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Trolling Tampa Bay

Frank Sargeant

Gag Grouper

By FRANK SARGEANT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 17, 2009

While most anglers believe grouper fishing requires long, rough runs to distant offshore reefs, a few smart continue to tap a bonanza of these tasty bottom dwellers right inside Tampa Bay.

One of the experts is Tampa tackle-shop owner Vance Tice, who combines artificial lures with the 10-pound-weights of a downrigger to plumb the depths of the shipping channels and turn out good catches of gag grouper year around.

"Offshore in the gulf, if a bottom fisherman finds a three-foot break a hundred yards long, he thinks he's got a great spot," says Tice. "In the bay on the channel edge, we've got a 20-foot break, and it runs for miles."

Tice said the break was created by dredges deepening the shipping channels, which average more than 45 feet deep. The surrounding bottom is about 25 feet deep over much of the bay. The channels are cut into the limestone bedrock, so endless crevices, caves and holes have been created--ideal grouper habitat.

"The nice thing about fishing here is that you're 20 minutes from the dock, and you don't burn a hundred bucks worth of fuel getting to the fish," says Tice.

However, he says that although the fish are there, you have to put the lure or bait directly in front of them to get a bite.

"The water in the bay is not clear like it is in the gulf because of the turbulence stirred up by ship props," he said. "If you don't get the bait down within three feet of bottom, you don't get many hits."

To get to the fish, Tice uses finned down-rigger balls, which he says track truer than the round balls. The lures are 3- to 4-ounce jig heads with a chartreuse or pink plastic swimmer-tail that's a full eight inches long. And Tice trails them far behind the rigger ball.

"I put the lures a hundred feet behind the weights," he told me. "If you put it much closer, the fish will be spooked by that big chunk of metal passing through their habitat."

He said that even with the heavy rigger weights, there's some "kiting" from current and boat speed.

"In order to get the lure on bottom at 45 feet, we usually put out about 55 feet of cable from the downrigger," he said. "The weight may run down at 40 feet with that much of a drop, and then the jigs themselves will drop a couple more feet due to their weight."

The lures are towed at 1000 rpms. For trolling live baits like sardines, Tice suggests going even slower--dead idle.

With either, one angler has to handle the riggers, the other the boat. The boat has to be kept within a few feet of the "wall" or ledge, which means the driver has to watch the depthfinder constantly. And if the boat wanders too close, the lures or the rigger ball may snag. It's a busy kind of fishing, but it works.

When a couple of fish are caught from one location, it often pays to go back and drift-fish that area. For this type of fishing, Tice suggests going to much heavier jigs to keep the lures down where the fish are.

"Most people want to jig with 4-ounce heads, but that's only about half enough if there's any wind or current," says Tice. "We start with 8-ounce heads, and if they're not making solid bottom contact we move up to 12 ounces."

Again, the long, wiggling plastic tails are used. But Tice says it's best not to jig the lures at all.
"The tail swims with the motion of the boat, and that's all it takes to get a strike. If you start jigging, half the time you have slack line, and that makes it tough to feel the bite and tough to set the hook. It's better just to keep the rod tip low and drop back line now and then to maintain bottom contact."

He said that a heavily weighted live sardine or pinfish also works well. The sardines often attract large mangrove snapper, which are also abundant along the channel edge at times.

The best spots? Those are a secret of Vance Tice. But trolling the main ship channel both inside and outside the Skyway will soon turn up productive areas for anyone with the patience to pull their lures deep. Grouper are found at least as far inland as Apollo Beach. And since the channels are clearly marked with the green and red buoys, these "secret spots" are easy for anyone to find.

SIDEBAR: DANGERS OF THE SHIPPING LANES
The giant ships that use the channels winding through Tampa Bay cannot avoid grounding outside the dredged lanes, so recreational boats must give way to them. In some areas the channel is only a hundred yards wide, allowing very little leeway for a ship to pass a fishing boat safely. Smart skippers will keep an alert for on-coming ships at all times, and get out of their way with plenty of time to spare. Remember, it takes a ship over a mile to stop, and last-minute maneuvers are impossible for these huge hulls.

To learn more about trolling tactics on Tampa Bay, visit Vance Tice at his Tightlines Tackle Shop, 6924 North Armenia Avenue in Tampa; (813) 932-4721.

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