Gag grouper season is short, but the bite in Tampa Bay is strong, Palmetto captain says

When gag grouper opened up on Sept. 1, captain John Gunter noticed the bay was a little busier than normal.

“That was probably the most boats I’ve ever seen on the water fishing,” he recalled. “The combination of gag grouper opening with it being a Sunday on Labor Day weekend, people were everywhere. They were trolling across our lines, but we still caught fish.”

Gunter, who specializes in Tampa Bay and nearshore trips for grouper, snapper and hogfish, wasn’t nearly as busy in August as in years past.

“It was the slowest August I’ve ever had. But with the short gag grouper season, I’m booked up every day for it, 15 straight. Luckily there’s been so many in the bay, it’s been really good,” said Gunter.

To target gag grouper, Gunter has mixed up strategies. Some days he trolls big plugs, jigs and other large artificial lures along channel edges and rock piles.

When that isn’t successful, he’ll switch to big live bait on strong hooked jig heads. Both have provided plenty of action and big fish.

“I think trolling we catch more keeper-sized fish because you can pull them away from the structure with the boat,” the Palmetto-based captain explained. “The hookup-to-cooler ratio is better. When using live bait in shallow water, it’s not for the weak of heart. You need a strong back, strong shoulders and even then, sometimes you can’t stop them. Just when you think you’ve got one away from structure they find another piece and you’re done.”

Using live bait is true combat fishing. Strong tackle, heavy line and leader is required. Gag grouper make some of the strongest runs for a short distance to rock themselves in their structured homes. Stopping them is crucial before that happens. Gunter rigs big spinning rods with 60-pound braid and 80-pound leader. It’s tarpon sized tackle for fish a tenth of the size that will test it fully.

“The bigger the live bait, the bigger the fish. On Thursday in 14 feet of water over a rock pile, I threw out a 7-inch pigfish. It got hit once, but the fish missed it. I opened the bail and either that fish came back or another one got it. It was the biggest of the four keepers we got that day, 30-plus inches, and we broke off probably 20 more fish,” Gunter said.

But that wasn’t the most memorable grouper he’s caught yet. On Tuesday, he had another four keeper-sized grouper on the table at the Palmetto boat ramp. One had a tag sticking out of it for research.

“Inside there was something hard. While filleting I saw it was an acoustic tag. First one I had ever seen. I cut it out and reported the number back,” Gunter said. “The fish was tagged last March on the east side of the Skyway at 22.5 inches. It didn’t go far from there to the Port Manatee channel. When we caught it it was 26 inches.”

Gag grouper season will close Sept. 16. There is a two-per-person bag limit and all fish must be 24 inches to keep.

Captain John Gunter can be reached at (863) 838-5096.