Groupers come in all shapes and sizes, but the sportfishing favorites in Florida are the gag, red and black. There is great regional variation in the distribution and abundance of these species, but any port in the state can produce quality fishing. Certainly a Hot Spot for gag grouper would be the Middle Ground and other distant bottom features in the Gulf of Mexico. Here, it’s not uncommon to catch 50-pound fish on an overnight jaunt.

Big blacks, a tropical species, are most common along the Florida Keys, particularly off Key West. Reds are predominately a Gulf Coast species, inhabiting pockmarked “cheese bottom” 20 to 80 miles from shore. Wrecks and ledges on the central and northern Atlantic coasts can produce a mix of gags and reds. Some of the best bottom is found between Fort Pierce and Jacksonville. Deepwater wreck sites off the southeastern ports (Miami, for instance) have the potential for producing all three species.

Groupers inhabit shallow water during early years, but keepers at times stay near rockpiles in 8 to 20 feet of water, mainly along Florida’s Big Bend between Cedar Key and St. Marks.