# Inshore snapper & grouper



## jdgator (Oct 3, 2016)

Guys, I live in Mobile, AL. A during the summer, we fish for seatrout around submerged structures in Mobile bay and the Mississippi Sound (inshore side of dauphin island). Usually 10 - 15 feet of water. We usually fish with live croakers. All summer long I've been catching red snapper and gag grouper, fish I used to having to run offshore to find. These aren't juvenile fish either. They would be keepers in the state water fishing season. It's quite a shock to think you are hooking a nice trout only to get your rod bent double by a grouper.

I'm not an inshore expert but I don't remember seeing reef fish in shallow waters, especially in numbers like this. Do you think this is a sign their numbers are up? Or have they always been willing to go inshore? A commercial fisherman told me he thinks numbers are way but also thinks the lionfish are killing their primary forage in the deeper areas. Any thoughts? 

At first it was cool to catch snapper 10 minutes from the dock, now I hate losing a couple dozen baits to "endangered" fish I cannot keep.


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## mdgreco191 (Oct 5, 2016)

Not sure about the inshore part, but I hear about and see people catching ARS all the time.  Sometimes you can't catch anything else because they are so thick in spots.


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## Old Winchesters (Oct 17, 2016)

I know you cant keep the snapper off your line long enough to fish for anything else offshore - Any size you want. Dont fish inshore much... a 2 fish limit is insane!


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## bfriendly (Oct 18, 2016)

30 years ago in Florida we caught a few Grouper in very inshore shallow water.......I think they have always been there. We too thought NO WAY! But when you catch them, you gotta believe. We also caught a ton of Grouper on the Edge of big water a few years ago....15-20' of water.......no need to go very far to find them


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## grouper throat (Oct 18, 2016)

Caught them and speared a few that shallow as well. Every few years you will hear of a 10+lb grouper shot off structure in shallow water while someone was intending to find a cobia. Some of the best grouper shooting I have seen was in 22-25ft of water but normally in the fall not summer. Never seen or caught a snapper in that close though.


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## lampern (Oct 20, 2016)

Gag grouper can definitely be caught that close.

Only snapper I have caught inshore is mangrove (gray) snapper


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