Irma caused a stir in Gulf, but fish keep biting

One of the most interesting photos I saw in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma was a before-and-after image from NASA showing the southern half of Florida. What stood out was the contrast of water clarity in the side by side taken three days apart.

On Sept. 8, the water looked as one would expect for the Gulf of Mexico. Dark blue, with some light shades over the shallows. On Sept. 11, it looked like someone spilled milk far out into the Gulf as cloudy, white water was prevalent deep into the Gulf.

“The first few times I went offshore after the storm, the water was white 32 to 35 miles offshore,” said Captain Brian Morgan. “We had to run 45 to 50 miles just to get to clean water.”

As the days have gone by, the water has progressively gotten cleaner, and as a result the fishing has improved shallower as well. Morgan said it didn’t take but one stop on his first trip after the storm to realize he’d have to push further than expected to catch the grouper they were targeting. On Friday, his eight-hour charter limited out on red grouper in depths that he recently bypassed.

While shallow has slowly improved, Morgan described the fishing out deeper as excellent.

“On 12- and 15-hour trips, we’re running 65 to 70 miles. The fish are really congregated right now, as the storm pushed them into deeper pockets. What I’ve seen is a lot of fish stack up on one hole, and they don’t scatter out like when the water is cleaner.

“The best part is you don’t have to move much to keep catching fish.”

Most prevalent catches for Morgan have been the overbearing red snapper, as well as red grouper and gag grouper. Despite red snapper being a nuisance and out of season, Morgan fishes through them to get to other types of fish.

“It’s crazy how many red snapper there are. There’s really good fish on some of the red snapper spots and you can get red and gag grouper under them when the red snapper stop biting. Basically, we have to wait until they turn off and can start catching good fish.”

The gag grouper landed have been large fish when this happens. “Real ding dongs, big ones. The biggest ones are 35 to 38 pounds, with most 25 to 28 pounds.”

Fishing in water between 170 and 210 feet has produced the best fish, with structure like deep drop-offs and roll-offs being the targeted bottom.

If you can’t make it that far offshore and want grouper, don’t worry. Morgan says the best time for fishing shallower water is still to come.

“When the water temperature drops down to about 75 degrees, they start popping off between 35 and 65 feet. You won’t get monsters like out deeper but there will be plenty of fish. That’s usually in October and November. It will be good fishing.”

Morgan can be contacted through his website at captainmorgansfishingadventures.com

This story was originally published September 23, 2017 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Irma caused a stir in Gulf, but fish keep biting."