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

What’s Hot: The water temperature reached the magical 72 degrees, which is the point where baitfish and their attendant predators are all comfortable. Schools of Spanish sardines have arrived but, because of the nearshore dirty water conditions caused by the recent cold front with its high winds, they have stayed offshore in the 30 to 60 foot range. Kingfish, Spanish mackerel, and bonita will be found crashing into these baitfish. The water has cleared up at the western end of the shipping channel and on the mid- water artificial reefs such as South County , Indian Shores and Veteran’s. The Rube Allyn reef has been consistently producing for the past two weeks for those trolling both live baits and hardware. Large spoons, lipped plugs of all sizes, and a ballyhoo/skirt combination trolled at 6 knots are effective for kingfish. Smaller 00 to #1 spoons and smaller plugs are necessary if Spanish mackerel are targeted at the same speed.
Once the bait is located the use of a sabiki rig will produce quickly produce enough to start fishing . Slow trolling at “as slow as you can go” speed is the key and bait can be continue to be caught while trolling.
Kingfish must be 24 inch minimum fork length with a 2 per person bag limit. Spanish mackerel must be 12 inch minimum fork length , with a 15 per person bag limit. As with any species “Limit your catch, don’t catch your limit” and there will be fish for the future.