Looking at the forecast Wednesday, southwest 20 knots, no one thought Saturday was going to be calm.

I made plans with my good friend, John Scovanner, to golf instead of fish, as he was coming into town for the weekend.

As the forecast dropped to nearly glass-calm conditions, by Friday night our plans suddenly changed. John got in contact with the Chadseys, winners of the recent De Soto spearfishing division.

John called me and asked, “You want to go hog hunting?”

A bit confused at first, I realized what he was talking about. With so many fish in protected closed seasons, the Chadseys have dawned their scuba equipment to spear hogfish. John would be joining them and asked if I wanted to tag along.

“I’m in,” I replied, and our departure was set for 7:15 a.m. I had to see first-hand their spearfishing techniques.

Moderate fog slowed the journey as we made our way cautiously west. Our first stop was a ledge in 35 feet of water. John readied his wet suit and was going to be the first one in, free-diving to see what swam below.

Taylor Chadsey III joined John as they braved the 63-degree water. Taylor shot one hogfish, but since they didn’t see many big ones, we quickly moved on.

We bounced around, moving from one ledge to another about 6 miles out. They speared a few hogfish, but didn’t quite hit a school of big fish. However, they did notice plenty of large gag grouper on each spot, and they lived for another day.

Each spot they dived was one the Chadseys have found in recent years. They idle from spot to spot, keeping an eye on the depth finder for quick changes in depth.

“When we see a good show, we’ll drop down on it,” said Taylor Chadsey Jr. “You become a much better angler when you know what is down there.”

They free-dive to get a better idea of the bottom their depth finder was showing.

Knowing their spots paid off. We headed a bit further west, ending up about 9 miles out. “0132 Ledge” is what the spot was called.

As the depth finder revealed rocky bottom 45-feet below, John and the Chadsey’s dawned their scuba equipment and spearguns.

Before we left this spot, I learned why the Chadseys are so good at what they do. John, Taylor Jr. and Taylor III had speared our five-person limit of 25 delicious hogfish.

“Well, now what?” I asked. They made it seem so easy and I didn’t really know what to fish for since we couldn’t keep much.

“There were tons of big gags down there, too,” they informed me.

With a cooler full of hogfish, we caught and released plenty of gag and red grouper on light spinning tackle. It’s always a bit difficult releasing nearly 30-inch gag grouper, and probably why I was hesitant to fish for them.

If you want to catch hogfish, there is really only one way. They rarely eat hooked bait. Like myself, most anglers who rarely enter the water probably have no idea how many hogfish are even out there.

The Chadseys reassure me many ledges and rocky bottom house plenty of hogfish -- if you can get to them.

See a picture of the hogfish haul at Bradenton.com/outdoors.