Outdoors

Daily fishing report

By BILL HARDMAN
Published April 22, 2006

Super underwater visibility and increasing concentrations of bottom fish are beckoning spearfishermen to offshore ledges and wrecks. We haven't seen offshore visibility this good since November 2004. The water temperature on the bottom, 74 degrees, is comfortable with a 3mm wetsuit. Hogfish are becoming more prevalent on the ledges, but the gag grouper are scattered and more difficult to find. Some divers found small pockets of grouper but most were kept busy hunting hogfish and snapper.

Today is Earth Day, a day when divers in more than 103 countries and territories remove trash from our oceans and educate children and their communities in an effort to support reefs and underwater environments. Michael Kest, a scuba instructor and spearfisherman from Stetson University's College of Law, is leading one of the groups of divers on a reef cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico. Many of these divers are newly certified and recent graduates of Stetson's scuba training program. They have been made aware of the need to protect our environment and have stepped up to do their part. To learn more, contact www.coral.org/divein

Bill Hardman teaches scuba, spearfishing and free diving through Aquatic Obsessions Scuba in St. Petersburg. Call (727) 344-3483.

[Last modified April 22, 2006, 01:39:14]