Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | Trigger happy
Although red grouper season is open all year in state waters with a two per angler limit and a 20-inch minimum harvest size, offshore crews will have to wait out this month to again go after red snapper which reopens on Sept. 1.
Fans of gag grouper will also have to wait till the beginning of September to catch and harvest these fish. Unlike red snapper, which will thankfully stay open on fall weekends, gag grouper season is quite short closing for the remainder of the year on the 14th of the month.
The IGFA list world records for nearly 70 species of grouper. Back in 1993 angler Bill Smith got an October surprise catching the all-tackle world and Florida gag grouper record out of Destin. This tank weighed in at 80 pounds, 6 ounce.
Trolling big plugs over and around structure for gags is a blast. Having a selection of Mann’s Stretch Series plugs is always a good choice for these hard-striking fish. Two per person are allowed with a 24-inch minimum length to harvest. Gags often come in close to the coast in fall so inshore anglers are often surprised when an “offshore” gag intercepts their redfish spoon along mangrove shorelines and starts stripping line.
Now that August is here I’m a happy camper as this is grey trigger fish harvest time with the season remaining open till Dec. 31. I like eating snapper and grouper but to me trigger fish are a full step above in taste with a unique firm meat texture and an outstanding crab-like flavor. Delicious cooked in a variety of ways and one of the few fish I enjoy raw.
Unfortunately, Gulf of America anglers are only allowed one per day while our Atlantic counterparts can harvest 10 per day with a 12-inch fork limit. Gulf anglers must respect the longer 15-inch fork length rule. Make sure you measure properly and don’t include the two streamers or lobes extending rearward from the tail fin.
If you haven’t seen one of these fish you should consult the FWC website illustrations to understand how to properly measure your fish before putting it in the box to keep yourself out of trouble.
Like sheepshead, these small-mouthed, tough-skinned and very intelligent fish with chisel-like teeth are notorious bait stealers, so smaller hooks and baits are required. A classic bait rig setup would be a 2-inch-thin strip of tough squid hooked on a 2/0 – 3/0 chemically-sharpened but stout hook using 40-50 pound test fluorocarbon as leader material. Two hook “chicken rigs” are always popular when triggering backed up by at least 50-pound braid main line. Small pieces of shrimp and clam can also work well as well as commercial products like GULP Shrimp or Fishbites. Schooling trigger fish are found in the same locations where you find your red snapper which isn’t a bad by-catch problem.
Triggers have a tough hide and like sheepshead, have a reputation as being tough to fillet. That’s really not the case if you know how to do it properly. There is more than one way to easily skin or fillet a trigger but I suggest you consult YouTube which has lots of detailed instruction saving yourself frustration and less wasted high quality meat.
You may run into two other trigger species while you’re fishing — the ocean trigger and the beautiful queen trigger. Like the grey, these two are also very tasty but the queen is off limits to harvest while the ocean trigger is unregulated.
The all-tackle world record grey trigger weighed in at 13 pounds, 9 ounces and was caught in 1989 off South Carolina.
If you’ve ever considered housing a saltwater species, the many varieties of triggers make fascinating and fun aquarium guests. Be warned, not all triggers are friendly to their neighbors so make sure you do your tank compatibility research first.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at (239) 579-0461 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.
To reach CAPT. GEORGE TUNISON, please email news@breezenewspapers.com