Captain’s Corner for February 28 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

On every trip offshore last week we encountered scattered schools of large Spanish sardines and hardtails in the 40 foot depth range no matter what direction we took from John’s Pass. It was easy to catch them on sabiki rigs and proceed to the 55 to 60 foot depths where they were used for outstanding catch and release action from both gag and red grouper. Switching to light tackle, small 2/0 hooks snapper rigs baited with strips of squid or grunts, non stop action occurred from white grunts, porgies, triggerfish, sea bass, and an occasional mangrove snapper along with grouper that presented a challenge keeping them away from the structure. Although they are harder to clean than a single larger fish , the smaller reef fish all provide excellent table fare.

The early arrival of larger baitfish and unusually warm gulf water temperatures for this time of year prompted us to try trolling. South County artificial reef was a logical choice because of the depths where we had been catching the baitfish. Large amounts of floating seaweed greeted us when we arrived, making trolling with planers and spoons difficult. Spanish mackerel have arrived! Every pass over the tug “Orange” that we were able to make without weed fouled lines produced a mackerel in the 14 to 16 inch range.

Tip: There is no longer a marker on the South County reef. Coordinates for the reef and the structure scattered throughout the area can be found at www.pinellascounty.org/utilities/reef