The warmer air temperatures and calm seas of the past weekend drove many fishermen and divers offshore. Our divers found bottom water temperatures hovering around 67 degrees. Plenty of nice sized gag groupers are on most of the limestone ledges in the Gulf. The recreational gag grouper season is closed and that’s the bad news. Seeing big gags swimming up to you as you dive along the reef is tormenting. These fish act like they know that they are safe from the hook and the spear. The good news is that, with the untouchable gags, there are plenty of hogfish. For most of the spearfishermen, getting their daily bag limit of hogfish was not hard to do. Mangrove snappers are on most of the ledges too, but they weren’t as prevalent as they were in past months. Keeper red groupers, some up to 15 pounds, are hanging in depths of 90 feet and deeper. The deeper the water the bigger the red groupers. Sheepshead up to five and six pounds are still flirting around the limestone structure in depths of 30 feet and shallower. There’s not as many sheepshead as in past months, but the patient diver can find some nice sized sheepshead if they keep a keene eye out for these fish. The underwater visibility has been good. In depths of 40 feet, last Saturday and west of St. Petersburg, it was top to bottom visibility.
- Jay Mastry - March 26, 2024
- Captains Corner, Gorta - March 23, 2024
- Dave Zalewski - March 12, 2024
