ltsheets

Well I'm planning on going out several times between mid-Jan to the end of February and was curious which species will be the most common and easiest to target during that period of time. Thanks.

jt

groupa!

jjam

Grouper will be closer in with cooler waters but be mindful of the closure during the time you will be hitting it hard.<LI class=Body>Establish a Feb. 1 through March 31 closed spawning season for all recreational harvest of shallow-water groupers (Red, Black, Gag, Yellowfin, Yellowmouth, Rock Hind, Red Hind, and Scamp) in all Gulf state waters,</LI><LI class=Body>Decrease the daily recreational aggregate bag limit for all grouper in the Gulf from five fish to four fish per person per day, and</LI><LI class=Body>Reduce the commercial minimum size limit for Gulf Red Grouper, and for all importation and sale of Red Grouper, from 20 inches to 18 inches total length. </LI><P class=Body>Keep a close eye for the Aj's reg's as they may open up while the grouper are off limits.<P class=Body>Also, you still can target mingo's, triggers&amp; several other reef fishclose in during the cooler months as well.<P class=Body>Good luck and pls post up your trips! :clap<P class=Body>Jimmy

T2Cenac

jjam is right on the money on that one....groupa is where its at. Except for the spawning season. It is amazing the size group your will catch in shallower water in these months, rather then the smaller grouper in even deeper water during the summer months. Also, once you catch one nice fish drop it in the same spot and depth, since the big ones normally hang together in preparation for spawning.

recess

Grouper, mingo's, scamp, triggers and aj's should be back in a couple of weeks.

Telum Pisces

Even last week when I dove nearshore, I could tell that the grouper and AJ's were moving in close.

Grouper, Scamp, AJ, Trigger, Mingo, Mangrove Snapper are all out there waiting to be caught. But like was said above, they close grouper as soon as it gets real good.:banghead

DKFREE

does the closure for aj's apply to state waters also?

Pass Time

No..only federal and right now only thru dec 31st. Be mindful of the 30" fork length still.

FISHUNT7

<P class=Body>How deep is the water, or how far out are you refering to? Is there a particular depth range to target during this month?

brianL

It?s been a great week here in the Tampa Bay area. Most of our fishing charters have run out of Tarpon Springs mainly due to the unbelievable trout fishing and the really good redfishing that?s been going on up here. The Superbowl is this coming weekend and that has brought a lot of visitors to the area and that in turn has created a full week of fishing charters.This week Trout again were the focus but redfish have been the ?kicker? fish. We?ve been trying to hit the trout spots during the incoming tide and the results have been great. They won?t eat very well on the leaving tide but when the tide starts ripping in, it?s game on. We had one unusual day this week where for what ever reason the trout wouldn?t eat artificial lures very well so we went back to using shrimp fished under a Cajun Thunder bobber. They really seemed to be keying in on that combo. Trout in the 28-25? range were frequent participants in the good bite. In fact, the size of this fish has been consistently large. We didn?t catch one fish that was too small to keep all week.