Captain’s Corner for October 9 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

What’s Hot:

Summertime resident species are now being joined by their migratory relatives. There are usually a few kingfish that stay in our area all summer instead of making the normal trip to the upper reaches of the Gulf of Mexico. This year enough remained so that they could actually be targeted instead of being part of an incidental catch. Spanish mackerel, their smaller cousins, have always stayed in our area providing steady action in Tampa Bay and the near shore waters in the gulf. Shorter days and cooling water temperatures in the Panhandle have started the migration of cobia, Spanish mackerel and kingfish towards the Keys and warmer winter water. This joining of our resident fish by the migratory ones creates some of the best fishing of the year.

Some gag grouper are also year around resident to the shallower (20 to 60 foot depths), but many travel offshore during the warmer summer months making longer trips a necessity. The shallow water fish have an abundance of fish and crustaceans to feed on and are difficult to catch. The deep water gags are beginning to make their fall migration to the shallower waters and are abundant in the 60 foot depths now and as the water temperature drops will be moving closer to shore. Red grouper can be found in the 40 to 60 foot depths in numbers , but the problem is that most of them are under the 20 inch legal limit. To target keeper red grouper it is still necessary to travel to the 90 foot hard bottom areas.

Tip:

Cobia are always at the forefront of the fall migration and have been spotted and caught during the past week. They tend to be high profile structure oriented .Channel markers, artificial reefs and wrecks may harbor some of these hard fighting fish. Keep a rod rigged and ready to cast to them when spotted. They will readily attack live baits, large plugs and large jigs with a curly plastic tail.