http://www.tampabay.com/sports/outdoors/Captain-s-Corner-Dealing-with-Red-Tide-from-spearfishing-standpoint_171909090
Finding fish to spear offshore is tricky. Unlike hook-and-line anglers, spearfishermen need reasonable underwater visibility to see their prey, judge it’s the correct type of fish, determine if it’s legal size, then before the fish flees, take the shot. Red Tide is killing fish from Naples north to Tarpon Springs. In those areas the normally blue offshore water is reddish brown. Unfortunately, the Red Tide scourge goes from the top of the water all the way to the bottom. In areas where Red Tide is abated, divers have found clean water and gag grouper, hogfish, cobia, snapper and more fish to spear. Traveling 5-10 miles south or north they found Red Tide along with no visibility and no fish. Most areas in Pinellas and Pasco with Red Tide have the depth limits of Red Tide out to about 80 feet. In the clear water, divers have found good summertime concentrations of gag grouper as shallow as 20 feet north of Clearwater and 30-40 feet off St. Petersburg. Amberjack season is still open, but to find ones that make the minimum size, divers and fishermen will have to fill up the boat’s fuel tanks and start looking beyond 100 feet of water.

Bill Hardman teaches scuba, spearfishing and free diving through Aquatic Obsessions Scuba in St. Petersburg and can be reached at (727) 344-3483 and captainbillhardman@gmail.com.

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