The surface water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are very warm. The water temperature difference between the top and bottom of the water column is severe. Just a few days ago, we were diving in 100’ to 130’ of water looking for red snappers and red grouper. The fish were home but only when we located the colder waters of a thermocline just feet from the bottom. Some dive spots only had a small temperature difference and little fish. On the dive spots where the thermoclines dropped the water temperatures down 10 degrees colder, the bait, groupers and snappers were prolific. Amberjack were mixed with the red snappers in the water column. The bottom finder had a hard time showing up if it was the closed season amberjacks or the open season snappers. So some dives had snappers and the ones with warmer water had the jacks. Hogfish were still on most of the sites, but our luck had us finding the smaller female hogfish rather than the bigger males. Sharks were on the busiest dive sites, but Goliath groupers, not sharks, were the major thieves of the day. We had Goliath groupers steal more than a few fish off the end of our spearshafts. Some of the really big Goliaths took off with 15 to 20 pound red snappers and along with our prized fish, they often broke our gear and then swam off with our coveted spearshafts – never to be seen again.
- Jay Mastry - March 26, 2024
- Captains Corner, Gorta - March 23, 2024
- Dave Zalewski - March 12, 2024
