Captain’s Corner: Bill Hardman

The Tampa Bay Times

A couple weeks ago, the offshore water temperatures started to drop a few degrees but the warmer temperatures this past week, warmed up the bottom temperatures back up a degree or two.  Gag groupers started to move in closer to shore with promises of cooler water and the big influx of bait.  Last weekend a few of our spearfishermen speared some 26” and 28” gag grouper in the shallow waters inside Tampa Bay.  Other divers found keeper sized gag groupers inside the Tampa Bay shipping channel.  This was the first movement of keeper gag grouper from deeper water, since the end of summer.

Red snapper fishing and spearing has been good on the weekends; however, the bumpy Gulf of Mexico winds have kept many from anglers from going deep enough to find good concentrations. This weekend may have the same windy weather, accompanied by rough seas.  Hopefully, the weekend weather holds good enough to give access to the red snapper grounds.

Nice size hogfish are showing strong on ledges from 70’ to 45’.  Some nice six to eight-pound male Hogfish have been speared in these depths.   These male hogfish are excited and easy to spot as they actively swim over the ledges while flirting around trying to keep track of their females.  In recent hogfish breeding studies, the only month they don’t breed in the eastern GOM is September, so now that the breeding is back on, the male hogfish are busy searching for receptive females.

Capt. Bill Hardman teaches scuba classes and runs trips for Scuba, Spearfishing, Freediving and Technical diving courses at Aquatic Obsessions, 6193 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL  33710.  You can reach Capt. Hardman at (727) 344-3483 (DIVE) or info@aodive.com