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

The recent series of cold fronts have made the fishing for several species red hot. Both red and gag grouper have began their heavy feeding activity in anticipation of a long hard winter season with a lack of abundant baitfish which will have migrated from our area seeking warmer water. Frozen squid and Spanish sardines are effective in getting the feeding activity started . Once that occurs, the use of a variety of live baits will usually trigger a strike from some of the larger fish which will be drawn in by the commotion. Pinfish, hardtails, squirrelfish are effective, but right now a small blue runner with part of its tail removed to slow it down seems to be working the best. Long runs are not necessary as the best activity is occurring in the 40 to 60 foot depths.
Kingfishing has been disappointing, with small scattered schools being encountered. Most of the kings that we have been catching have been on stinger rigged flatlines deployed with a frozen sardine while bottom fishing.. Spanish mackerel and barracuda fishing has filled the gap caused by the lack of kingfish. The larger mackerel are being caught within a mile if shore near the passes by using small spoons trolled behind #1 planers or freelined white bait or shrimp. The barracudas are feeding aggressively on slow trolled blue runners on all of the artificial reefs.

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

Each year we look forward to St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) because this is the time that the migratory fish; Spanish mackerel, kingfish, bonita, cobia, and barracuda begin to show up in our area ushering in a welcome change from just bottom fishing. Cobia, being the hardiest of the bunch show up first and take up a short residence at high profile structure which consists of wrecks, artificial reefs, and the buoys along the shipping channel. They are time consuming to target and are usually considered an opportunistic species, showing up when least expected.
Tip: Check out each marker that you pass for both cobia and tripletail at this time of year.
Bonita and Spanish mackerel are the next to show and can be found crashing into schools of bait which are now just beginning to show up in our waters .We have observed scattered schools of bait on a daily basis from near shore out to 40 feet of water
Tip: Even though it was rushing the season, we just had to try some trolling, and experienced some success wit Spanish mackerel near John’s Pass and also at markers 9 and 10 in the Egmont shipping channel.
Barracuda will show up and will be visible on most of the wrecks and artificial reefs soon, but will prove to be very frustrating. Each year they can be seen, but will refuse anything presented to them.
Tip: It is usually about 2 weeks after they first show up until they start feeding . Once that occurs, great light tackle action will be had from these feisty battlers until they leave in the fall.

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

What’s Hot or Not: Trolling for Spanish mackerel for the past 10 days has been either as good as it get or a waste of time. When they are here non stop action has been had trolling #1 planers, 30 feet of mono leader , and a #0 or #1 gold spoon at 6 knots in the vicinity of any marker between Egmont key and numbers 5 and 6. Once the fish and located and several were in the box, we have switched to 12 pound spinning tackle and cast small lures resembling sardines from a drifting boat. With a slow drift, cutting sardines into small pieces and chumming with them has kept the fish within casting distance. It appears that these schools of mackerel are in a migratory mode. They may be present for one or two days and disappoint us for a few days trying to catch them in the same area.
March 17 (St Patrick’s Day) is when the first group of kingfish traditionally show up and this year should be no exception because of the appearance of schools of baitfish and an abundance of blue runners on the artificial reefs and channel markers. The se fish will be scattered and the use of hardware as opposed to live bait trolling will allow you to cover more territory in locating the concentrations of fish.
Hot: Trolling for gag grouper on hard bottom areas that are interspersed with ledges in 25 to 35 feet of water. In the past most grouper trolling activity has been concentrated along the edge shipping channel east of the Skyway . These same depths offshore in the gulf do not experience the pressure and have been producing great catch, photo, and release action because of the closure on gags which is in effect until July.

Captain’s Corner for February 13 Dave Zalewski 397-8815 It appears that we can expect an early Spanish mackerel and kingfish season this year. Both of the Sunshine Skyway fishing piers are reporting daily catches of Spanish mackerel. Schools of baitfish of all sizes are beginning to show up both at bridges and offshore. The best indicator is the water temperature which this year has never dipped into the 50’s and now is currently hovering around the 65 degree mark. St Patrick’s Day (March 17) is when we traditionally see trolling season kick into high gear targeting cobia, kingfish, mackerel and bonita. Tip: Now is the time to carefully inspect trolling tackle. Tackle repair shops are not that busy and can give prompt attention to repairs. Rod guides should be checked for burrs and cracks that may not be readily visible by running a piece of nylon stocking through them. The stocking will hang up on the smallest of imperfection. Drags can be checked for smoothness by tying the line to a fixed object and pulling against it. Bottom fishing has been exceptional in the 40 to 60 foot depths. Grouper season (both red and gag) is closed and we have been targeting white grunts, mangrove snapper, trigger fish and sea bass on light tackle. These fish inhabit the same limestone bottom structure as grouper. When the grouper strike on the tackle used for the smaller reef fish it is definitely a challenge to the angler to land the fish for a photo and release moment. Tip: Deploy a live or frozen sardine on a flatline on every bottom stop. One or two kingfish have been striking on most days.

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

Catch and release trolling for large gag grouper is as good as it can get right now in almost any area in the 30 to 40 foot depths that contains ledges and limestone outcroppings. We have been devoting a portion of our trips to this method and have had very positive response from our clients, especially those that have brought children or grandchildren. Trolling large lipped plugs or plugs behind a #3 planer brings the fish away from the structure and makes it possible for a younger person to experience the joy of catching a large grouper that would have been almost impossible to pull away from the bottom structure if conventional bottom fishing methods were employed.
Although there are a few mackerel and kingfish around water temperatures have dropped to the point where it does not pay to spend a lot of time fishing for them. We have been concentrating on anchoring and bottom fishing for white grunts, grouper, triggerfish, sea bass and mangrove snapper. On our family trips we have been equipping the youngsters with lighter tackle and 2 hook snapper rigs with the sinker below the hooks baited with squid strips. The activity often is non stop because of the smaller hooks and it is not unusual for the adults to ask that their rods be rigged the same way when they see how much fun this light tackle bottom fishing can be.
Tip: Use 2/0 or 3/0 2x hooks because the larger fish will be brought into the area because of the activity and can easily straighten a small wire hook.

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 September 13 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

For years we have proudly called ourselves the “trashmen” of the Gulf of Mexico because we have stopped to pick up, return to shore and properly dispose of floating debris found offshore. Some of our finds have been lengths of line ranging in size from crab trap line to large pieces of hawser discarded by a tug or freighter, plastic swimming floats, skim boards, bags of trash, fuel tanks and mylar balloons. Probably the most deadly of these to the environment is the balloons. The printing wears off and soon the balloon resembles a jellyfish floating in the water. Endangered sea turtles dine on jellyfish and are not able to distinguish a balloon from a jellyfish. Ingestion of a balloon can result in death to the turtle by interrupting the digestive process.
As the days get shorter more and more anglers are beginning their run offshore before the sun gets up. This makes it difficult to see a line floating on or just below the surface. Entangling a line in a propeller at best will result in a loss of fishing time while the line is removed or at worst the destruction of a lower unit or bending of a shaft or strut which will result in the costly loss of another day.
One of the benefits of stopping to pick up trash is that one never knows what bonus may be lurking near the debris. Recently we have been rewarded with tripletail (found on a piece of plastic chair), cobia (near a skim board) and small mahi-mahi (near a plastic gas tank that we had watched several boats run past).
Tip: It pays to throw out a small handful of cut pieces of sardine when stopping to pick up trash especially if the water is 80 feet or deeper. The small dolphin are sometimes spooked by the boat and will not be visible, but will come running to the chum.

Captain’s Corner for 12-29-12 Dave Zalewski

Santa Claus came early last week and left some great gifts offshore. The South County artificial reef, nearby “Betty Rose” wreck, and the ledges and hard bottom areas produced banner catches of Spanish mackerel, kingfish, catch, photo, and release gag grouper along with enough keeper red grouper and white grunts for fresh fish dinners with some left over for the freezer. The ledges in this area have been providing some exciting trolling for gag grouper in the 30 inch range. We have tried many combinations trolling for gags, but have settled on two combinations. A #3 planer on a 50# class outfit using a 30 foot length of 60# leader with either a gold broken backed hard bodied lure or a large jig head with either a shad or curly tailed soft plastic tail have produced consistent catches. Drags must be set at the point where there is just enough pressure to prevent slippage when trolling at 5 to 5 ½ knots because if set tighter the brute force of the strike will result in snapped lines.
It was not rocket science to realize that not all of our kingfish had left our area for warmer water and switch one of our rigs to a #2 planer, large spoon combination after we caught several kingfish on the grouper tackle. Mixed in with the kings were large Spanish mackerel. This last cold front may have forced the migratory fish out of our area , but it will not hurt to spend some time trolling to see if there are any of these pelagic fish left in our area.

Captain’s Corner for July 11 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

On several recent trips we have returned with colorful boxes of fish which included dolphin (mahi-mahi), yellowtail snapper, mangrove snapper, and red grouper. All of these species have been caught in the 80 to 90 foot depth range either while targeting red grouper or on the way. The dolphin have been attracted to the boat because of the protection it affords and mostly because while bottom fishing copious amounts of chum are released by the loss of baits and the expelling of stomach contents caused by the pressure change when fish are reeled to the surface. Whenever they are seen either chasing a bait or a hooked fish being prepared is the key to success. These fish are 2 to 3 pounds and have correspondingly small mouths, so small 1/0 or 2/0 long shanked gold hooks should be used tied directly to an 8 to 10 pound class spinning outfit. A pair of scissors for cutting a frozen sardine into thin slices should be at hand when the fish are spotted. These small slices will serve to tease the fish, remain near the surface and not fill them up. Using chunks of chum will often fill them up or the chum will sink rapidly drawing the dolphin into the depths and out of the strike zone. The use of the above mentioned hooks serves two purposes, the first is that the long shank helps to prevent swallowing of the hook. The second is that many times the aggressive strike of the fish will strip the bait from the hook. When these fish are feeding we have observed many times their willingness to strike the flash of the gold hook as it is being reeled in to rebait .Most of our yellowtails have been caught by use of a 2/0 circle hook rigged “knocker style” with a small sliding sinker and a chunk of frozen Spanish sardine just large enough to cover the hook.