This is the biggest Giant Grouper I have landed anywhere. My Unique came in at 381.301 kg and 277.9 cm, near the very top of what the species reaches, and it paid 129,460 coins with 115,580 XP. I have written up this fish before at Kaiji No Ri, but that one was only a young 50 kg grouper. This is the same species near its maximum, on a completely different map, on a different rig. This guide covers the bottom spot at Noomaa Kuda Atholhu, the exact heavy rig, the spiny lobster bait, and how to lift a fish this size onto the crane.
Why Target the Giant Grouper?
The money is a real reason to fish this one. My Unique paid 129,460 coins and 115,580 XP, which puts it among the top earners on this whole site, roughly level with my Unique European Sea Sturgeon and behind only the Black Marlin. If you want a heavy single payout and a big chunk of XP from one fish, this grouper delivers.
Be honest about the class, though. Mine was a Unique at 381 kg, near the species ceiling. A Young or Common grouper pays a good deal less, as I saw with the little 50 kg fish I caught at Kaiji No Ri. So do not read 129,460 as a guaranteed number. Read it as what this fish can pay when it comes in big. Even so, this is a genuine coin target rather than a species tick, and the size alone makes it one of the most satisfying fish to land here.
It sits in my Noomaa Kuda Atholhu cluster with my Black Marlin, Wahoo, and Indo-Pacific King Mackerel guides. If you want the same fish on a different map, see my Giant Grouper at Kaiji No Ri guide, and read on for how this Noomaa catch differs.
About the Giant Grouper
The Giant Grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) is a large demersal fish of the Serranidae family. It lives in coastal water down to around 100 metres, and it grows to a genuinely enormous size, reaching up to 2.7 metres and 400 kg. That last figure is the one that matters for this catch, because my Unique at 381 kg was sitting right near that ceiling. This is close to as big as the species gets.
It hunts by ambush rather than chasing, and it is not fussy about food. Its clear favourite is spiny lobster, but it also eats crabs, a wide range of fish including small sharks and rays, and even young sea turtles. For how you fish it, the game gives one direct instruction: use bottom tackle with a large animal bait. That is the whole approach in a sentence. A big bait, sat on the seabed, on gear heavy enough to move a fish that can weigh as much as this one did.
Level and License: What You Need to Fish Here
Noomaa Kuda Atholhu is a Level 94 map, so you need to reach level 94 before you can fish it. There are two starting points, Maahuraa Lagoon and Kuda Veli, and I launched from Maahuraa Lagoon for this catch. Because a Unique grouper is a fish you will want to keep, and because you are fishing from a boat, you need the Advanced License here rather than the Basic one. The Basic license has keep restrictions and no boat fishing, so it will not serve you for this. I was on the Advanced License for this trip.
Where to Catch Giant Grouper at Noomaa Kuda Atholhu
This is a boat fish, so take the boat out rather than fishing from shore. I marked and caught mine near coordinates -6294.22, 3666.53, out from Maahuraa Lagoon, with a second marker buoy nearby around -6303.15, 3627.98. Unlike the Wahoo and Marlin, which you troll across the open surface, the grouper is a bottom ambush fish, so this is about depth and structure, not covering water. Drop a marker buoy when you arrive so you can hold the spot, send the rig down, and let it sit on the seabed.
Treat the coordinate as a starting area rather than an exact pixel. What matters is that you are on the bottom in the right general water off the lagoon, where the grouper lies in wait. Once you find a productive patch, the marker buoy lets you return to it instead of drifting off.
Timing: I Caught Mine in the Early Night
I took mine at 21:16, logged as Early night, at 25°C air and 27°C water with a very light easterly around 1.0 m/s. The grouper is a bottom ambush predator rather than a fish tied to a narrow feeding window, so with this one, being on the right structure matters more than hitting a magic hour. That said, the early night produced for me, so it is a reasonable window to aim for.
The map activity chart shows the usual generalised bite rate rising and falling across the day and night, so use it as a loose guide to when the water is busiest overall rather than a grouper-specific promise. Use Forward Time to reach the window you want, and steer clear of Next Day, which sells everything in your storage, including a fish worth this much.
The Rig: A Heavy Bottom Setup
This is the exact rig that landed the fish. It is a heavy bottom setup built to sit a big bait on the seabed and haul a giant off structure:
- Rod: Chillarc 180 SE
- Reel: Arcspark 2W 22000 SE
- Main line: Glowing Braid 0.51 mm
- Leader: Colorful Fluorocarbon Leader 1.4
- Hook: Kaku Tsuribari Hook #20/0
- Sinker: Tungsten Sinker 500 g
- Bait: Japanese Spiny Lobster
If you have read my Kaiji No Ri grouper guide, note that this is a different rig, not the same one moved to a new map. There I ran a monofilament main line, a #11/0 hook, and a 450 g pyramid sinker for a young fish. Here I stepped everything up for a Unique: a braided main line for less stretch and better hooksetting at depth, a much larger #20/0 hook to match the big lobster and the size of fish I was after, and a heavier 500 g sinker to hold bottom. The principle is the same across both maps, big bait on the bottom on strong gear, but the specifics are tuned heavier for this fish.
The key point stands whatever exact rod you own: this needs a strong saltwater bottom rod. Even a young grouper runs over 50 kg, and a Unique like mine is nearly 400. Under-rated gear will get overpowered and broken off on the structure the grouper dives into.
Bait: Japanese Spiny Lobster
Japanese Spiny Lobster is what my fish took, and it is the grouper’s favourite food on this map just as it is at Kaiji No Ri. In the game it is listed specifically as a bait for the Giant Grouper, an X Heavy bait for an X Heavy fish. If you cannot get it, the grouper also takes Gutted Fish, Large Fish Strips, Crab, Japanese Jack Mackerel, and Scaled Sardines, so those are fair backups. The rule is the same wherever you fish this species: use a large animal bait, not a small offering. This is not a fish you tempt with something dainty.
Landing a 381 kg Fish
This is where a Unique grouper is a different animal from the young one I caught at Kaiji. At 381 kg it is far too big to lift by hand, so it comes up on the crane. The fight itself is not about long runs, it is about the first few seconds: a grouper hits hard and immediately tries to dive back into the structure it ambushes from. Keep your drag firm and start lifting straight away rather than giving it line to bury itself. Once you turn its head and get it up off the bottom, keep steady, heavy pressure and work it to the surface.
Watch your boat’s load limit before you keep a fish this heavy, since a 381 kg grouper takes a large share of your capacity in one catch. On a strong bottom rod there is enough backbone to win, but only if you do not let it reach cover in the first place.
Common Mistakes
Bringing an under-rated rod. A Unique grouper is close to 400 kg. Weak gear gets overpowered and cut off on structure. Use a strong saltwater bottom rod that can lift a heavy fish.
Fishing small bait. This is a large ambush predator that wants a spiny lobster or another big animal bait. Small offerings will not draw it.
Giving it line on the take. The grouper dives straight for cover the moment it is hooked. Keep the drag firm and lift it off the bottom immediately instead of letting it run into structure.
Trolling the open water for it. This is not a pelagic like the marlin or wahoo. It holds on the bottom, so anchor over structure and fish a bottom rig rather than covering surface water.
Forgetting your boat capacity. A fish this heavy eats a big share of your load limit in one go. Check you have room before you hook one you cannot keep.
Pressing Next Day. It sells your whole storage, including a grouper worth six figures. Use Forward Time to move within the same day instead.