XFX Article

The Great Outdoors
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1998

Diving

Meeting in the Middle

The Florida Middle Grounds are a long haul from shore, but treasures await those willing to make the journey

By TERRY TOMALIN
Times Outdoors Editor

The wreck hadn’t been fished in more than a year. “I looked through my
numbers and tried to find something special,” Capt Tommy Butler confessed. “I’ve been saving this spot for a day like this.”

Butler, who fishes commercially and charters spearfishermen recreationally, has gathered thousands of LORAN numbers over the years.

“You can fish out a spot in a couple of trips,” he said. “You’ve got to let an area rest after you fish it hard, some times for six months, even a year. But I’ve marked so many spots, we always have someplace to go.”

Butler likes to fish the deep water, 100 miles or more offshore, where big grouper and amberjack roam the drowned coral reefs known as the Florida Middle Grounds.

So named because of their location halfway between Apalachicola and Tampa Bay, the Middle Grounds are home to more than l70 species of fish, including grouper and snapper.

Encompassing some 347 square nautical miles, the twin limestone ridges rise about 40 feet off the sand bottom.

The two mountain ranges run parallel and are separated by a valley. The reefs were formed 100,000 years ago during the Pleistocene Ice Age. In comparison, the coral reefs in the Florida Keys are relatively young, forming only 7,000 to 10,000 years ago.

The Middle Grounds, while not as diverse as the reefs in the Keys (23 species of coral compared with 65), are special enough that they once were considered a candidate for the National Marine Sanctuary Program.
This area of rugged hard bottom, fed by the rich waters of the Loop Current, missed out on complete federal protection, but it does enjoy status as a Habitat Area of Special Concern. Regulations prohibit the use of bottom long lines, fish traps, pots and bottom trawls. Stony coral collection also is banned.

While the area is off-limits to many commercial enterprises, it is a popular destination for recreational scubadivers and anglers. Many people might have heard of the Middle Grounds, but few venture here because of the great distance from shore.

You need a fast, dependable boat to make the trip, and many an angler has gotten into trouble out here when a summer squall rolled in without warning. For years, the only way for divers and anglers to visit the area was on large, slow party boats making overnight trips. But recently, spearfishermen in search of tournament winning fish have begun chartering captains like Butler who have boats built specially for the 200-mile round trip.

Butler, appreciating the need for speed, designed a 45-foot hull with twin, high-performance diesel engines to cruise at 40-knots and make it back and forth to the Middle Grounds in one day. “We can leave in the morning when it is still dark, work all day and be home before dinner with our boxes full of fish,” Butler said. “It is the only way to go.”

On this particular summer morning, the grouper and amberjack showed up as dark spots on the bottom recorder. Butler and his mate caught amberjack and grouper while a group of divers readied their equipment

“It never hurts to catch a few fish before the divers go down,” he said. ‘The bait will get the fish excited and ready to feed.”

Because of the depth of the water, 130 feet. the spearfishermen wouldn’t have much time on the bottom.

The enriched air, or Nitrox, in their tanks would give them a greater safety margin, but the dive would still be considered “on the edge” by recreational standards.

A diver spearfishing in deep water uses more air than a diver spearfishing in shallow water. The potential hazard of chasing fish into a wreck also increases the danger factor. So Butler keeps a close eye on the clock and monitors the divers’ exhaust bubbles as they float to the surface.

After 20 minutes, the divers returned one by one with their stringers of fish. The grouper were larger than those usually taken by divers inshore. Butler encourages his customers to take one or two big fish instead of their limit of little ones.

After the last of the divers was aboard, Butler dropped one more bait over the side. The line bent under the pressure of a fish. This time the grouper was too small.

Butler took it as his signal to leave. “You guys ready to hit the next spot?” he asked. ‘There’s plenty of them out here.”