Fishing Charter for Grouper in Clearwater Florida, Captain Ed Walkers
Grouper Fishing FloridaWe are fortunate enough to base our charter fishing operation in an area ,Tarpon Springs and Clearwater, that has the best grouper fishing in Florida. Before we go any further into the subject of grouper fishing in florida or grouper “catching” as we prefer to call it, let’s clarify that the way we fish for grouper is MUCH different than the way most fishing captains. Most grouper fishing is done by making long runs offshore in big boats and then anchoring over a spot and dropping baits straight down in deep water on heavy tackle. It can be effective and is the norm for most of the more tourist-based grouper fishing operations in the Tampa Bay and Clearwater area, but many sportsmen are not impressed by the drop and crank technique.
 Our operation always seeks to maximize the sport in sport fishing, regardless of weather we are inshore fishing or offshore fishing. We cater to anglers who seek more than a boat ride with a large group of people and a few fish caught on heavy tackle. During the spring and fall our boat can often be found grouper fishing near one of the hundreds of natural rock formations in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the coastline. This area has more of these fish attracting formations, close to shore, than anywhere else in Florida. It is these limestone outcroppings that draw the gag grouper and even a few red grouper into shallow water. When the time is right, we catch great numbers of big grouper, as well as other fish, within clear sight of shore. In fact, on most of these trips, you can clearly see the bottom all day. The key is in knowing where the best rocks are and when to fish each.
Years ago Capt Ed Walker began studying the local grouper population and experimenting with new techniques to catch them in places that most other grouper fishermen drive by on their way offshore. For the past 6 years Capt Ed has also spent hundreds of hours freedive (no tanks) hunting underwater on untold numbers of rocks, wrecks, and ledges in search of new grouper hideouts and to learn all he could about the mannerisms and habits of this coveted gamefish.
By bringing his live bait and light tackle expertise to this rich offshore arena he has now devised an exciting new method of catching big grouper in less than 20 feet of water. In fact, he has secret coordinates in his extensive “little black book” that produce incredible grouper fishing in depths as shallow as 6 feet water. These methods involve casting, sometimes even sight-casting, and live bait. Our unusual grouper fishing techniques provide amazing battles with big fish on light to medium tackle, produce good sized gag grouper even on fly-fishing tackle, and even led us to an IGFA world record gag grouper a few years ago and a very near miss world record gag on fly takcle.
Since lighttacklecharters.com is open to anyone on the internet, including would-be competitors, we prefer not to describe our specialized shallow water grouper techniques in great detail here. We can say that there are few, if any, local guides that catch as many big grouper in as shallow water as we do, and that keeps our clients happy. Due to the popularity of this unique experience, our regular local customers often book many of the available dates during the peak grouper fishing seasons in advance. We’d love to get you out for a day to experience the thrill for yourself but we do suggest scheduling early. The peak months in the fall are October, November, and early December, and in the spring March and April are the best. These fish fight HARD and this is the most exciting grouper fishing you will find anywhere, you’ll see. Once you try it you will never want to fish for grouper any other way.
 While grouper fishing in these areas we also catch a great variety of other exciting fish that keep the action practically non-stop. Some of these include kingfish also known as king mackerel, giant Spanish mackerel, sharks, mangrove snapper, big flounder, cobia up to 50 pounds, jacks, and many others.
On occasion, a school of giant breeder redfish will drift into our grouper spots and eat every bait we have out. These jumbo reds run from 12 to 45 pounds and are always a welcome bonus.
 Another species that is sometimes welcome and sometime not is the goliath grouper, formerly known as jewfish. These enormous groupers can be fun to tangle with if they are not too big. Too big being over 300 pounds or so. Sometimes they will move in and steal the gag grouper off our lines which is not good, but by carrying “a big stick” we can sometimes turn the tables on them and haul them up. Our largest landed (and released) to date was a 350 pounder but many, many others bigger than that have made it back into the structures below and broken even the heaviest lines.
At the moment, the state of Florida allows each angler on the boat to keep 5 gag grouper over 22 inches, per person, not including the captain or mate (if applicable) and we catch that many and more quite often. We do not mind keeping grouper for the table since they are such great eating fish. We do, however, encourage everyone to keep only what they can eat and releasing the rest. Again, we are sport fishermen. It is our belief that by not being greedy and taking care of our resource, it will continue to do the same for us.
If you would like to join us on a Grouper fishing experience please drop us an email or give us a Call at (727) 944-FISH (3474) today to book your guided fishing trip for Grouper.
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