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Red grouper, get them while you can

Posted Jan 9, 2012 by Tribune Sports

Updated Jan 9, 2012 at 07:51 PM

BY RANDY ROCHELLE

The next couple of days aren’t looking good for running offshore, but hopefully things will improve by the weekend.

The red grouper bite has been very consistent over the last month or so and should remain that way until the season closes Feb. 1. Once again, we found them chewing in 130 to 150 feet of water on areas of hard bottom. The hot bait was whatever we dropped to the bottom – live bait, cut bait, jigs – it just didn’t seem to matter. The bite just inside of the Mexican Pride has also been good, with a good mix of grouper and snapper. Most of the snapper on the areas of hard bottom have been of the red variety, but there have been a few mangrove and lane snapper mixed in.

For mangrove snapper, the mitigation sites near the Pipe have been hot, particularly the ones out past the 100-foot mark. You will also find gag, red and scamp grouper on the pipe. For keeper size red and scamp grouper, however, you will want to push on out to at least the 110-foot mark. Another fish that you can find on or near the Pipe is Pink Porgies, but you’ll have to run a bit further to the west, say around 130-foot mark.

The amberjack bite has been good as well, but we have found that it pays to get to the structure you plan to fish early. After the first couple of boats have beat them up, it may be tough to get them to chew again.

Believe it or not, there are still a few kings around making it worth the time to put out a flat line or two.

Capt. Randy Rochelle runs the “Gotta Go” out of St. Petersburg and can be reached at (727) 365-3218.