# Trolling for Grouper?



## crappiefool (May 4, 2013)

I have heard of people trolling lures for Grouper, but I have never tried it. I will be fishing out of Steinhatchee this summer and wanted to try this technique. Can anyone give me some recommendations as to what rod/reel, line, and lure to use? I have heard of people trolling Mann's Stretch 30's, is that the go to lure for this technique? Thanks


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## d-a (May 5, 2013)

I have had some good success trolling for groupers. If I'm in a unfamiliar area and know a general location of live/natural bottom then that's how I find my new spots. I like using a down rigger but a stretch 30 on 50lb braid can hit bottom in 50ft. The reason I use a down rigger is due to precise depth control and I can fish in deeper water. I can run multiple rods staggered at different depths and cover the whole water column. All of that can be done with different lures to so don't run out and get a down rigger. 

Without a down rigger Stretch 30's, bomber CD30, and a yozuri hydro magnum minnow will work( caught a lot off of it, can add weight to the bill to make it dive deeper). I will always have two lures that I'm trying to keep within 5 ft off the bottom and two on the surface and depending on the crew I will have two mid water lures too. I've caught everything from Mangrove snappers to smoker kings to Aj's and of course grouper on them.  

With a down rigger I like floating lures that dive 3-8 ft. I set the down rigger up where the ball is 5-8 deeper than the bottom and run the shallow diving plugs around 30 feet behind the ball. I will constantly adjust the depth of the down rigger due to deth changes. With a floating lure you don't have to worry about getting hung if you leave it down there while your out of gear fighting a fish(happens a lot with Spanish and kings) 

As for trolling speed, I generally troll lures at 3.5-4.5 MPH for grouper and faster if I'm targeting kings. 

d-a


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## STRAIGHTARROW (May 6, 2013)

*Trolling...*

Hey d-a, I have a couple questions please.
When you say you set your downriggers where the ball is about 5-8 deeper than bottom, I assume that is because the water pressure against the ball causes it to rise to the correct depth?
When fishing on a downrigger do you use mono to stretch and absorb some shock when the lure is hit?
Do you set the downrigger at the same depth when going after Kings, just troll faster?
Thanks!


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## d-a (May 6, 2013)

STRAIGHTARROW said:


> Hey d-a, I have a couple questions please.
> When you say you set your downriggers where the ball is about 5-8 deeper than bottom, I assume that is because the water pressure against the ball causes it to rise to the correct depth?
> When fishing on a downrigger do you use mono to stretch and absorb some shock when the lure is hit?
> Do you set the downrigger at the same depth when going after Kings, just troll faster?
> Thanks!



Yes the ball will blow back and the actual depth marked on the down rigger will be less than the actual depth of the water.

I use mono mostly for the release clip. It makes setting the release clip and staying set during deploying the lure easier due to diameter. It does help with shock absorbing but at slow speeds its not as critical. 

When specifically targeting kings, I don't always use the down rigger. I do catch plenty when trolling for groupers and it seems my biggest ones come off the deepest lure. If I use the down rigger for kings I will adjust it deeper so I can still get a bait as close to the bottom as possible.


d-a


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## deadend (May 6, 2013)

Spoons or other soft artificials behind planers work great.  Long Bombers always produced as well.


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## jimboknows (May 8, 2013)

*planers always worked well for us*

planers with different lures to see what is working that day.  We had luck with red/white and anything silver/flashy


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## STRAIGHTARROW (May 8, 2013)

When fishing mono on downriggers, how heavy do you guys set the drag?
I assume not too tight to allow for getting hung up on structure?
I have always bottom dropped on numbers, think I will try this grouper trolling technique.

Any tips best weather, moon phase, etc to troll lures? 

If y'all troll for a couple hours and no hits, do you stop and drift? Head for a good number, drop on it and wait?

Whenever I drop bait on a spot I give it maybe 20 minutes or so, if no action by then, crank up and move. I picture groupers as being "wolves of the sea" kinda, if they are there, you'll know it soon after the drop. (Usually)

Red snapper ever hit a grouper plug?

Appreciate all the info guys.


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## d-a (May 8, 2013)

STRAIGHTARROW said:


> When fishing mono on downriggers, how heavy do you guys set the drag?
> I assume not too tight to allow for getting hung up on structure?
> I have always bottom dropped on numbers, think I will try this grouper trolling technique.
> 
> ...




Back when you could legally catch gags year round, most guys would grouper dig in the fall and winter months primarily when they moved in closer(25-45ft) 

I always trolled for them in the summer months in deeper water (45-80ft)and after getting my down riggers in even deeper water up to 300ft with success.  The boat keep the fish from getting you rocked up. I've never actually got hung on the bottom, think its due to the way the lures run and the bill keeps the hooks protected. 

If your going to try it for the first time, and you have several spots in a general area I would troll across the spots all the while looking for new spots, structure including hard bottom and mark these spots. Also when you get a fish on mark the spot(sounds simple enough but gets forgotten a good bit). When I get a fish over a new area/spot I will always troll back over it in a different direction looking for the structure that held the fish. 

This is kinda what I look for when determining a trolling location to start. It's a projected ledge on a chart(green dot). It's not always accurate but it's a good start for trolling a new area. I try and troll in a zig zag pattern along that line till I find a massive fish show on the Fish finder or till I catch some fish. Your an cover quite a bit of ground in just 1 hour, figure 3-4 miles since your trolling 3-4mph. 






Yes a red snapper will hit a trolled lure. 

d-a


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## grouper throat (May 9, 2013)

Stretch 30s are the standard here. I prefer mono over braid even for trolling.

Here's our normal trolling runs: Run a chartreuse or chart/red/fire tiger and pink 30 long/longer, and (if possible) run a short line in the prop wash with a blue/green back. Overall, the pink 30 is the best IMO but see what works and switch if necessary. It looks ugly but my buddy hooked me on the pinks after he caught 3 to my 1. Back then (5 apiece then) we limited out trolling this time of year regularly with some good fish. Look at the map, a troller can score alot of grouper over long patches of rocky bottom out of steinhatchee. We only normally troll while looking for numbers or within a mile or so of a number we are going to bottom fish so my experience is limited to some others.


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