![]() ![]() See our Hook and Cook blog post for details.Ĭlick here for more information about charters. Many local restaurants will cook your fish for you. My personal favorite is a grilled grouper sandwich. They can be prepared in many ways, but we prefer them grilled or blackened. The fillets are large, flaky and white with a sweet flavor. Grouper is highly prized by culinary experts. The best grouper fishing spots are well off-shore and we will need the additional time to get there. Grouper can be caught on just about any of our bottom fishing charters but, to secure a good chance at a grouper we recommend at least an 8-hour trip. We most commonly catch them on live bait with heavy tackle in depths 80 to 300 feet. Grouper will eat large live baits, dead baits, and vertical jigs. Large gag are dark brownish-gray on top, and paler to white on the bottom. Their coloration varies widely and changes with the size and age of the fish. Gag grouper have a long, compressed body and 11 to 14 rays in its anal fin. I consider any grouper catch to be nice and ones above 36 inches to be beast. Red grouper weigh an average of 51 pounds while gag grouper can get as big as 81 pounds, he said. Typical catches are 24 to 30 inches long. Grouper are required to be 24 inches to retain and the bag limit per angler is two fish. These seasons are announced in the spring. Gag Grouper season is typically from June 1st to December 31st. If you are sitting down, you are not grouper fishing you are grouper feeding. If you’re not paying attention, the bite will be so intense and quick that the grouper will be in the structure before the angler can react. Once on a good grouper spot, an angler must be ready for the bite. They are extremely challenging because of their brute strength and many people have been and will be beaten by grouper. The most effective methods for catching Gag grouper include bottom fishing, drift fishing, night fishing and jigging using live bait.Gag Grouper are an excellent choice for charter fishing in the Destin Fort Walton Beach area. For this reason, anglers should make sure to lock their reel to keep the fish from diving. They often dive deep after snagging the bait, looking to hide in the rocks below. Once caught, gag groupers can be a challenge to wrangle into the boat. Anglers can also try trolling rocky bottoms in shallow waters using plugs or light tackle. Gags congregate in shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico in and around shipwrecks and pilings. Once these fish have been found, the boat is usually anchored. They are also fond of crabs and can often be found hanging around crab traps. Anglers often use depth sounders to find gags in and around rocky bottoms. ![]() The best method to use to catch gag groupers is bottom fishing. Gag grouper are often found where there is cover as they like to hide. Young gag groupers inhabit beds of seagrass or inland waters while adults prefer the bottoms of deep offshore areas. In the eastern area of the Gulf of Mexico, these groupers most commonly inhabit rocky areas. Rarely are gags found in the Bahamas or Caribbean. Younger fish can be found as far north as Massachusetts. Gags can be found the western Atlantic Ocean from North Carolina in the eastern U.S. Both fish have distinct markings, but those on blacks are squared instead of kiss-shaped. In the gag, the preopercles are single-notched with a pronounced lobe, whereas in black groupers they are rounder. To tell them apart, look at the preopercle in both fish. Gags and black groupers coexist in the same area. The color of these fish can vary however, they are typically gray-brown with unique dark markings that look like kiss marks. As they grow, they change into males like other species in the Wrasse family. Most gag groupers are female when they are young. ![]()
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