The Tampa Bay Times
Hogfish are one of the most sought after fish for spearfishing divers in the Gulf of Mexico. In the past few weeks, divers have had good luck finding hogfish on many offshore ledges, and so have the fishermen. Light tackle and live shrimp seem to be the way to lure a hogfish to the hook. Last week were fishing before diving into the cold February water and we hooked a couple keeper red groupers and six keeper hogfish. All this before we donned our wetsuits and rolled over the boat’s gunnel absorb the cold shock of the 68 degrees water. Hogfish don’t have a reputation for being one of the smarter fish in the sea, but as we approached the bottom, we found that the hogfish that didn’t bite on the hook were bigger than those that we caught and they were waiting below the boat. Our spears rounded up a few more hogfish and all were bigger than we caught with a pole. Jolt-head porgies were hanging out with the hogfish and we speared a few of these tasty fish. The jolt-head porgy is a very good eating fish and it the red centerline of the filet is cut out the rest of the white meat can easily be mis-identified as hogfish filet. Lobsters season is still open and this has been a great year for divers searching for these tasty cruestacians. When spearing, look under every ledge or rock for these lobsters and you might have lobster to add to your next hogfish and porgy dinner.
- Jay Mastry - March 26, 2024
- Captains Corner, Gorta - March 23, 2024
- Dave Zalewski - March 12, 2024
