How to Find and Catch Keeper Grouper in Tampa Bay Skyway Shipping Channel 

I am a new, self taught fisherman... I wouldn't even call myself that. We are testing things, trying things, and I must say... your video has cleared some mistakes we are making. Thank you for putting out a no B/S video. We have a boat, are local, and I must say, I'd definitely go out with you to learn. Thank you so much for your informative videos!

Getting ready for a move down to the Clearwater area and i am LOVING how informative your videos are..THANK YOU!!!

Lot of channels just show catching, learn so much from your channel. Pays off when we go out. Thanks

That was great thank you for your insight. I fish nothing but the flats and now I'm ready to take the next challenge.

Thanks for the great fishing technique videos. Awesome job. I was in Indian Shores last week and drove over and visited St Pete tackle. That store is awesome. Bought some gear to take back to GA.

Hey bud, thank you so much for this video, I needed the help. Very good video!

My wife got rocked up by a big Gag, I took the pole, released the line and sat up on my cooler for 10 minutes before he started swimming out. Pulled a really nice 32" gag, patience won the day. Great video!

Your videos are really informative. I caught a grouper in dubai.. cheers!!

Really informative video, for whatever reason I haven't come across your videos before but I hit subscribe. Thank you for the detailed explanation.

Outstanding advice, thank you.

Very informative video. Thanks a lot, brother.

Excellent presentation!

Great informative videos man, keep them coming.

Thank you for giving tips in grouper fishing.

We are moving to Clearwater in June, I'm really excited for that, I enjoyed your video, we will like to get more information about your store an fishing stuff, Thank you

Very Good Video. I enjoyed it a lot! and learned a lot too ..

Very informative! Thank you.

Great Info, thank you for sharing.

NICE! Sharing to the FunCats Facebook page.

Great info. Thanks.

Thank you so much man. Ive been looking everywhere for good spots in tampa bay im usually left catching cats. i havent tried the skyway yet and im ready to go try this stuff out thank you for sharing your knowledge! Tight lines!

great video I will use this info when I'm out

When your looking for these in shipping channel are we talking only in channels near sky way or the shipping channel all the way up to handy bridge area

When you use the knocker rig for live bait, particularly pinfish, where do you usually hook them?

Thanks for the video. Heading to Tampa in mid June. We got Penn Spinfisher VI 5500 and Okuma Azores Z80S spinning reels and older but in top shape Penn Senator 113H 4/0 and Penn 114H conventional. Way more experience with spinning reels. Would both of those spinners suffice as it pertains to this video? Thanks again.

Nicely done video Joe! Your skills are improving, great presentation. I'd like to have you on my boat again when you have some downtime, I'm still looking for keeper grouper. I'm going to try your methods this weekend. Thanks.

excellent video,thank you, can you tell me anything on why my bait fish are not lasting long on my bait well , thanks

Do you have any preference fishing the channel either between the Skyway and Egmont or the channel inside the Skyway?

That was a great video. Liked way you reviewed the stress points. It would have been great to finish this video with you live fishing the rig. That large weight next to the hook doesn’t scare them off? Thank you for offering to answer comments and emails.

thanks for that great information. my question is. how do I find rocks . it's different from the normal reefs that i can find almost anywhere. so how do I know. dose the sonar tells that ?

Good explanation

Great video! Thank you. Question, when you say to patrol and scout the edge of the channel, are you talking about the deep part of the channel right before it starts to get shallow again? Or along the incline?

Is it better to fish the top edge, off the edge or on the bottom of the shipping channel when trying to target grouper? Are there more spots east of as opposed to the gulf side of the bridge? It’s a large area to start with. Thank you

I live on saint Pete beach do you have any videos fishing down here Iv cought some nice fish inshore and offshore here.

Fantastic informative video! Best one I've watched on RU-vid in a long time! What knot do you like for flo/mono to braid? FG knot?

I was freelining a pinfish a few months ago at skyway. Sat several minutes and no strikes, went to grab a drink from the car and came back to a completely spooled reel which had at least 200 yds of line. But I couldn't even retrieve any line back at all because it was snagged with no slack line. Everyone believes it was a dolphin but in my experience dolphins usually clean the bait off the hooks easily without snagging rocks. . It was a livebait feeder reel but there's no way that pinfish could have peeled off all that line and swam into the rocks in the short time I was gone. Wish I had tried the guitar method before breaking off the line. What do you think happened? Is it possible for pinfish to swim deep down into the rocks and get you snagged? Or is that only possible with a hit from grouper?

replying to an old video, but I moved down to Tampa bay in July of 2020. I'm from Saint Louis Missouri, and never really fished up here, but I'm loving fishing in Tampa. I bought a medium light action rod and a shimano 4000 reel. I use 65lbs test braid, with a 35lbs mono leader and 1 or 2 ougt hooks. I usually fish with live shrimp or live greenbacks(or something similar.) I fish from shore, and so far the only thing ive managed to catch of note are a buttload of mangrove snappers. I'm looking to try to expand to species i catch, and I'd love to try for sheepshead, gag groupers, and spanish mackrel or species like that which are real tasty. Any advice for a newer angler like me? maybe I need to change my bait or tackle, or find new spots to fish? The best luck I've had it at the skyway pier, and clearwater bridge.

Wow i've never seen anybody making kayak videos in the shipping channel

Didnt know Tom Cruise had s doppelganger!

Do you have any recommendations for fishing from land? I don't have a boat.

Hey im in Tampa from sc on my honeymoon trying to get on some grouper and snapper any particular areas would you suggest looking this time of year the channel close to the skyway or more so futher up the channel

Can you recommend me a good conventional setup? I want a high quality reel like Shimano! Thanks!

Hi there capt juat want to know wen fishing Tampa bay lookimg for rock piles an good bottom .I do not own a trolling moto my boat ia a23 Ft do u Anchor down like u fiah the jettie.pleas let me ⚓

June 1st my b-day😇

Caught so many gags undersized that I would catch same one over and over.

What leader are you using?

Am i too late to start trying this?

Do we have any lobster in the tb area?

I usually put in at cockroach bay. what would be the best way to work the channel and which direction? Lol

Small butts are great too lolll

People who refer to themselves as captain off of the boat just remind me of How I Met Your Mother. I laugh every time.

Spearfishing?

I bet jigging would be great

How to find and catch grouper..Briar Rose fishing party ....King of Spain with family.. prescription..the brothers Grimm..🧙💤☕

Back in my day a good fisherman kept his spots secret- so the multitudes didn’t take every last fish

Every time we fish in the bay, the dolphins come and take our snapper

That happen to me he almost got my rod

First many thanks for a very informative video on Grouper Fishing in Tampa Bay and sharing your fishing knowledge and techniques on Grouper fishing. I have a Lowrance HDS7 Gen3 unit with a TotalScan Transducer. i.e. traditional sonar, side scan and downscan capabilities on my boat. I also have a Minn Kota Trolling motor with Spot Lock. I have most of the tools necessary for success and hopefully this video has helped me along with sharing of your knowledge. I am in the process of doing some structure mapping for the first time with my lowrance HDS7 Gen3 unit. I took a few sample scans on one of the many artificial reefs located in Tampa Bay. Please disregard the (Trail) line on the scans as I forgot to turn off the trail function prior to doing the scanning. Here is a link to the sample scans I made. drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cKAFh72KUDvi0j7qfGDvjTAUfd1BC_nj?usp=sharing Question? Do you think this would be a valuable tool for locating structure along the shipping channel? If you would rather not answer in this format you can contact me via e-mail in my channel in the (About) section. Thanks again for a really nice video. John

I see you don't guide anymore.

Advice: buy a boat, buy a trolling motor, buy a sonar, buy a gps, buy a gps lock. What can I do for less money?

I don't care for the local street hood gangster mask.. Unless your a local gang member..

Another sell out for internet fame. Gag numbers getting lower and lower in the bay. Lets keep making these vids 👍