Captain’s Corner: Bill Hardman

The Tampa Bay Times

Lately, hogfish is the fish of choice for spearfishermen who are diving close to shore.  This past weekend produced some good underwater visibility in many areas just 10 to 30 miles from shore.  On dives in 50 feet of water and just west of St. Petersburg our divers had top to bottom visibility.  The bottom water temperature was 65 degrees on these 50’ dives.  Areas to the north, such as Holiday and Bayport still had bottom water temperatures in the low 60’s.  Keeper size red grouper are a little farther offshore and with gag grouper season closed the hogfish are the prime target fish.  Scattered with the hogfish in water less than 30’ are large quantities of sheepshead.  Some are tipping the scales over seven pounds.  The sheepshead are part of the Porgy family.  Like other porgy fish they produce very tasty table fare.  Flounder can be found in the sandy areas surrounding structure and wrecks.  Be advised that the limits and size limitation on flounders in state waters changed on March 1^st.  The daily recreation limit was reduced from 10 per day to 5 and the minimum size moved from 12” up to 14”.  The last bottom dweller to get a lot of attention lately is the spiny lobsters.  This past weekend a group of three of our divers scored well, as they brought seven nice sized lobsters home for dinner. The lobster season closes at the end of this month, so now is a good time to look with more attention under the ledges and in the scattered potholes that line the bottom of the Gulf.

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