Tampa Bay Grouper Fishing In November

Anna Maria Island Fishing Guide
Captain Aaron Lowman – November, 2017
Grouper, Gag Grouper, Troll For Grouper

—As the first few real cold snaps start to push through Tampa Bay during November and December, one of my favorite fish, gag grouper, begin to move into shallow waters. Gag grouper season is now, inside Tampa Bay and in the channels surrounding Anna Maria Island.  These delicious, and heavy-hitting brawlers stay relatively deep most of the year. As the water temps start to drop below 70°, the large, legal-sized gags move into Tampa Bay, as shallow as 6′.
—Gag grouper love structure. This makes it relatively straightforward finding them. Find the structure – with all the correct variables, and you will find the fish. But, getting them out of that structure is another story! Live bait works great, but the grouper has every advantage here, and wins many of these battles. One of the most successful ways to put these grouper in the boat is trolling. Trolling lipped plugs over areas of structure holding gags produces some incredible strikes! The foward motion of the boat pulls the hooked grouper away from the rocks and gives us a slight advantage, IF your tackle is up for the task. A full grown gag grouper is a serious animal. They will torture-test your tackle, and exploit any weakness.
—Personally, I use Star Rods and have been fishing with Star Rods since I was a kid. Just about all my rods are Star Rods. I think they are just the nicest rods out there for the money. The new VPR Boat Spinning series has been awesome for this grouper trolling deal. I have been using the VB1530S70 model. They have the perfect blend of a fast tip, and tremendous backbone on an incredibly light blank.

—Come book a grouper charter, and let’s put these Star rods to the test!

New Star VPR Rods

Grouper Trolling

Shallow Water Grouper