By Tim Barefoot
Of course, October is when it all starts, but if you like to bottom fish, then November is the month the turbo kicks in, leading to the crescendo of the year… December. I’ve always said the week of Christmas is the apex of the grouper fishing calendar, and I’ll stand by that statement now. This is when larger (male) gags move inshore to establish their territory on inshore ledges, wrecks, and live bottom, much like buck deer making scrapes and rubs to mark their territory. These males now wait for the smaller females to show up in numbers to spawn, and the bite traditionally goes off the charts.
A small piece of hard bottom can attract large numbers of fish if it contains the right ingredients. First and foremost, you need to locate their food. Go to the places that have traditionally held the bait: cigar minnows, sardines, beeliners, etc. “Find the bait, find the fish” has been my thought process for years. These fish won’t show up to a party without food, common sense. You can anchor up on a stack of bait without seeing a big mark of fish, but after a few bites, you’ll notice the screen light up with more and more fish showing up.
Anchoring up is key to shallow water grouper fishing. The sound of fish feeding travels great distances and doesn’t go unnoticed. Once an area is fired up, constant bites supercharge the atmosphere down there. If you’re drifting, you won’t get a specific area fired up; you’ll only go back where you got bites. But if you anchor, the fish come to you to join in. This draws the alpha predators: big sharks. Yes, you’ll lose some fish and tackle to these bruisers, but enjoy the ride while it lasts. When sharks show up, it’s time to move on to another ledge or further down the same one.
Back to noise… Keep in mind that while we hear very little, fish hear everything. Sound travels far underwater, and everything you do on deck, slamming cooler lids, dropping hard objects, loud music, yelling, is heard by the fish. It could be the difference between catching smaller cows or big bulls. Large male groupers didn’t get old by being dumb. You don’t kill big bucks by being noisy, so treat your fishing with the same respect.
The folks that target grouper come home with grouper. The ones who go “bottom fishing” with cut bait and chicken rigs come home with “bottom fish.” As Stephen Covey said, “begin with the end in mind.” If you’re targeting grouper, think and act like it. Put baits on the bottom that avoid trash bites. Spend time jigging up some of that “trash” and drop them back down on a Decoy Jig for optimal results. Watch some of my videos on YouTube (Tim Barefoot) for examples of what I’m saying.
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