Captain’s Corner: Ed Walker

The Tampa Bay Times

By Ed Walker

Astronomically speaking, yesterday was the first day of fall here in the Northern Hemisphere. Days are getting shorter and the air has been a bit cooler. This should signal a notable uptick in the fishing action both inshore and offshore. As the water temperatures go down to our north, vast schools of baitfish begin their southerly migration along the Eastern Gulf of Mexico coast. Migratory species such as mackerel, kingfish, bonito, and cobia move with the bait and will hang around anywhere that the food source settles in.

Resident fish such as grouper, snapper, snook and redfish are conditioned to become more active when the water cools off. Less sunlight and cooler water trigger these fish into a significantly livelier state. Gag grouper in particular love cooler water. For many years the prevailing theory of gag movement suggested that they move in from deeper water when things cool off and out deeper when it got hot in the summer. Recent studies, however, have not supported this. In one study, most acoustically tagged gags were found to stay in the exact spot for 6 months or more with some staying on the same rock for over a year without leaving. This could indicate that the improved fall grouper fishing may be more of a reaction to water temperature as opposed to an actual migration of fish. Either way the grouper bite should be getting cranked up this month. From 15 feet out to 100 feet of water the action should be good and remain so until the close of the season at the end of December.