Grouper Fishing in Naples, Florida
By Allen WalburnArticle Word Count: 404 [View Summary] Comments (0)
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I have been a fisherman for over 50 years and a charter boat captain since 1977. No matter how often I go fishing I can never accept fish are not biting. Every fisherman knows that fish especially bottom feeders like grouper and halibut seem to refuse to feed on certain days or on certain tides. When these days or times occur I start emptying my tackle cabinet for some magic bait. While the magic bait is yet to be discovered I have found a few techniques that will produce at times cut bait or even live bait fail.
My favorite way of catching fish like grouper, halibut or even large mouth bass is to irritate them to the point they lash out at the annoyance. For fish like largemouth bass a rapidly retrieved rattle or spinner bait will induce a strike. For bottom fish like grouper, a little more persistent presentation is needed. Often times repeatedly banging your sinker on the bottom will attract fish, especially halibut. This sonic vibration caused by the bait thumping or banging on the bottom will cause fish to start feeding when other methods fail.
An even more effective method of catching finicky bottom fish is to drop a Crippled Herring jig or some other lead jig to the bottom. Allow the jig to flutter to the bottom then rip the bait up sharply and allow it to fall again. Maintain this action while watching your line as your bait falls. Invariably a fish will become aggravated and strike the falling bait. Often when I get a hookup I will allow the fish to remain close to the bottom for a short period of time and often other fish will get interested and start to bite for fear all the food may be eaten by others. Grouper, snapper and halibut can all go from lockjaw to biting everything in site almost instantaneously. From famine to feast often in an instant because jigged Crippled Herring, constantly creating attention, aggravated one fish to strike.
I like using heavy lead jigs for halibut with rubber grub tails, buck tail jigs of all sizes based on the depth but the most dependable and reliable bait I have used is the Luhr Jensen Crippled Herring in all sizes.
Remember when the bite gets tough, open up the tackle box for something, like a lead head jig or Crippled Herring, to incite those finicky fish into biting.
Allen Walburn has been a U.S. Coast Guard licensed master of power vessels up to 100 tons for 30 years. He has operated A&B Charters http://www.aandbcharters.com from the Naples City Dock and Port of Call Marina since 1977. Recently he has become managing partner for Alaska"s Kodiak Island Resort http://www.kodiakresort.com.