Hernando Beach Inshore Fishing Inshore flats fishing Redfish, Snook, Trout, Snapper and Grouper

Inshore Grouper Fishing

This is the time of the year when you can go grouper fishing in a small boat without ever leaving sight of land. Today was one of those perfect days for this type of fishing trip. We had a light easterly wind in the morning, then dead calm around 1pm, then the west convection winds kicking up in the afternoon.
Unfortunately, this rock appears to have been fished hard recently. The best way to tell if an inshore rock has been fished, is the amount of tall seaweeds that are on the rocks. Typically when you catch a few grouper the fish will run for the cover of the rocks and your line tends to cut the seaweed down like a weed eater. And this was the case, after a nice warm growing season, the tall seaweeds where cut off at the roots. So my guess is someone else knows of this rock and recently fished it pretty hard. There was one piece of seaweed left which came up with this little grouper.
As you can see below there are no tall weeds left. Typically you can find rocks like this one by the tall seaweed. If the seaweed is not cut off by fishing or passing boats, they will grow to the surface.
The one little grouper 2 lb grouper minus the 3 lbs of seaweed.
The best part about inshore grouper fishing, is that the grouper on these rocks are not residents. Even after the rock has been fished out, the offshore grouper moving in to the shallow water will come across the rock and set up temporary residents. The key to a good inshore grouper rock is the rock most have good cover (hollow areas under the rock, tall grass) and plenty of near by food.

Good Luck
Zippyjr

Tide : Incoming
Water Clarity : Clear
Moon Phase: 3/4 full
Temp: 92 F
Water Temp :84 F
Wind: 0-5 mph West
Bait: Whitebait
Results: 1 short grouper, 5 hound fish and 1 mackerel.