The abundance of shallow water rock piles and a Swiss cheese bottom comprised of limestone in our area makes it undeniably one of the best places in the state of Florida to target grouper. With modern boats, anglers can be at the grouper grounds in minutes and begin scanning the depth finder for the right bottom structure. Casting & trolling lures for a species that is thought to be a deep-water fish is a headline worthy of our favorite clickbait sites. The reason is simple it makes great entertainment. While locals have known about the nearshore grouper fishery on the west coast of Florida for some time, only recently has it become nationally known. © 2024 Coastal Angler Magazine Franchising, Inc.A secret too good to keep, shallow water grouper fishing in Crystal River has gained significant attention through television programs and online platforms like YouTube. Contact him at For more fishy content and updates on upcoming educational programs, please check out the Collier County Sea Grant Facebook page, YouTube Channel, Instagram listing or Michael Sipos’ UF/IFAS blog.ġ275 South Patrick Dr. Michael Sipos is the Florida Sea Grant agent for UF/IFAS Extension Collier County.

It’s important to be able to properly identify these two very similar species as regulations between the gag and black grouper may vary between season and coasts. The preopercle (bone midline of the entire gill plate) on gag grouper are notched/serrated, while a black grouper’s preopercle is smooth. Black grouper have small burnt-orange spots throughout the body that may be more noticeable around the face, which gags lack. Gag grouper are often greyer or olive in color, with less-pronounced markings along their sides. Side by side, it can be easy to distinguish one from the other, but when looking at an individual, identification may be more difficult. In areas where gags and blacks overlap, black grouper often are referred to as “carbos” or “true” black grouper. This can get confusing as there is a species of grouper with the common name of “black grouper” (Mycteroperca bonaci) which is the gag’s more tropical cousin. Small gags are often called “grass grouper” while larger specimens go by “rusty bellies” or even “black grouper” due the darker color that may be on the bottom and fin edges of large fish. The scientific name for gag grouper, Mycteroperca microlepis is derived from Greek and can be translated to “nose perch, small scales.” This species can go by a few common names, and in areas of high species overlap, gags are often verbally or visually misidentified with other grouper. These eggs are buoyant and hatch in about 45 hours, and newly hatched grouper stay in larval form for 40-50 days. During the spawn, gag grouper aggregate in large groups along the continental shelf between January and May.įemales spawn multiple times during a season and can release anywhere from 60,000 to 1.7 million eggs at a time. This results in large male fish becoming the limiting factor for successful spawning groups. Females usually reach sexual maturity at around 4 years old, while males become mature at about 8. This strategy is more common in this family than in some other groups of fish. That means they are born female and later transition to male. Gag grouper can live up to 30 years and are protogynous hermaphrodites. Gags and other grouper within the Mycteroperca genus dine largely on fish and some invertebrates, with that food preference flipped for their cousins the red grouper and other members of Epinephelus grouper. As they grow, they tend to migrate farther offshore. Juvenile gags tend to inhabit inshore areas such as seagrass beds, mangrove roots and bridge pilings. Gags live in a wide area, from Massachusetts to Brazil, although they’re more commonly spotted from the Carolinas down to the Yucatan. Prized for their excellent food and game qualities, anglers typically target harvestable-size fish around artificial reefs, natural limestone ledges and rocky bottom in depths from 20 to 500 feet. Gag grouper are a popular fish in the recreational and commercial fishing sectors making them among the more valuable species in the southeastern United States. Gag Grouper, aka, Mycteroperca microlepisįlorida state record and International Game and Fish Association world record: 80 pounds, 6 ounces, caught in Destin, Florida By Michael Sipos, Florida Sea Grant agent, UF/IFAS Extension Collier County