by Misty Wells
The winter months in Florida bring big surprises when it comes to inshore fishing, like monster gag grouper, snook and tarpon. Yes, you heard me right, you can catch all of these species and more right now, slow trolling in about 20 feet of water. As the water temps cool off the bait and smaller fish move inshore, guess who is right behind them gag grouper. I have always heard about folks trolling for grouper, but I had to check it out first hand for myself. You have read some of my stories about taking an 80-mile run off-shore to catch some big grouper, well right now you can catch them in Tampa Bay. Trolling in the Bay is pretty easy to be honest and here is a list of things you need. Get a rod with a 4/O reel, you will need a #3 planer, 3 and 4 oz lead heads with a 6-inch curly tail Pumpkin Jig, that’s my personal favorite. The diversity of fish you will catch will amaze you! We caught 5 different species trolling with this set up.
Right away we started catching some short gag grouper and then they started getting bigger and before the night was over, we caught that big 14 lbs. gag grouper, he was a fighter. My daughter Hudson “jumped” a 150 lbs. tarpon that launched himself about 5-feet in the air, then almost landed in the boat. We came across a school of tarpon after that and she started hooking a few smaller tarpon and several Spanish mackerel. I proceeded to catch a really nice 31 inch snook that I took a quick photo with and released back into the Bay to catch another day. I was amazed at the diversity of the fish you can catch in the Bay right now and really how simple it was. We did not hook any on our trip, but there are also some monster kingfish in the Bay and around the Skyway right now that are great to smoke and make some Fresh Fish dip for everyone. For a great day on the water, go slow trolling. You won’t regret it and you might catch some pretty amazing fish. Tight Lines and Happy Holidays, Misty
