the very least have more fun trying. Thanks for reading my article.
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