While offshore hunting kingfish (aka the smoker) this weekend, we encountered the Clearwater Reef local, the gag grouper.  This was the most productive portion of our day.

We started by targeting kingfish on the Dunedin Reef with the threadfins we caught inshore.  We figured we were in the right place, because there were a bunch of boats trolling around.  The water was so clear we could see the culverts and cement down about 30 feet through the water.  We saw a few kingfish down deep in the water column but couldn’t get them to eat.  We got a few to chase chummers to the surface, but couldn’t entice them to attack the ones rigged on steel leader and treble hooks.

One of the people we saw at Marino’s Marina in the morning was also out at the Dunedin Reef.  We cruised up next to them to say hello and saw they were catching cigar minnows on a sibiki rig.  We asked what they were using them for, only to find out they were planning to target kingfish also.  They offered us a sibiki to use to catch cigar minnows, and since we were having no luck with the threadfins we decided to give it a try.  We quickly caught multiple cigar minnows and put them in the well.  Unfortunately, we didn’t catch any kingfish on the cigar minnows, but we may have missed a kingfish.  The fish was mauled, but the hooks didn’t find their way into the lip of any kingfish.

While at the Dunedin Reef we boated multiple seabass on the outer portions of the reef with shrimp on the bottom.  Most of the seabass were small fish and since what we were after was the elusive smoker we decided to try a different spot.

While at the Clearwater Reef we encountered a couple boats diving the reef, but the water was considerably murkier.  We heard them saying how many gag grouper were on the bottom.  We moved to the outer portion of the reef wanting to avoid the structure that could break our line.  We caught a handful of grouper at the Clearwater Reef.

Shrimp and dead threadfins on the bottom produced numerous grouper, mostly smaller grouper.  The grouper have moved back to nearshore waters with cooler water temperatures, and abound at the Clearwater Reef.  We boated an additional large snapper next to a crab trap.  While at the crab trap, we caught a couple grouper and a couple white grunts.

We put one grunt in the cooler, but the other was too small, so I decided to butterfly the grunt and free-line the half alive fish. The big rod with the freelined grunt was handed over to Rodney the Rodholder.  We continued to fish the bottom with shrimp,  but quickly realized something was taking larger baits on the bottom.  The fish would grab the bait, quickly rip line from the reel, realize they were hooked, but before anyone could grab the rod and set the hook, the fish would spit the bait.  This happened even with circle hooks. It happened three times before I decided to take over for Rodney.

This hungry grouper returned again for the freelined white grunt.  This time, when the fish grabbed the grunt I was able to set the circle hook before the fish could spit the grunt back out. A fight that seemed like a small goliath grouper or large ray, the fish put out a tremendous battle. The larger fish are extremely powerful fish. The whole back half of their body are the fins they use to propel themselves.  After getting the fish under the boat, the fish was a challenge to get from the bottom.  The fish eventually relented and came to the surface.  This large gag grouper would have been a lot of grouper sandwiches had this been 12 days earlier.  Still, the pursuit and the fight behind this highly contested sport-fish was well worth the trip.

The weather conditions were absolutely perfect for offshore and nearshore fishing.  Any day the winds are light, the air is in the 70s, and seas are calm offshore, a fishing trip is a fun way to spend a day.  By getting down to the water on days like this one we can enjoy mother nature and feel the satisfaction and sensations that come with her touch.