[dropcap]W[/dropcap]arm sea breezes out of the southeast will typify the offshore days of May and create enticing conditions for Martin County’s near coastal anglers upon the salty grocery pond, east of the St. Lucie Inlet. Visions of grouper will dominate the thoughts of most meat hunting fishermen this month, as the open season on grouper begins the first day of May. Many species of grouper will be number one on the strategy hit list, as fishermen angle towards reef structures in depths of 120 to 180 feet of water to get attached to these large bottom dwelling animals. Gag, red, black, and scamp grouper are most commonly caught in our offshore waters, east of Stuart along the naturally occurring reef zone known as the Eight Mile Reef. Heavy tackle in the form of 6/0 and 4/0 reels packed with braided line of 100-pound test strength or better, will be required to wrestle these very strong bottom bruisers through the reef and up to the boat. To successfully convert on grouper bites, as many of these species can achieve hefty proportions of 30- to 40-pounds. or better,
80- to 125-pound mono leaders attached to 8/0 to 10/0 hooks will be necessary. Dead and live baits of all flavors will yield grouper snagging success. Hooking big grouper is the easy part of the equation when targeting these fish—fighting them and bringing them to the boat is a different story! It’s a full contact, sporting battle to physically steer a grouper through the reef and up to a floating platform on a conventional rod and reel. An angler will quickly realize just how physically fit one is, during a tug of war with a large grouper. While grouper will be the “fish flavor of the month”, anglers will also be treated to generous portions of snapper, which can be caught along the same reef lines as many species of grouper. Jumbo mutton snapper of 20-pounds or more will be caught on the outer edges of these reefs and become targets of prize seeking anglers, as May kicks off the start of the local fishing tournament season.
May will open the door to nature’s offshore grocery store, with bottom fishermen ruling the reef aisles with their carts full of grouper and snapper.
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