??? for Biscoto,Slip, and Jacques

[Robja]

Everytime I see a thread by you guys I see nothing but devastation of bottom dwellers(oh add Squid to list). I would like to know how you pick your spots. I'm not asking for specific locations but just want to know what kind of bottoms you are looking for, water depths you are working in and that kind of stuff. We have predominately been king mackerel fishing for along time stopping at the tower on occasion and getting a few African Pompanos. We even lurked in an area about 6 miles off the tower and found some good hard bottom with a few ledges where a head boat was fishing.

We seem to catch nothing but b-liners and black sea bass and one time when the stars,moon,son and earth were in perfect alignment we managed 2 grouper.

I am just looking for information as to bait choices live or dead, jigs, and the aforementioned depth, and bottom.

Any advice would be appreciated. The only hognose snapper I caught i did not even get to eat as someone pilfered through a cooler of kings and mahi to find it while at the dock.

[gottaflylee]

Can I hop in here and give you my 2 cents...

Start looking for "hard bottoms" even if it is only a scratch. Ledges get hammered a lot and hard bottoms tend to get skipped over more often than not...

Even check the ledges that are only a foot high, they hold a lot of fish. If you are going to fish a ledge, you need to look at it from one end to the other. I look for cracks with hard red in them, that is good fish. Sometimes the fish are on top of the ledge and sometime they are on the deep side, Figuring that out will take time but after a while, it will come.

Another thing to remember is when you read their reports, you will see that they sometimes move a lot, no one spot will give you their results...

Call me if you would like to chat more about it.

[WAHOONBOX]

NOT YO TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM THESE CERTIFIED KILLERS...AND THE WHOLE PACK OF 'EM BE CERTIFIED ALRIGHT....SQUID SLIP BISCOTO, MATT & COMPANY.....BUT DOWN TO THE SOUTHERN IS SOME LIVE AND HARD BOTTOM....A LOT OF IT......THE MHC AREA HAS VERY LITTLE LIVE BOTTOM COMPARED TO THE WB FISH FARM

REMEMBER....A TWO FOOR LEDGE IS BIG TIME N O MATTER WHERE YOU FISH...AND PRECISION ANCHORING IS MANDATORY

LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING FROM THE WRIGHTSVILLE SCHOOL OF KNOWLEDGE ON THIS GREAT QUESTION!

[merry marlin]

Jay, the MM crew is still new to this area having fished only 4 years off Cape Lookout so we too have lots to learn from those Slayers to the Southern.....

Time on the water is rule one. Our first year we found a couple keeper groupers of each kind and those were a big event...

Go where the fish live. With a small boat and not living at the coast you take a beating having to go out as weekend warriors or dingbaters! It just takes time the boat has to get on the water...

We have 4 distinctive seasons here and fish will be in different areas and depths as the temps change. Right now I love my A/C and go on the porch just to fill the humming bird water! In Sept - Oct I'll have every supper next to the birdfeeder.... You've got to figure out the comfort zone of the dwellers in the areas you fish!

As Lee said any little structure will hold fish. We only have a small fish finder with 600W eye but while trolling you've got to mark something you see, remember what week, what water temp etc... We're lucky here in commercialised USA to have half a dozen maps of the area. it'll give a very good head start on what the bottom looks like and where to sart looking.

Once you think you know where your targeted dwellers are, the game of figuring out where to drop your anchor starts. I hope one day to be able to lick my fingure put it in the air and have it right first shot like a Biscoto!!! Some days the fish might be there and are having a ceremonie of some sort, you won't get a bite. A few hours later as the party begins it may be game on!!!

It's a bit like Duck hunting you've got to go scouting and start thinking like a duck. Then you suffer a little wether it's finding a spot with no one, you battle the elements when the time is right and those ducks will come right in.... No matter if your bait is Blackcloud or the Cheap Shell in the smoke tube those fish will eat what you give them and will invite themselves to your blind!
You'll be a lot better off learning from those butchers to the southern...
MM

[JRJBfishing]

LOTS of great pointers and info already... I'm sure as the called upon suspects read this, they will add more great info.

Here are a few things I have learned over the past 6 years fishing the WB-NRI areas.

1. ANCHORING! This, to me, is one of the most important pieces to the grouper fishing puzzle. Learn how your boat/anchor work, handle, and set. Learn how to re-anchor without pulling the anchor in. This will save the "anchor boy" a lot of energy and make for more fishing time. This is not a lie. You can be as little as 10' away from a certain "spot" and not get a hit until you drop back or pull forward just that little bit, then it is on. Those little adjustments make a world of difference. Staying right on the structure is especially important for the gags. If you have to pay someone who is good at this (known bottom capt./commercial fishermen) for a half day trip to learn about this, DO IT. It will be much more productive than you can imagine. On the first stop of the day, I normally ride past the "mark" on my GPS, and turn my "track" feature on. Let the boat drift back long enough to generate a good long track. Then you can turn up the track and have your anchor course. This will save you from dropping the anchor with the boat facing into the wind, and then finding out that there is 3 knots of current running 90 degrees off the wind direction.

2. Use a variety of baits. Every day is different so far as what the fish will hit. Some days they won't touch a live bait, and some days that is the only thing they will touch. I like to have everyone drop cigar minnows and squid the first couple drops when we arrive at a spot. Many times this will create a feeding frenzy with all the little fish jumping on these small baits. If after a couple of drops with these baits, the small fish all of a sudden stop biting, and you wait a minute and nothing happens, don't move, give it a few more minutes. When the grouper finally do come out to play, the little fish will run, and the bottom will get "quiet". Don't be afraid to use a BIG bait. Those grouper have very large mouths, and some days they really key in on large baits. Use a sabiki and catch some natural baits from the area you are fishing.

3. Have a heavy enough rod, reel, and rig, to handle the fish you are chasing. I like a reel with lots of drag, spooled with at least 80 lb. line, with the leaders made of 130 lb. leader. I prefer a 10/0 J hook above the circles. You will catch a lot of fish on the circles, but you will also pull off some of your largest fish. If you break a fish off in the rocks, it will normally shut down the bite; no matter how good it was. This is especially true with the gags.

4. ALWAYS keep your fish finder on and watch it when running from one spot to another. Some of my best spots are ones I ran across while running from one trolling spot to another.

5. When you mark a spot, take the time to name it, and with the name, incorporate either the direction the ledge runs, or the correct crossing pattern for that ledge. Every ledge runs in a different direction, and not all of them will be fishable on certain days. This will save you a lot of fruitless running around to different spots. You can figure out your anchor course, and then look through the waypoints until you find a suitable location.

Good luck and keep da drags tight!

JRJB

[N2theBlue]

Can I hop in here and give you my 2 cents...

Start looking for "hard bottoms" even if it is only a scratch. Ledges get hammered a lot and hard bottoms tend to get skipped over more often than not...

Even check the ledges that are only a foot high, they hold a lot of fish. If you are going to fish a ledge, you need to look at it from one end to the other. I look for cracks with hard red in them, that is good fish. Sometimes the fish are on top of the ledge and sometime they are on the deep side, Figuring that out will take time but after a while, it will come.

Another thing to remember is when you read their reports, you will see that they sometimes move a lot, no one spot will give you their results...

Call me if you would like to chat more about it.

I know all that stuff....I just don't know how to find it!! I can stare at the bottom machine for hours and not know what i'm looking for or at.

I want one of the new Humminbird Side Imaging ones so i just get dang picture haha

[gottaflylee]

I know all that stuff....I just don't know how to find it!! I can stare at the bottom machine for hours and not know what i'm looking for or at.

I want one of the new Humminbird Side Imaging ones so i just get dang picture haha

Don't think that a side imaging is going to show you live bottom but I don't know.

I can't speak for others bottom machines but my color Furuno shows a green tag or fringe at the top, the bottom of the screen will get some what longer than a sand bottom. If it is set right, it should show you this when your in grass or lettuce or coral.

You will need to anchor on what you think may be live bottom and test drop to see what is there and as others have said, anchoring to boat right on the spot is key and is an art...

[di hrd]

I run a side image machine 987Csi and a HDS 7 with a 1kw. The side image is great to 80' deep or so and is less effective on days with any waves... I almost never use that feature. The 1kw is always on bottom lock where we view the bottom 15'. Both will shoot clean @ 30kts. If your machine doesn't shoot at speed stay home and fix it.

We don't anchor much. 90% of the time we backtroll a spot. Catch a few and on to the next. We will fish 30 spots a trip.

[Robja]

Thanks for the info thus far. So what type of water depths do you guys normally fish.

[N2theBlue]

I run a side image machine 987Csi and a HDS 7 with a 1kw. The side image is great to 80' deep or so and is less effective on days with any waves... I almost never use that feature. The 1kw is always on bottom lock where we view the bottom 15'. Both will shoot clean @ 30kts. If your machine doesn't shoot at speed stay home and fix it.

We don't anchor much. 90% of the time we backtroll a spot. Catch a few and on to the next. We will fish 30 spots a trip.

I had heard it was good up to ~125.....but 80 would work fine for fall grouper fishing when they move in shallower.

I suppose I need to upgrade the electronics to really get down and find spots on the move, but I just don't want to put a whole lot of money into the boat right now.

The biggest problem i have is finding the small ledges, 1'-2' because i can't tell what is just the rocking of the boat and what is actual bottom contour. I have found several big dropoffs while fishing king tournaments, but the smaller ones area lo tougher.

Course all this is pretty moot if i keep having to work so dang much and not get to go fishing.