Grouper season is over, but Bradenton-area angler says these fish also make a tasty meal

With gag grouper and red grouper season now closed for the remainder of 2024, offshore anglers may need to change up their tactics for a full fish box.

While grouper anglers usually rely on heavy tackle to pull them away from their structured homes, tasty targets like mangrove and yellowtail snapper, hogfish, porgies and more are better targeted on light tackle.

When I head offshore, I usually have two rods that get more action than any other. The first is a 5000-6000 size spinning reel on a matching rod. It’s rigged with 40-pound braided line and 30-pound leader.

At the end is a Hogball between .5 and 1.25 ounces depending on the depth I plan on fishing. If strictly hog fishing, the 1.25 is good for getting shrimp right on the bottom.

The other rod is a 4000-sized spinner also with braided line, preferably “Cheater Line” which is metered and changes colors every 30 feet. This lets me know where in the water column the light jig head, 1/8 to 1/4-ounce, is getting bit so I can repeat on days snapper are up off the bottom.

Using 20-pound leader is best for getting more bites, but when a bigger fish hits, it’s a challenge to navigate the right amount of pressure needed without breaking.

Early reports for this year have had a bounty of hogfish being caught nearshore. The fishery is typically fished more during cooler months or after a few cold fronts, but with other meat fish closed anglers have been successfully catching them sooner.

“Who said it’s not the right time of year for Hogs??,” captain Brian Morgan posted on Facebook, with a picture of a fillet table lined with hogfish. “CMFA (Captain Morgan’s Fishing Adventures) is here to prove you wrong!”

Nearshore waters have slowly been filtering an abundance of fresh water following a few weeks of heavy rainfall which seemed to push mangrove snapper out of the bay and to cleaner waters. This has had them stacked heavily on shallow ledges and structure with better visibility beyond 10 to 15 miles.

Yellowtail snapper have remained as good as anytime historically for anglers, and some keeper-sized fish are consistent inside 50 feet of water if you know where to look. Deeper is better, and any spring or wreck beyond 30 miles has plenty of the yellowtail snapper that chum off the structure easily. Sharks remain a nuisance but may move closer to shore as more boats begin to fish shallower.

Finally, the popular red snapper season will remain open on weekends until the end of November, and they have slowly begun to head shallower as days have gotten shorter.

All these species can, and should, be targeted with light tackle. It won’t be long until cold fronts are heading through the Gulf of Mexico dropping historically high temperatures, and with it, nearshore fishing will get even better.

A live well full of shrimp fished slowly through the water column on light jig heads for snapper or with heavy jigs on the bottom for hogfish will result in a nice box of the targeted species and by-catch as well.

Even with gag and red grouper seasons closed, a tasty meal can be obtained.