Captain’s Corner for April 23 Dave Zalewski 727 460-9893

In past years when asked when is the best time to fish in the spring, I would quickly answer. The entire month of April and the first two weeks of May. This was predicated on the fact that water temperatures would be in the mid to high 70’s which provide the optimum conditions for baitfish to arrive in our area along with their predators, kingfish, Spanish mackerel, bonita, and barracuda. This year I have to change my response to the last two weeks of April and the entire month of May. Water temperatures dropped into the 50’s just a few months ago and now have just slowly risen to 74 degrees offshore on Friday. Spanish sardines, scad, blue runners and threadfins can be found on all of the artificial reefs and high profile wrecks and ledges.
The Spanish mackerel we have been catching have been of above average size, often mixed in with the schools of kingfish in the 6 to 12 pound class, which right now are more abundant than the mackerel. Slow trolling sabiki caught bait in the area targeted has produced multiple hookups and drag screaming runs when targeting these fish on 10 to 12 pound spinning tackle.
Bottom fishing has also come into its own, with red grouper, white grunts, Lane and mangrove snapper being the targets of choice in the 60 to 65 foot depths. Deploy 2 stinger rigged flatlines while bottom fishing, one with a live bait such as a Spanish sardine or hardtail and another with a frozen sardine so that the entire water column is covered when the kingfish which are attracted to the activity and chum in the water show up