Right now the grouper fishing out deep is going very well past around 120ft of water out to nearly 200ft of water we are seeing very active gag grouper and a few red grouper and scamp grouper, too. The gags are the big news lately though as they are closing soon so we are working hard to primarily target them but after they close end of December we will be switching gears and tactics to target the red grouper more. Right now the gags are on the ledges and we are seeing more of the red grouper on the potholes and flat hard bottom areas. However, occasionally you will find a few of each in the same area or same piece of bottom. The big live baits like the near shore waters are the top pick for grouper baits as of late.

The big mangrove snapper are cooperating very well offshore right now on the smaller live pinfish or the cut threadfin plugs on the double snell rigs. We are using a little heavier mangrove snapper tackle than normal to ensure we have a shot to land the occasional gag grouper that may bite while you are targeting the mangroves but typically it would be around 40-50lb test leader while this time of year we typically would start using 60lb to target the mangroves in case a bigger fish grabs your mangrove snapper bait.

We are seeing some nice blackfin tuna around lately as well on the flat lines, occasional on the troll and many on the vertical jigs. Great time to get out there and have a rod ready if you spot the tuna action while offshore fishing!