http://www.tampabay.com/sports/outdoors/Captain-s-Corner-Finding-fish-on-bottom-structure-of-gulf_170118155

Finding fish on the bottom structure of the Gulf of Mexico this summer has been up and down for our spearfishermen. In late spring and early summer, the fish migrated to their normal areas, then they changed up. Grouper stayed in the shallow water longer than they usually do, then a month and a half ago the fish split up and the majority of grouper, hogfish, snapper and some pelagic fish went to shallow structure in 30 feet of water or less, leaving hardly any fish in the medium depths. Once we ventured out deeper, to 95 feet. Usually we don’t get this pattern until late July and August. The American red snapper season ends Saturday. We are finally finding these big boys in water over 140 feet. This past week we had some American red snapper in the 18- and 19-pound class. Weird water is offshore now. A large, dark water layer is offshore and holding a 10-degree temperature drop just under the darkness. Out in 140 feet, the dark layer starts at 30 feet below the surface and drops down to 100 feet. Then about 30 feet off the bottom it clears up and the fish are waiting. South of St. Petersburg the dark layer is on the bottom in 80 to 90 feet, and most of the divers ran right into the bottom as they descended. Watch out for the dark water and the bottom when dropping in this week.

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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