Bayport/Hernando Beach florida grouper

[triumphrick]

A few friends and I met at the Hernando Beach ramp @ 7:00 am for a day on the water chasing the elusive grouper that I have had a hard time finding...at least the legal ones. My two previous trips averaging about 8 hrs each provided us with only one legal gag. Mind you, we had great days on the water and had 100 fish days with all kinds of grunts, sea bass, reds and gag grouper coming over the side, but only one was legal and it was a 26"..

We had grouppimp, our secret weapon on board with a gaggle of Loran co-ordinates. The Loran system has been turned off for a few months and we have to rely on our gps converting the sites. Much has been said on other forums I visited about the accuracy of the conversions...

Our first spot had been loaded the day before as I familiarized myself with the process. It showed us about due west of Bayport in 42' of water. As we neared the site, we started looking. Some people said the conversions may not be accurate and up to a 1/4 mile off. However, as we hit the number, the bottom showed good bottom and some structure.

Unfortunately, the keepers were not there..lots of fish were being caught, however. On to the next site, more northwest..same results. And again, another site same results. Finally by 3:00 we hit a site 41 miles nw of Hernando Bch..and in the distance were three other boats. Almost immediately bigger fish started coming over the side..several gags up to 21" were being caught and then some keepers as well as two fish 26" - 27". We had settled in 55' of water and 5:00 arrived in no time at all and we headed in. We had put almost 180 - 200 fish in the boat, many big gags and our six keepers..

It's all about the bottom, folks. Thanks to the crew for a good safe day on the water and to the 'pimp for a nice handful of numbers...Billy had a pedicure before taking the pic.... Is it just me or does someone else think the filet knife got to two of his toes??