Captain’s Corner for December 14 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

The wintertime shallow water gag grouper season is in full force right now and should continue right through the winter unless the water temperature plunges into the 50’s. There is no need to run very far offshore to participate in this fishery. Keeper gags have been caught in as shallow as 15 feet of water, but the best and most consistent catches are being made in the 20 to 40 foot range. Keeper red grouper (20 inches overall length) have been rare in these depths for years, and it was usually necessary to travel to the 70 to 90 foot depths to target them. This year is an exception that we hope will continue. Every recent trip has produced some legal reds in these shallower waters.

Tip:

Looking for hard bottom spots and ledges is very similar to “prospecting” offshore except for the fact that much lower profile relief will hold large quantities of fish as long as bait is present. Look on your sonar not only for the structure, but also for some signs of baitfish. The transducer cone is much smaller in the shallow water, not allowing as much area of the bottom to be read. Always be ready with a marker to pinpoint the spot as soon as you run over it.

On a recent trip with Elmer Spring and three friends from Canada, we also had onboard Butch Ayala from the FWC who was examining, measuring , tagging and releasing the short grouper that were caught. The four anglers caught 184 grouper that were released along with keeper gags, white grunts, scamp mangrove snapper and triggerfish. If you catch a tagged fish write down, the tag number, the length of the fish and note the general area it was caught in. Call this information in to FWC at 1-800-367-4461.