By: Capt. Joel Brandenburg
The first time you see a black grouper in person, you are stunned by its beauty, muscular structure, and giant jaws. Black grouper is one of the most sought-after game fish in the Florida Keys and can be a challenge to find, hook and Land. We mostly bottom fish for black grouper in the Florida Keys with live bait fish, however, sometimes we troll with stretch 20s, 30s or 40s and sometimes we catch them while vertical jigging. As the water temperature cools down the black grouper move closer.
We typically target black grouper anywhere from 10 feet deep to as deep as 250 ft. deep and sometimes catch them in even deeper water than that. When we anchor on a spot for black grouper, we like to chum a lot, especially when the tide is slack so chum drops straight down under the boat. When we can keep our lines straight up and down, it seems to make for a better presentation to the grouper and definitely makes it easier to pull the grouper out of the rocks. As soon as the grouper realizes it has a hook stuck in its mouth and it’s being pulled upwards it immediately to the reef and knows its best chance to get away is to bury itself under the sharp rocks.
Many times, while bottom fishing we like to lock down the drag pump the rod up slowly and roll down quickly until we get the grouper out of the rocks. Once you get the grouper out of the rocks the fight becomes a lot easier, but until then, we seem to maintain about a 50-50 chance of being able to land the grouper.
For live bait we prefer pinfish, grunts, pilchers, ballyhoo, google eyes, and blue runners. We like to use at least 50-pound test leader and at least 40-pound test mainline. Some people swear by braided line for grouper because it’s less abrasive on the rocks, but I’m convinced that braid unless you have a long leader spooks the very smart black grouper. I also find that if you miss the first grouper, it’s hard to get a hit from the second grouper. It’s almost like when you miss the first grouper, a memo goes out look out for the live bait fish with a hook in them.
Black grouper get educated very quickly and are spooky fish to catch since they are a very slow growing fish. You can only keep one per day and it must be over 24 inches from the tip of the bottom lip to the tip of the pinched tail down the lateral line of the fish. Black grouper season closes in January and reopens again in April.
This time of year, we love to fish for snapper on the reef flatlining with a couple people on either side of the boat, dropping to the bottom for grouper. This time of year, it’s not uncommon for us to come in with a limit of snapper and grouper. I never find worms in black grouper like I do occasionally in red grouper or gag grouper.
Black grouper have been known to exceed 100 pounds and it’s not unusual for us to catch a 15 or 20 pounder. It is uncommon to catch a black grouper in the 30 or 40 pound range, but every once in a while we do catch a lunker. As the water cools down the black grouper bite heats up! This is a great time of the year to come to the Florida Keys and get your share!
— For a charter with Captain Joel Brandenburg of Ana Banana Fishing Company Marathon Florida Keys call 305– 395–4212 office# or 813–267–4401 Cell #. Or visit us in person at ponchos fuel dock a half block away from Cast Away restaurant at 1280 Oceanview Ave. Marathon Florida Keys.