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.