Captain’s Corner for May 7 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

What’s Hot:

Both bottom fishing and trolling are on fire right now. It would be difficult to choose between the two methods because of the multitude of species available to the average offshore angler. Kingfish and Spanish mackerel can readily be caught trolling either live or artificial baits by anglers targeting bait piles as close to 100 yards from shore all the way out to the 80 to 90 foot depths. It pays to “match the hatch” by fishing with sabiki caught live baits from the area you are fishing or determining what size bait the fish are feeding on and adjusting the size of plugs and spoons to match.

Bottom fishing for gag grouper remains strong in the 50 to 60 foot depths. Keeper red grouper (20 inch overall length) have begun to take up residence on their usual summertime haunts on relatively flat limestone areas in the 80 to 90 foot depths. Downsizing tackle when targeting grouper will produce white grunts, triggerfish, mangrove snapper along with some yellowtail snapper. Deploying a stinger rigged flatline with either a live or frozen sardine while bottom fishing may often result in an incidental limit of kingfish which are attracted to the activity and chum slick created in the entire water column. Keep a sharp lookout for cobia which may be attracted to the shelter of the anchored boat and may not be visible until you are leaving a spot. Casting a live or frozen bait to them will usually produce a strike.

When speaking of trolling for gag grouper, thoughts immediately turn to the edges of the Egmont Shipping Channel in 30 to 40 feet of water. Similar results can be had by targeting hard bottom areas offshore in the same depths. Trolling gold jointed plugs, large curly tailed jigs and Sea-witch/ballyhoo combinations behind a #4 planer while moving between bottom spots has recently produced some impressive gags.