By Ed Walker
With chilly temperatures on the way local waters will be cooling rapidly. One species that prefers this is the gag grouper. They have been biting good for a few weeks now but should get even better with a drop in water temperature. Contrary to popular belief, gags do not migrate inshore when the water cools down. Most of them are already in shallower depths but simply aggregate more and bite better when it gets colder. A few years ago we participated in a research project with the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. We tagged gag grouper on four sites with acoustic tags that emit individually identifiable sounds. Depths ranged from 16 feet to 90 feet. On each spot a listening post or “receiver” was installed on the bottom and it tracked each fish every few minutes 24/7. Periodically we would return, dive down, and swap out these receivers so the data could be downloaded back at the lab. After a while an unexpected discovery was made. Most of the tagged gags remained on their chosen rock for at least 180 days regardless of season, with some staying in the exact same spot for over a year. These results may mean several things for anglers. One: do not go to the same spot every Saturday and expect to catch grouper. Two: Improved inshore grouper action is likely a result of colder water not fish migration. If you incorporate a little fish science into your fishing program it can help make you a better grouper angler.
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