Went grouper fishing this weekend, and since bottom fishing is something I know more than a few members enjoy, I thought I would start a thread for everyone to pass on some tricks, secrets, etc.

I'll go ahead and get the ball roling since i just learned a couple of tidbits this weekend form a guy who grouper fishes for a living.

1) When you catch a small grouper and throw it back, watch the direction it takes off in. Not sure how it knows, but it will swim towards the hole/ledge/structure it came from. Never know, might find out that the real hotspot about 20 feet out and dropping the line straight down might miss the mother load.

2) when the water is really cloudy, use big smelly dead sardines instead of live pinfish. I was surprised since I always thought live bait is better than dead. According to the guy I fished with, the pinfish are great when the bottom fish can see, but when visibility is real bad, the smellier baits will work better than the flashier baits.

Feel free to pick on these and post your own experiences, I was a little skeptical too. I guess I am sort of old school when it comes to bottom fishing, but both tricks seemed to work well for this weekend so I thought I would share them.

fish