Outdoors Column | Two years after red tide, hogfishing seems to be make a comeback in Gulf

Two years ago, red tide blanketed the west-central and southwest Florida coast. Areas like Sarasota Bay, Tampa Bay and Ft. DeSoto turned into dead zones with fish vacating. Off the beaches out to about 12 miles, the harmful algae stuck around into October after starting in the hot, calm summer. As a result, the nearshore fishery took a hit that is just finally starting to come back.

When the red tide lingered, it stayed primarily shallower than 60 feet of water. Just beyond that 60-foot range fishing was fantastic as it seemed to push many of the popular species deeper. Fish seemed to sense the danger and head away from it.

It finally cleared as the water cooled in early November 2018. Into the winter months, shallower depths were still depleted of life off Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key south to Boca Grande. Further north, where the bloom wasn’t as prevalent, anglers reported better than average grouper, hogfish and mangrove snapper catches.

In 2019 life was still lacking in nearshore spots off Anna Maria and Longboat. To get into grouper and hogfish I found myself heading deeper. Spots I would consistently find grouper and hogfish in depths about 35 to 50 feet still lacked life. I attributed it to a slow return of species.

With two years of cleaner water behind us, I recently headed out with Eric and Kari Roberts to test some of these historically good nearshore spots. Our goal was to target hogfish, and usually by doing so my catch is snapper and grouper. I grabbed 20 dozen shrimp and we headed west, making a first stop in 45 feet that has historically been one of my best.

The first few drops, I showed them how to fish for hogfish. We rigged 1/2-ounce Hogballs with shrimp and I said let it sit right on the bottom, hogfish will find it. After five minutes without a bite I thought the spot was still dead. But a first bite of a red grouper soon followed with more fish. A small flurry eventually lead to our first hogfish and small gag grouper. The depth finder showed life, and we were catching fish. It was a promising start to the day.

We ran slightly deeper to around 50 feet after that. A variety of fish came from four spots within close proximity. Scamp grouper, yellowtail snapper, mangrove snapper, gag grouper, red grouper, porgies, hogfish and even a small African pompano were caught. Mackerel were behind the boat and fishing was good. Last year, I ran past these spots as they also had little life.

Bouncing around more the rest of the day, I took us even shallower, at one point to 40 feet, on small ledges and hard bottom. It was there we would catch six hogfish, like pre-red tide times! This was despite water temperatures scorching around 88 degrees. Eric and Kari would each catch their first hogfish. Hogfishing will get much better when water temperatures drop below 80 degrees so this was a great sign of good fishing to come.

I was left hopeful that a bounce-back was in full effect. The big test will be over the next few months when gag grouper should be pushing to shallower gulf waters along with hogfish and mangrove snapper. With any luck we’ll have clean waters and plenty of fish heading into the shorter days of fall ahead.