Let's talk Grouper Baits...

[N2theBlue]

some good info here guys.....hey lyndon i wouldn't mind some inshore numbers just to show me what type of bottom I should be looking for. Preferably nearshore on our side of the shoals

Jamie

[calebw]

For starters, If you want to get to the good bottom you need to jump to the other side of the shoals from were your at.. Your Leaders are to long and no need for Floro, waste of $$$..Listen to what I told you in my earlier post and like I said there's alot of good advise on here but here in NC this is what works.. No need to get to fancy, just keep it simple..If you give me a call I'll give you a few ## to get into some better bottom..Ken

One bait that hasn't been mentioned is a hunk of 'cuda fillet. I've caught many grouper on it. Purplegold, get with me, or give me a call, and I'll give you some good numbers as well. 910-842-8903.

Two great offers from some world class bottom fisherman. Now if only you fished out of MHC.... Ken and Capt. Lyndon when cruising around looking for bottom fishing spots, what grabs your attention on the sonar and says this might hold alot of grouper.

What do you look for on your sonar that indicates it will hold alot of grouper and other bottom species. Is it any different when looking for inshore gag grouper spots (around 100' or less)?

[James80]

To those using Mann Stretch lures.

What size tackle are you using and at what drag? Those things pull!! Also how fast do you troll them?

[Capt. Lyndon]

some good info here guys.....hey lyndon i wouldn't mind some inshore numbers just to show me what type of bottom I should be looking for. Preferably nearshore on our side of the shoals

Jamie

Jamie, I'll get you some numbers tommorow evening. I left my book on the boat. One spot that is a consistent producer for me in the fall, believe it or not, is the shark hole. The atlantic ledge is usually good, as is the Gary Ennis. The Ennis is usually pretty decent all summer and fall, but if you go in November, anchor up and lite line while grouper fishing, just make sure you have plenty of hands on board. I've had several days commercial fishing there in Nov. where I've had 25 or 30 head of gags, as well as 80+ king mackerel. The sharkhole is great for the same thing come the middel of Oct.-first of december. There are grouper now on the sharkhole. I caught 3 or 4 a couple of weeks ago king fishing, but haven't tried to bottom fish there yet.

[Capt. Lyndon]

Two great offers from some world class bottom fisherman. Now if only you fished out of MHC.... Ken and Capt. Lyndon when cruising around looking for bottom fishing spots, what grabs your attention on the sonar and says this might hold alot of grouper.

What do you look for on your sonar that indicates it will hold alot of grouper and other bottom species. Is it any different when looking for inshore gag grouper spots (around 100' or less)?

Caleb, the main thing I look for is structure, be it a ledge, rock, live bottom, whatever, that is holding bait. Chances are, if you are in 65 ft. of water or better, and on structure with bait and small fish marking up on your machine, there is a grouper there. He may not bite, but he's probably there. One other thing to keep in mind is what an old school bottom fisherman told me, were there's a grunt, there's a grouper.

[WahooKing]

Here is one of my old skool Grouper lure we use...simple lure and easy to put together...You can use any lead head wahoo lure or Jap. trolling feather...Fake Bonita strip for extra tail flap.



We fish 60-100ft of water with wireline outfits/cable leaders...The ratios are 10:1...For every 10 ft. of wire we let out...lure drops 1 ft in depth going about 3 kts....We keep our bait about 10-20 ft off the bottom...When they hit, we gun the boat...Pull them buggers up to the surface and reel them in like a big patch of seaweed...no sport but highly effective...When the old man comes aboard, we bust of the electrics.

Only an hr. fishing on an incoming tide

[Logan9581]

To those using Mann Stretch lures.

What size tackle are you using and at what drag? Those things pull!! Also how fast do you troll them?

We pull them from tld 25's 20;s should work just fine too. We have 50lb braided line which is a must if you are fishing deeper. We started using about 3 feet of 80 mono for leader but you do get a lot of cudas using the stretches and we were getting cut off. We switched to wire leader and had no drop off in hits. Actually, both those fish pictured came on a wire leader. You HAVE to change the hooks and split rings on the lures to owner 4x strong hooks otherwise you will straiten the hooks out. We trolled at 6 knots but that's just because that was idle speed.
Everything eats these lures. Here are some more fish caught on them.







AJ's and kings will devour them too.

[PurpleGold]

For starters, If you want to get to the good bottom you need to jump to the other side of the shoals from were your at.. Your Leaders are to long and no need for Floro, waste of $$$..Listen to what I told you in my earlier post and like I said there's alot of good advise on here but here in NC this is what works.. No need to get to fancy, just keep it simple..If you give me a call I'll give you a few ## to get into some better bottom..Ken

I'm with ya on keepin it simple Ken and definitely don't want to drop the cash on Flouro if it's not neccessary. We fished the East side of the shoals on Sunday and didn't have any luck. I've got a few numbers over there because that is where i go to chase Sails during the summers but most of my numbers are on the shallow side, 60-70ft. Thanks for the offer to share some good spots, I'll give you a call later in the week when I get back down to the house.

[PurpleGold]

One bait that hasn't been mentioned is a hunk of 'cuda fillet. I've caught many grouper on it. Purplegold, get with me, or give me a call, and I'll give you some good numbers as well. 910-842-8903.

Thanks for the offer Capt. Lyndon, I'll give you a shout later in the week when I get back home, I'm out of town at the moment. Do you keep your boats at Holden Beach Marina?

[gtrfred]

Anthony

When you guys are trolling for them over in the islands, do you use a shock leader? Also you mention that you are fishing cable leader deeper than the depth of water. So from that I gather that you fishing say 70 ft cable leader (when in 60 ft of water) directly from the lure to the snap swivel on the wire line.

I have done it a few times in the islands with some pretty good success. there is nothing like the bite of the grouper on those heavy rods. the setup i was using was 12 ft of #10 wire to a similar lure with the bonito strip. we would get plenty of bites, but pulled hooks on all the fish. I then switched it up by adding the mono leader from a wahoo setup (40 ft 300 lb mono) in between the wire leader and wire line. after we did that all the fish seemed to stay connected.

is your longer length of cable providing some sort of stretch?

Thanks for the help

Fred