The week of Christmas has always been considered the apex of the bottom-fishing year.

POST HIGHLIGHTS

  • Where to find bottom-dwelling fish like grouper, snapper, kings, and wahoo.
  • What are the types of bait to use while bottom-fishing for grouper and snapper?
  • Cold water caused by every offshore cold front creates boundless opportunities!

For as long as I can remember, offshore bottom fishing is what we look forward to during the last half of November and the entire month of December.

You can see the move of the big snappers marching offshore on the edge of the colder water. This is where big snapper and other bottom-dwelling species pile up on certain staging areas, along with a clean water temperature line that stacks up the kings and wahoo. Keep a light line bait out while you’re bottom fishing. There is no telling what you’ll catch and on what baits.

Of course, I love pinfish, grass grunts, or sailor’s choice for grouper and snapper baits for more than one reason. 1) They get bites from the target species, and 2) they eliminate most of the trash bites from grunts, pinkies, and sea bass.

Yes, I love live bait on a jig but don’t forget that a giant grouper also loves a big chunk of cut bait. For some reason, we have seen a huge uptick in amberjack and almaco jacks in the past few years. Therefore this is an excellent bait source! I like to keep one of the first smaller amberjacks that come up just for this cut-bait option. The big chunks of cut bait do two things. First, they get bites and create a “chum slick” on the bottom right where you are fishing. At the same time, the cut bait gets pecked at small pieces of flesh swirl around as it’s eaten.

Tim caught this Giant Lobster on Barefoot Crab Decoy Jig
Small amberjacks are one of the most important aspects of my bottom-fishing strategy. My other weapon of choice is taking a couple of boxes of squid on every trip. I start every new post-up on a ledge or live bottom area, with everyone firing down the whole squid every drop. I don’t care what they are catching. It’s usually grunts, pinkies, or seabass, but what is happening on the bottom; is the squid is getting ripped to shreds, and small pieces are swirling around and creating a chum slick. After several volleys of whole squid, I change it to live pinfish, grass grunts, or other live baits on a jig..

Grouper and big snapper see the live bait as a smaller fish grabbed by a crab while feeding on small pieces of squid. It’s a winning technique that has been very successful for other Decoy Jig (see link below) users and me for years. However, it is also new to the fish, tackle-wise. 

The beauty of this cold water line moving farther offshore with every cold front creates the opportunity for various species. You never know; keep firing down cut bait and setting the hook on “strange feeling bites,” you might even catch a giant deep-water lobster like the one in the video and as pictured above.

SALTWATER TACKLE YOU MAY WANT TO TRY:

7/0 and 11/0 J-Hook Chin Weights: Target fish include Tuna, Wahoo, Mahi or Common Dolphin, King Mackerel, Wahoo, and more. Easy to rig!

4 oz. Crab Decoy Jig: Target fish for Striped Bass, nearshore Drum, Snook, Grouper, west coast bottom fish, and more.

4 oz. Tuna Squid Decoy Jig: From the eastern, western, Alaskan, and gulf coasts, target fish include: Tuna, Dolphin, Wahoo, Fluke, Flounder, Striped Bass, Seabass, Amberjack (east coast), Yellow Tail (west coast), California White Sea Bass (west coast), Grouper, Snapper, Halibut, Ling cod, and all Alaskan bottom fish.

8 oz. - 12 oz. 10/0 Squid Decoy Jig: Catch BIG Grouper, Amberjack, Giant Stripers, and more.