Best Live & Natural Baits
Most live bait fish will get eaten by grouper. Below are some of the more popular baits that anglers use for catching grouper.
Crabs are good baits for grouper. Fish them alive or dead, however, the lively ones tend to be more productive for grouper.
Pinfish are one of the better grouper baits and you can find these bait fish fairly easily, which is great.
Sand perch are also great baits for grouper. If you can catch some of these baits, get them on your favorite live bait rig and send them down to the bottom for some grouper.
Shrimp are always great baits. Use the lively shrimp for better success. If you can’t get the live shrimp, try to use fresh shrimp over the frozen stuff. You will get more bites with the fresh shrimp over the frozen shrimp.
Cut pieces of squid can also be great bait. Cut the squid into chunks or longer strips. Both ways will work.
Goliath Grouper are Huge and They Will Eat Big Baits
Just make sure you can use the fish that you catch for bait. Some anglers just use whatever fish they catch, but if might not be legal to use some of the fish as bait, especially if there are size limits to keep those fish and they are undersized. Some of the popular bigger fish to use as bait are large mullet and jack crevalle. Rays are used with good success too.
Best Fishing Lures
Soft Plastics
Crankbaits
Swimbaits
Jigs
