Captain’s Corner for December 13 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

Gag and red grouper are closed for us now and red grouper season will open back up Jan 1. Just because the season is closed it does not mean that we cannot fish for them and experience the battle before photo and release. For years we have been using a venting tool which consists of a hollow needle to release the gasses that expand when a fish is brought up from the depths on those that show signs of trauma. Most fish do not need this, especially if caught on light tackle and brought up slowly. Occasionally even when a fish is vented it will fail to swim to the depths and float away. We have added another tool to help with survival of released bottom fish or any other fish that needs assistance. It consists of a lead 3 or 4 pound sounding lead that we use for a marker weight, a 12/0 hook, stainless steel bolt that will fit through the eye of the hook, several zip ties, a plastic hand reel (Cuban Yo-Yo) and enough heavy twine to reach the bottom in the depth we are fishing. Construction is simple, Drill a hole the size of the hook eye through the bottom of the weight, attach the hook, after grinding off the barb, with the nut and bolt, secure the shank of the hook to the weight with several zip ties, attach the twine and the rig is completed.. When releasing a fish, place the hook in the lower jaw, allow the weight to go to the bottom, pull up on the twine and the fish is released in his home environment, with the gasses compressed by the water pressure at depth.

Captain’s Corner for October 13 Dave Zalewski

Spanish mackerel have been in our area all summer, but we have been invaded by much larger ones which have left the Northern gulf and are migrating south in anticipation of dropping water temperatures. They can be targeted by both hardware trollers and those slow trolling live bait. Another fun, popular method is to anchor, deploy a frozen chum bag along with small slivers of white bait and target them with live white bait, shrimp or cast small hard bodied lures once they have been chummed up.
Right now they can be best caught within one mile offshore near any of the passes entering the gulf. Best time is during an outgoing tide which flushes many different types of food for these predators out of the bays.
Those trolling spoons and plugs should employ a 00,0 or #1 spoon depending on the size of bait in the area. Silver works good, but our choice is the gold ones behind a #1 planer or 2 ounce trolling sinker. Wire leader is not usually necessary as more bites will occur using 50 # monofilament leader
Live bait should be freelined using a 1/0 long shanked gold hook. White bait can be hooked through the nostril and shrimp hooked under the horn, taking care not to penetrate the black spot which is the brain.
Conventional or spinning tackle in the 10 to 12 pound class or even lighter provides drag pulling action for both novice and experienced anglers.
Spanish mackerel provide a memorable experience for youngsters because a long, boring boat ride is not necessary and a lot of action is sure to be had.

Captain’s Corner for November29 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

The recent cold fronts with their high winds created unsafe boating conditions and have kept us in port waiting for improved conditions and wondering what effect the dramatic drop in water temperatures will have on fishing. Because water temperatures now are ranging between 60 and 70 degrees all along our coast it will be safe to assume that most of the migratory fish like barracuda, Spanish mackerel and kingfish will have left the area along with the baitfish they feed on for the warmer waters in the Keys and Cuba.
That leaves us with bottom fishing until the return of the migratory fish in late March.
Mangrove snapper and gag grouper will be holding tight to higher profile structure such as artificial reefs, large ledges and wrecks where they traditionally seek some shelter from the surge caused by the cold front high seas. Gag grouper season closes at 12:01 AM on December 3 and will become a catch photo and release species until July 1. Red grouper and white grunts will be found on their usual hard bottom areas and will be feeding heavily betweens fronts. Red grouper are closed in Federal waters, but remain open to recreational anglers only in state waters (inside 9 miles). Water will be murky from the stirred up sediment and frozen sardines and squid along with cut bait should produce better than live bait.

Captain’s Corner for November 13 Dave Zalewski 727 397-8815

Offshore water temperature is hovering around the magical 72 degree mark and fishing for all species both benthic and pelagic is about as good as it gets. Find the bait and you will find the kingfish, Spanish mackerel, bonita, jack crevalle, and barracuda. All of these species are feeding heavily as they prepare to leave our area for warmer water temperatures. For some reason the baitfish have not been concentrated on the artificial reefs, channel markers and shipwrecks, but have been abundant on hard bottom areas within a mile of them. Paying close attention to the fish finder will show these concentrations even though they may not be visible from the surface.
Cobia are still around, but are difficult to target specifically. We have been catching them while bottom fishing, using a flatline, and trolling for kingfish and mackerel. If one is hooked while bottom fishing be prepared to back off the locked down drag employed for grouper so that the fish may run freely without breaking the line.
Catch and release amberjack fishing because of the closed season is rapidly improving on many of the artificial reefs, springs and wrecks. Slow trolling blue runners may produce many different species on these high profile structures. Now is a great time to test light tackle skills because of the closed season.
Gag grouper have been scarce. There is no shortage of red grouper to produce action. Red grouper do not appear to move much and make note of where keepers are released so that when the season opens they may be targeted

Captain’s Corner for October 29 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

Water temperatures have declined to the magical mid 70’s offshore and we are in the midst of the fall transitional fishing which is proving to be exceptional. Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and ladyfish can be found as close as 100 yards of any of our beaches crashing into bait schools ranging in size from small anchovies to blue runners. Loner smoker kingfish and numerous sharks of all species complete the food chain feeding on the smaller predators. The Spanish mackerel action for those trolling small spoons or plugs can be non-stop. Those slow trolling stinger rigged mackerel, bluefish or ladyfish will not experience the continuous action, but when a strike occurs it certainly will be memorable. Trolling speed for the mackerel should be 6 knots and those seeking the apex predators should troll as slow as they can go or even drift with the wind and tide.
Barracuda fishing is as good as it gets with these spectacular game fish feeding heavily in anticipation of the long winter ahead and their migration to warmer waters. Large spoons and jointed plugs trolled over artificial reefs and offshore wrecks will produce drag screaming strikes, but the best bet is to slow troll large blue runners. Kingfish have also arrived on the high profile structures in the gulf and can be caught by employing the same methods.
Gag grouper are still open and targeting them by trolling is a both exciting and productive. We employ #3 planers in front of blue or gold plugs, 40 feet of 60# test leader and troll at 4.5 to 5 knots over hard bottom areas in 25 to 35 feet of water.

Captain’s Corner for September 29 Dave Zalewski

Columbus Day (October 13) is almost upon us and that day traditionally signifies the start of the fall Spanish mackerel, kingfish, bonita and cobia migration through our waters. If you haven’t already, several things should be done to insure a successful trolling season. Line should be checked for strength and abrasion or simply replaced with new. Check guides by running a piece of nylon stocking through them to see if a crack or rough spot exists that will rapidly abrade even new line. Spinning reels should be checked for smooth drag by attaching the line to a fixed object and walking away to check for any sticking. The roller should be spun to check for binding. On conventional reels the side spool adjustment and drags should be checked in the same way.
Cobia have been historically at the front of the migration and it pays to have a rod rigged and ready to target them. A 30 to 50 pound class outfit will work well. Heavier tackle is often needed because of their tendency to orient to structure such as shipping channel buoys, artificial reefs and wrecks. Terminal tackle can be a length of 60# leader attached to a strong 6/0 hook for the use of a nose hooked pinfish or blue runner or a large curly tailed pink jig again with a strong hook. These fish are notorious battlers and have the strength to straighten out a hook.. It pays to check out any type of structure that one may be passing on the way to ones kingfish or bottom spot. It only takes a few minutes and the reward may be great.

Captain’s Corner for August 29   Dave Zalewski  727 397-8815

What’s Hot: Despite the temperature of both water and air fishing offshore both trolling and bottom fishing remains exceptional. Historically late August are the dog days with fishing somewhat slow. It may be that everything seemed to be late arriving into our area this year. Spanish mackerel and kingfish are normally very active in early April and this year the majority did not show up in force until late April. Barracuda were a cause for concern because they were almost non-existent until mid-May when they showed up in force and began feeding aggressively. Spanish mackerel, barracuda, and bonita are the trolling targets at this time and most of the artificial reefs are almost a sure thing by using either live bait or hardware. Live bait caught on site through the use of sabiki rigs are much more effective than bait brought from elsewhere right now because matching size and type appears to be critical. We have been pleasantly surprised by the number of kingfish that are still around. There are not enough to specifically target them, but they are a bonus when fishing for the other species.

Bottom fishing remains strong in the 70 to 90 foot depths with colorful boxes of fish being brought back by anglers downsizing their tackle to target some of the tasty smaller species. On every stop we are equipping some of our  anglers with 2 hook 1/0 snapper rigs on baitcasting or spinning tackle. The reward has been a variety of bottom fish that are normally rarely caught on the larger grouper hooks. Mangrove snapper, vermillion snapper (beeliners), Lane snapper, white grunts and yellowtail snapper have all been returning with us because of the use of small hooks. Gray triggerfish will be caught, and provide a great battle on the light tackle, but must be released until January 1, when the season re-opens

Captain’s Corner for June 13 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

Water temperature is hovering around 83 degrees offshore in the gulf and this temperature usually indicates that kingfish have left our area and now are residing in the panhandle area of Florida and the other upper gulf states. In past years trolling has targeted Spanish mackerel, bonita and barracuda through the summer months. We have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of kingfish that we have encountered in the past week. It started with the deployment of a stinger rig with either a frozen sardine, small blue runner or live Spanish sardine which produced several quality fish and numerous strikes while targeting bottom fish in the 60 to 80 foot depths.
Method:
In the past when the bottom bite ended, we simply pulled up our lines and left the spot for another nearby where we would anchor and start the bottom fishing procedure again. The pelagic fish are attracted to the boat while bottom fishing for several reasons. The primary being the chum slick being produced in the water column by the bottom fish expelling their stomach contents on the way up caused by the pressure differential and the loss of baits off the hooks ,along with smaller reef fish being released in a stunned condition which become easy prey.
We now spend 10 to 15 minutes after every bottom stop slow trolling live baits or spoons behind planers in a figure 8 pattern over the place we have fished. Not every place produces, but when it does the results have been great.

Captain’s Corner for August 3 Dave Zalewski

Spanish mackerel fishing offshore in the gulf throughout the summer has been relatively so and hit or miss. All this changed dramatically last week with an invasion of the spotted speedsters on all of the near shore artificial reefs such as that lie 5 to 7 miles offshore. Trolling 2 lines equipped with #1 planers or trolling sinkers 10 feet from a 00 or 0 spoon produced numerous double headers on all of the days we fished for mackerel. The action continued even after we switched to just a small spoon fished on light spinning tackle fished right on the surface to provide more sport for the anglers.
Tackle:
Because of the force exerted by a #1 planer minimum tackle must be at least 20 pound test with a rod that has a fast tip with some strength in the body. Use of a trolling sinker allows one to downsize tackle to 10 to 12 pound class. Live bait anglers can reduce tackle down to 6 to 8 pound class if desired. The baitfish that the mackerel have been feeding on are very small which necessitates the use of the very small spoons, jigs or small streamer flies. Even live bait users ( which is usually a sure thing) have run into problems with large baits netted inshore which the mackerel ignore because they are feeding on the small fry baits.
Tip:
These reefs are 2000 feet long and have barges , military tanks and piles of concrete rubble scattered throughout them . The bait is concentrated on the structure, which attracts the fish. Using the MOB button on your GPS in the highway mode allows you to return to that piece of structure repeatedly while trolling.

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

Offshore fishing has become as hot as the weather. Both benthic and pelagic fish have cooperated well for the past few weeks. Red grouper (still legal to keep as long as they meet the 20 inch overall size limit) have been feeding heavily in their usual summertime depths of 80 to 90 feet over flat Swiss-cheese bottom. Numerous short grouper provide nearly non-stop action with the larger fish mixed in. We have observed that the larger red grouper tend to inhabit the transitional area where the bottom turns abruptly from sand to hard rock. This usually has a washed out area slightly deeper than the adjacent rock. Paying close attention to the sonar and marking the edge and anchoring over it will usually result in larger fish. Gag grouper (closed until Sept 16) have been mixed in with the reds in some spots and have provided exciting catch-photo-release action. White grunts, triggerfish, porgies, and some mangrove snapper have fallen victim to the two hook “chicken rig” with the 3 ounce sinker underneath presented to them. We have found it necessary to cover the full gamut of bait including frozen squid and sardines, live pinfish, sardines, squirrelfish, and hardtails caught with sabiki rigs. On some recent trips it has been observed that what worked well the previous day will hardly produce a bite the next.
Spanish mackerel have been quite scarce offshore with only scattered fish being caught whether using live bait or trolling spoons. A welcome surprise has been their larger cousins, kingfish. Using stinger rigged flatlines with live sardines or hardtails caught while bottom fishing or using a frozen sardine which will fall partially in the water column and remain suspended by the current we have encountered kingfish ranging from 10 pounds to the high 20’s.
Tip: School’s out — take a child fishing