UTER
Photo: Jarek Tuszyński, CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Mycteroperca microlepis
How to catch Gag grouper
Gag grouper feed in 58–84°F water and bite best at 64–78°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 11 waters; in October they are at their peak in The Panhandle, The Big Bend & Nature Coast, The Space Coast Lagoons and 6 more.
40 pts · trophy at 34"Feeds 58–84°FBest 64–78°FIn season nowArtificial reefWreckLedge / hard bottom
About
The gag grouper: the shallow-water grouper of the Gulf, on rock piles and ledges in ten feet of water on the Big Bend and deeper elsewhere. A brute that goes back in its hole if you let it.
How to fish it
Anchor up-current of the rock, drop a live bait, and the moment it eats, wind — it is going home. Heavy gear. Trolling big plugs over the shallow rocks is the Big Bend's own trick.
What it eats
live pinfish and gruntscut baitbig plugs trolled over shallow rocksjigs on the ledge
Live bait for it
PinfishHooked through the back ahead of the dorsal on a 2/0 to 4/0 circle hook; the small ones free-lined, the big ones on a fish-finder rig.
PigfishFree-lined or under a cork on a 2/0 circle hook for gator trout; on the bottom for grouper.
Cigar minnowsNose-hooked on a stinger rig for kings, or a 4/0 circle hook dropped to the bottom for grouper.
SquidStrips on a bottom rig for snapper, grunts and porgies; whole on a deep-drop rig.What to fish it with
the sizes that fish itLeader50–60 lb fluorocarbon
Hook5/0–8/0
Braid50–80 lb
The rule
not confirmed hereSeason and size limits differ between Gulf and Atlantic and change year to year; confirm the current season at MyFWC before you keep one.
The current rule →Where it is, month by month
PPeakSSpawningAArriving·AroundLLeaving
Florida
Gulf of Mexico