Grouper Jigging in Florida

[ksong]

I went on 43 hour trip on the 65' Sea Trek out of Ft Myers Florida on Jan 26 -28. Grouper fishing was excellent. This must be one of the best party boat grouper fishing I've had in terms of quality. The majority of groupers caught were in 15 - 25 lbs range. I got limit(5) on jigs and three of them were in 20 - 25 lbs range. Most grouper caught on the boat were gag groupers and there are only few red grouper caught.

My friend Yong who also flied down to Ft Myers from NJ for the trip with nice gag grouper on a jig. This is his first ever grouper on jigs.


My firt grouper of the trip on a 8 oz hammered diamond jig. Most guy who jigged used hammered diamond jigs on the trip. The hammered diamond jigs become popular for grouper jigging on Florida paty boats. I brougt only one rod for the trip. OTI two-piece 80 lbs custom conventional rod with spiral wrap.


My only red grouper on a jig. Most grouper caught on the trip were gag grouper.


Nice scampie caught by this young kid. He looks professional from top to bottom.


Nice gag grouper gaffed by mate Greg. very nice mate.


Before this gag grouper, I hooked up a monster grouper, but I dropped the fish while fighting. As soon as I dropped back my jig to the bottom again, this grouper hammered my jig.

[ksong]

Pile of groupers


Pool fish


My good friend, Capt Les with nice grouper and cobia


Quality groupers I caught on jigs

[MrBill]

Very Nice! I think grouper are probably one of the best eating fish out there.
Does the boat have bunks?
How many spots did the boat stop to fish?
Did you fish at night?
How many fisherman on boat?

[Pope]

I agree with Mr. Bill. I would eat grouper over any fish. That is a nice pile of groceries. That is awesome!

[Fishhead56]

Thanks,

[mcgolfer]

damn kilsong i feel so sorry for you. you hardly ever get to go fishing!!!!not!!!!what a great grouper trip. where there any red snappers caught and released while you were grouper fishing? any other species caught on the trip? how did the oti blank handle the groupers when they made the run for their hole? what reel did you fish on the rod? how did you like the overal performance of the rod?....rick

[BretABaker]

nice catch, kil! did you figure out any way to bring the meat back on the plane?

[ksong]

Originally Posted by BretABaker

nice catch, kil! did you figure out any way to bring the meat back on the plane?

I usually don't bring fish home, but grouper is one of very few fish I like to bring home.
The ladies at the check-in counter of Continental were totally different from Jet Blue personnel who acted like an investigator. They knew exactly what the regulations are and were willing to accomodate. I brought two coolers full of fish this time with dry ice. They said fish is fine, but I had to pay $35 for dry ice for each cooler. All air lines charges 35 fee for dry ice upto 4.4 lbs in each cooler from 2007.

[ksong]

Originally Posted by mcgolfer

damn kilsong i feel so sorry for you. you hardly ever get to go fishing!!!!not!!!!what a great grouper trip. where there any red snappers caught and released while you were grouper fishing? any other species caught on the trip? how did the oti blank handle the groupers when they made the run for their hole? what reel did you fish on the rod? how did you like the overal performance of the rod?....rick

There were some nice red snappers caught and released.
They usually catch mangrove snapper at night and grouper/AJ daytime, but we didn't catch many snappper this time as we fished pretty deep in 160 - 180 ft. OTI rod is great. It cast well, it is strong and it has enough backbone. I brought the rod on the plane so that I could bring two cooler full of fish home this time without extra charge.
I used Saltiga 50. I prefer star drag reels for jigging bottomfish.

[ksong]

Originally Posted by MrBill

Very Nice! I think grouper are probably one of the best eating fish out there.
Does the boat have bunks?
How many spots did the boat stop to fish?
Did you fish at night?
How many fisherman on boat?

The trip is limited to 15 - 16 guys and there are 16 bunks under the boat.
They fished one spot a few hours and moved to other spots. It ususally took an hour to go one spot to another spot as the boat is pretty slow (about 8-10 knot). Mangrove is usually main target at night, but we didn't catch many mangrove on this trip.