Captain’s Corner: Bill Hardman

The Tampa Bay Times

Hogfish and Cobia are making November dreams come true.  Bottom shooting spearfishermen are finding good concentrations of hogfish swimming and hiding around the limestone ledges from Sarasota to the Middle Grounds.  Hogfish up to 18 pounds have been taken in past few weeks in the Middle Grounds and the Elbow.  Hogfish as big as 18 pounds are usually about 17 to 19 years old and they are older, more wary and surely much stronger, after the shot.   If the fish is not stoned on the first shot, these bigger hogfish will take off like a bat out of hell, never to be seen again.  If you aren’t superbly accurate with a free-shaft, use a line=shaft so you can hold on to one of these bigger fish and bring him back to the boat.  Hogfish this size are fish of a lifetime, don’t blow it – use a line-shaft and secure the fish.

The same goes for the many cobia that are now in our area.  Line-shafts are the call of the day for these big bruisers.  Even a relatively small cobia of 20 pounds will fight like crazy and swim off with your free- shaft if you aren’t very accurate with your first shot.  Buy the insurance and load up a line-shaft system before you drop over the side to dive a wreck or heavy structure dive site.  Have a dive knife close at hand to dispatch a wounded cobia or the cobia will beat you up – all the way back to the boatCapt. 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