Captain’s Corner for October  8  Dave Zalewski  397-8815

Two holidays have significance for offshore fishing in our area. Columbus Day, October 10, and St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. The water temperature and length of days  around these two days usually are such that  kingfish and cobia either have arrived or will shortly. The strong easterly winds have kept us in port, chomping at the bit, and anxious to  try trolling at the usual kingfish spots like the artificial reefs, wrecks and the Egmont shipping channel. The forerunners of the larger migration will arrive in smaller scattered schools and are best located by trolling spoons and plugs behind number 1 through 3 planers at 6 knots to determine at what depth the fish are feeding. Use of a #3 planer and a broken-backed small lipped gold plug will also target gag grouper along with kingfish in the depths around 30 feet. Some of the newer deep diving large lipped plugs in either blue or gold colors have also proven to be effective in these same depths.

Tip:

A good pair of binoculars has proven to be an invaluable safety tool for the past week with the strong  winds we have encountered. When the wind is out of the east, the gulf can be deceptively calm near shore and out to a few miles. Looking at the horizon with binoculars allows one to get a perspective as to what conditions really are like.

Reminder: Check drags, guides and line. The season is almost here and tackle shops will be swamped with those seeking last minute repairs.

Captain’s Corner for September 15  Dave Zalewski  397-8815

Spanish mackerel fishing is continuing to offer an almost sure thing on a daily basis in the Gulf. They are concentrated near the mouth of  nearly every pass on the outgoing tide and then after the tide change they can be found within a mile of the shore by watching for diving birds. This past Monday we put out #1 planers and small gold spoons  in the no wake zone before entering the gulf through John’s Pass and were rewarded with Spanish mackerel, ladyfish, and jacks. We were destined to venture offshore , but found it hard to leave the school of large mackerel that were concentrated between the bridge and the first set of markers. After a dozen fish were iced in the box our trip continued to the Treasure Island reef where every large concrete pile held baitfish, more Spanish mackerel, undersize kingfish and barracuda. The barracuda put on aerial displays , jumping clear of the water and dazzled us with drag screaming runs just like large kingfish make. The barracudas were brought to boatside, Boga gripped, photoed and released to provide another angler the same exciting battles.

Stopping on mid-water reefs like the South County proved to be disappointing with little in the way of bait or fish to be seen. Trolling both live and artificial baits resulted in little more than empty holes being dragged in the water.

There has been no need to venture past the 65 foot depths to target red grouper, white grrunts, and mangrove snapper. Take squid, frozen sardines, live pinfish and sabiki up some live sardines and hardtails. The grouper will bite one particular bait on one day and not even look at the same bait in the same area one day later.

Captain’s Corner for August 24 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

What’s hot: The weather would come in first place with offshore fishing coming in a close second. Spanish mackerel fishing has been as good as it gets for several weeks on all of the artificial reefs located 5 to 7 miles offshore. The baitfish on these reefs remains small, so the use of 0 and 00 spoons or small streamer flies pulled behind a #1 planer or small trolling sinker is the key to almost uninterrupted action from these spotted speedsters. Barracudas have finally made a strong appearance on these reefs and it makes the day of a young angler to reel in a half of a mackerel. Blue runners are available and slow trolling one on a stinger rig will often result in a strike from these acrobatic hard fighting fish.
Bottom fishing for red grouper, white grunts, mangrove snapper and triggerfish remains exceptional in the 70 to 90 foot depths. Targeting the transitional area where the sand bottom joins the swiss cheese limestone is the key to putting keepers in the box. Try different baits such as frozen sardines, squid, cut grunts, pinfish and squirrelfish until the correct bait for the day is determined. Lately we have found that the bait used one day with success will not produce well the next day when fishing the same area.
Last Friday we experienced a better than usual day with the pelagic fish. We started with Spanish mackerel and barracuda on the artificial reefs, then traveled to the 75 foot depths west of John’s Pass for some bottom fishing. Deploying a stinger rigged flat line with a frozen sardine produced a mid 20 pound kingfish. Shortly after that the drag started screaming and we all thought another king until we saw the sailfish tail walking across the surface. After a 45 minute battle on spinning tackle Bud Hunt landed and released this beautiful specimen.
Tip: Always deploy a flatline while bottom fishing

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

Our six hour trips have given families with children to experience all of the world class fishing that our area has to offer. On a typical day we will leave the dock with Frozen sardines and squid in the bait cooler and stop about 1 1/2 miles out into the gulf over a patch of limestone bottom to fish for pinfish, squirrelfish, Spanish sardines and threadfins with #6 or #8 sabiki rigs weighted with a 3 ounce sinker. The heavier weight is used to help prevent tangling the line when multiple baits are hooked. Using a small piece of squid tentacle on the 2 lower hooks will help to insure the bite from the bottom dwellers and the other hooks will produce the other free swimming baits. On most days it is difficult to get the kids to stop catching bait as they get so excited by the bait themselves and feeling the wiggle on the end of the rod.
Trolling the near shore and mid water artificial reefs has consistently yielded Spanish mackerel, some kingfish, barracuda and bonita. Using #1 planers and small spoons with at least 20 feet of 40 # leader has been the key to success. Using the smaller terminal tackle allows us to downsize rod and reel to 20 or 30 pound class which is much easier and comfortable for our younger anglers.
Bottom fishing has been outstanding in 60 feet of water for both our younger clients and their parents with virtually non-stop action from white grunts, red grouper, triggerfish, and catch and release gag grouper. A 2/0 double hook rig will keep the young ones busy while the parents and grandparents can employ conventional tackle for the larger fish.

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

What’s Hot:
I never thought that I would be writing about sustained kingfish action at the end of May, but that is what is happening offshore in the Gulf of Mexico right now. June is here and we have been able to target them on a daily basis instead of waiting for an incidental catch on a deployed flat line while bottom fishing. Historically, most kingfish have left our area and continued their migration to the Panhandle where they spend the summer until their southern migration begins in September and reaches our area again in mid-October. Many of the smaller kingfish are on the near shore artificial reefs and the larger ones are further offshore on the mid-water reefs , large ledges, the natural gas pipeline mitigation piles and wrecks in 60 to 90 feet of water.
Tactics:
Many of the fish that we are catching have been below the surface, halfway to the bottom or deeper picking off stragglers from the huge bait piles of Spanish sardines, hardtails and blue runners. Catching the bait with sabiki rigs using a 3 or 4 ounce sinker to prevent these larger baits from tangling the rig has been relatively easy. Presenting the baits is a little more complex. Downriggers can be used with a clip near the weight to present a bait near the bottom. A 2 to 4 ounce trolling weight can be used to present a bait in the mid range and a nose hooked bait can be deployed on the surface. A stinger rig should be used no matter what depth one is fishing. Initial light drag settings should be employed to prevent break offs on the strike.
Tips
Always slow troll around the bait piles with the lines far enough out so that they will pass through the bait instead of the boat which will tend to separate the bait into smaller schools.. These bait piles may not be visible from the surface, so place close attention to your depth finder to locate sub surface schools.

Captain’s Corner for April29 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

“All things come to those who wait” and this old adage came true this year. Traditionally kingfish, Spanish mackerel, bonita and barracuda, the mainstays of our Spring trolling season show up in our waters around St Patrick’s Day (March 17) . This year kicked off a month later and our waters are teeming with all of the above species. Spanish mackerel are thick along the beaches especially near the mouths of any of the inlets to the Gulf of Mexico on an outgoing tide. They can be caught by trolling small gold or silver spoons with trolling sinkers or planers, anchoring and fly lining live whitebaits or running to where they can be seen crashing into schools of baitfish and casting small hard bodied plugs to them.
Their larger cousins kingfish can also be found near the beaches, but the smaller, better eating schoolies (8 to 12 pound fish are more abundant near any artificial reef, wreck or the shipping channel. Spoons and plugs are very effective, but this year slow trolling stinger rigged live baits has produced better catches. Spanish sardines caught with a sabiki rig and deployed on site have been the bait of choice over any of the other live baits we have been catching.
Barracuda have been seen cruising the surface near every large piece of structure for several weeks and have been hesitant to strike. This will change any day and they will provide excellent catch and release action for the rest of the summer.

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

Because of the short duration of her stay, Tropical Storm Andrea had little effect on offshore fishing. Once the 30 foot depths were reached water clarity improved greatly and it was not necessary to travel much further to enjoy the great fishing our area offers. Red grouper, gag grouper, white grunts , and triggerfish provided almost non-stop action for the adults and children that we had onboard. The majority of the charter boats in this area offer 4,6,8, and extended hour trips. With younger anglers , the 4 or 6 hour trips provide plenty of fishing time and they are not bored with a long boat ride.
The 40 to 45 foot depths produced plenty of fish as long as we took the time to position the boat in the most advantageous position.
Hint:
Gag grouper like to have some higher profile structure in the area, while the exploding population of red grouper are not as particular. In the past summertime red grouper fishing required depths of 80 feet and deeper. Experience showed that the larger fish tended to locate on the edges of the limestone where it transitioned to sand. The smaller fish would seek the interior areas of the swiss-cheese bottom. This rule of thumb has been holding true for the shallow water red grouper. Paying close attention to the fish finder to find these areas and taking the time to anchor correctly will increase chances of success

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

On most of our 6 and 8 hour recent trips between Madeira Beach artificial reef (6 miles 273 degrees) Treasure Island reef (4.7 miles 249 degrees) or South County reef (10 miles 257 degrees).
South County reef is the only one of these that has a marker, which is located in the center of a quarter square mile permitted area. Scattered throughout this site are 3 barges, a 110 year old tugboat “the Orange” and numerous piles of concrete rubble which range from low profile structure from 2 to 5 feet which replicate the patch reefs and ledges to attract both red, gag , and goliath grouper, snapper, and grunts; to high profile concrete plies that are as much as 15 feet high which attract swarms of btrips we have mixed the day up with a combination of bottom fishing and trolling. After a few disappointing trips to depths of 90 feet and better which required returning to the 60 foot depths to produce great bottom fishing. We have concentrated our efforts for both red and gag grouper no deeper than that. No matter which direction one chooses to take, at least one of the artificial reefs will be close to your course. Anglers leaving John’s Pass can choose aitfish and their apex predators that may include barracuda, Spanish mackerel, kingfish, cobia and sharks. Because of the nature of the structure, we usually troll this area with a combination of different sized planers and spoons or deep diving plugs to target the entire water column.
Tip: The Pinellas County Reef Program has been placing large amounts of the old Bayway Bridge on this reef. Running your fish finder and marking the location of the GPS co-ordinates will provide locations for trolling patterns and future areas to target while live baiting kingfish and Spanish mackerel.

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

This October’s fishing for both benthic and pelagic species has been great as it usually is. The recent small cold front that we experienced that kept us in port for a few days made the fishing outstanding. Spanish mackerel are a sure thing for anglers trolling hardware or live bait from just off the beach to a mile offshore near every pass entering the gulf especially on an outgoing tide which flushes all manner of bait from the bays.
Tip: The most commonly used baits for Spanish mackerel are live small threadfins or scaled sardines hooked through the nose with a long shanked thin wire hook which allows the bait to swim naturally. An often overlooked bait is live shrimp that can be fished with the same type of hook placed under the horn.
Kingfish have been trickling into the area for a few weeks and the front generated the first of several major pushes that will hit our area. The larger solitary fish are in the same areas inhabited by their cousins the Spanish mackerel and requires patience and large slow trolled baits such as ladyfish, legal Spanish mackerel or blue runners to elicit a bite. Smaller fish “schoolies” are more numerous on all of the mid water artificial reefs such as Indian Shores and Rube Alyn and can be targeted by either slow trolled Spanish sardines or small blue runners caught on site by the use of sabiki rigs or trolling plugs or king spoons behind planers at about 6 knots.
Tip: The key to planer fishing is using a 25 to 30 foot leader between the planer and what ever lure is selected.
This is the time to take a youngster fishing. The weather has cooled down and long boring rides are not necessary to enjoy often non stop action.