UTER
Photo: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Mycteroperca phenax
How to catch Scamp
Scamp feed in 60–82°F water and bite best at 66–78°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 5 waters; in October they are at their peak in The Golden Isles, The Lowcountry, The Southern Outer Banks & Cape Fear.
45 pts · trophy at 26"Feeds 60–82°FBest 66–78°FIn season nowLedge / hard bottomArtificial reefWreck
About
The best-eating grouper in the Gulf, and the one the old-timers keep quiet about: a tan, dotted fish with a broom tail on the deeper ledges. Small mouth, big fight.
How to fish it
The deep ledges in 100 to 250 feet; a live bait or a slow-pitch jig worked just off the bottom.
What it eats
live cigar minnowssquidslow-pitch jigs
Live bait for it
Cigar minnowsNose-hooked on a stinger rig for kings, or a 4/0 circle hook dropped to the bottom for grouper.
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.
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 itLeader30–60 lb fluorocarbon
Hook2/0–7/0
Braid30–65 lb
The rule
not confirmed hereMinimum 16" total length within the grouper aggregate — confirm at MyFWC.
The current rule →Where it is, month by month
PPeakSSpawningAArriving·AroundLLeaving
Gulf of Mexico