Guests
Topshotta along with the owners and employees of the Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium (www.cbebikes.com)- David, Joe, Chad, and Manny. David the principal owner has also recently purchased Oliver's Cycle Sports (www.oliverscyclesports.com) in New Tampa as well. Check them out if you are looking for a new bike, accessories, or repairs, and tell them you are a fellow spearo so they can hook you up.

Sea Conditions
NOAA nailed it dead on this weekend (see below). Vis was a beautiful top to bottom on all spots in up to 100 fsw with plenty of ambient light giving the white sand circled rock piles a Bahamas type vibe.......except for water temps that ranged from 58*-64* degrees .

Slay Report
Damn! That's all I could say when I took a look at the marine forecast minutes before leaving for the Hatch. A marginal forecast changed to downright nasty overnight with 15-20 knots out of the north being predicted by the middle of our trip. A call to guys did not deter them, they wanted to sling steel come hell or high seas even if the Middle Grounds were not an option. We made a dockside decision to stay local, and assess the weather mid trip to either go for a single overnighter or full weekend.

The first day was beautiful with flat seas, sunny skies and awesome vis as we checked out some of our shallower spots which yielded sheepshead, jacks, average size inshore hogs, mangos, and a few gags. Believe it or not, gumbo is already starting to form this early in the year inside of 70 fsw. We anchored up for the night on one of our better hook and line spots, and proceeded to catch red snapper one after the other which were all released. This pattern was repeated the following night with only one gag being caught on rod and reel the entire trip. Many of the charters guys have been having a tough time putting their clients on grouper lately, they are just not biting even on live baits. It's not that they're not there as both spots we fished yielded good stringers the following morning.

Like NOAA clockwork, the sh*t hit the fan at midnight. The wind started howling, the seas started building, and basically everyone got in a series of very shorts naps in between getting tossed around their bunk while trying to avoid objects falling on them. The morning laid down to the downside of a 4'-6' sea so we ventured on, and continued diving. The seas continued to lay down as the trip progressed so we decided to head deeper for the full weekend trip which yielded bigger jacks, big ass mangos, and scattered gags that were concentrated in large amounts on just a few of the spots that we hit. I had to unicorn a very beefy sand tiger that would not leave me alone (Spear One may have dove this spot before with simlar results ), but other than that it was a solid, standard issue winter trip off the Hatch. The Middle Grounds is calling with several trips lined up in a row after this weekend free which looks like a blowout anyway. Who is going to win the NOAA weather lottery? Frog Legs and his band of Arkansas razorback steelslingers? Gradyman and Kill Shot who have been collectively blown out of so many trips that I have lost count, or the first time group of Valdosta GA spearos? I have even been hearing a rumor that very soon we might come across another sighting of the enigmatic steelslinger El Slingador. Who knows? Standing by.......

AJ Suarez