Captain's corner

By ED WALKER, Times Correspondent
Published February 9, 2008

Time running out

This is the last weekend to fish for gag, red and black grouper in federal waters (9 miles and beyond) before the 30-day closure. Because most of the better fishing has been in deep water, this might be the last chance to land a nice batch of gags for a while.

Where to look

For the most part, deeper has been better lately. But there are exceptions. We ran 85 miles west of Hudson last weekend to the Florida Middlegrounds hoping to cash in on the area's legendary grouper action. Although we had great live baits and fished a wide range of bottom features, we caught few gags. At a spot 50 miles from shore, we found the big gags. We landed three, with one just more than 20 pounds. The depth was just less than 100 feet.

Closer to shore, spearfishermen reported seeing few gags in the 20- to 40-foot range. The one bright spot in state waters was a team of free divers who found several big gags in just 8 feet of water off Aripeka.

If the water warms up 5 or 6 degrees, the gags might become more active inside 9 miles. Many of the fish move out of the shallow cold water but will return or become more active as the temperature rises.

[Last modified February 8, 2008, 20:37:22]