Grunter hunter

[Wilson]

Grunter seem to elude me. I'm wondering how one goes about targeting these fish. Only ever caught 1, and enjoyed the fight. So any tips would be hugely appreciated.

[mangajack]

Nearly every grunter I have caught have come from shallow edges of creeks, weed beds, mangroves or rock bars.
90% of those would be on placcies, 5% on deep divers and the rest on live prawns.
Interestingly, four of the biggest I have nailed have taken 65mm squidgy wrigglers worked in very shallow water looking for bream and whiting. These fish are all in the 55-65cm range.
I have also caught 4 or 5 off queens beach Redcliffe flicking little jerkbaits for snapper......they averages 45cm or so.
None of my captures have come from overly clear water......generally 2 feet vis or less.

[Gippsy]

Great thread Wilson. I'm not going to say I'm a grunter guru, how ever I used to chase them regularly while living up in Mackay with good success, Although they are eluding me since I moved back to T Bar, here is what I know,

First mangajack has pretty much hit it on the head, they are not shy about shallow water, and are quite the hunter, They do move around with the tide, and I reckon they love current, Hold up in deeper holes at the bottom of the tide. Also live way offshore on shoals and mud areas,

so I used to chase them on the biggest night tides of the month over areas like rubble, mud flats surrounded by sand, and drains, I liked these places that got covered about halftide up to full tide to give you a few hours at them. They would come through in small schools, you'd get a couple, then nothing for a bit,,then a couple more, Best success was using bait. I would set a couple of live herring, a Hail Mary mullet on a handline as barra lived in these same areas, and a couple of strip baits, Mullet strips work good, as do good strips of squid, but best of all is gar fillets, snell 2 3/0 Occies 3 inches apart to hold your bait nice and set them, and enjoy a frosty or 2,

IMO, grunter are the best eating fish other than trout and red throat, I've got to start looking for them down here my self. I get a few as by catch on softies but just haven't cracked the code for them in the south, but with a bit more time should be invested on my behalf,

I'll be watching this thread with gusto.

[al49]

with the ones I found they are near deep water with running tides either way they move around a lot ,I use squidgy shrimps in 3 inch white or banana prawn

[Wilson]

Cheers you guys are great. Ill have a crack this weekend I think. Ill start using some bait to find where they are at and go from there.

[rooboy98]

Most of my better ones have been caught on fresh prawns or plastics (prawn imitations).

Suggest using little or no lead if possible when fishing in calmer waters. They can be very finicky biters at times and love to just grab the bait and run. At other times in running water they absolutely crunch the bait.

Well worth chasing though, as they are tasty little critters!

Cheers,
Roo.

[Topcat]

G'day,

I've had quite a bit of success lately using a Jackall Mask Vib 60 fishing estuary holes, just cast across the hoe and slow rolling them down the contours with a gentle twitch every now and then. The bloody things have been absolute savages and great fun.

Cheers

Chris

[Funchy]

Have never targetted them but agree with Mangajack. All mine have been caught as by catch in the shallows in murky water. Sleeper rigs out the back of the yak unweighted has done the job as well as prawn imitations. I love em, they go hard when you hook em. I have released all mine so can't vouch for taste.

[UndersizeBreamKing]

My one and only was caught fast retrieving a metal slug for mackeral, so I can't really help there lol

[addicted]

The handful I have caught have mainly been on bait from rock/rubble patches in at least a few meters of water with a decent amount of run in the tide. Nothing with size maybe 45 would be the biggest. Sure you will get a few if you stick to what the others have said.

Ubk details! Was it on the drop or foul hooked or anything strange?