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

Red grouper, white grunts, and mangrove snapper have been our main targets in the 50 to 70 foot depths recently. It is necessary to catch and release many red grouper that are just short of the legal size of 20 inches overall. Deploying a stinger equipped flat line on every bottom stop has produced several memorable fish lately. Large Spanish mackerel, gag grouper, kingfish, barracuda and a tiger shark have all been drawn in by the activity of bottom fishing and the natural chum slick produced when bottom fish expel their stomach contents on the way up from the depths.
Tip: Putting out two flat lines, one with a nose hooked frozen Spanish sardine and the other with a live bait such as a blue runner, live sardine, or hardtail covers much of the water column. The dead bait usually sinks midway to the bottom , while the live bait remains near the surface.
Last week we were caught unprepared for the school of dolphin fish (mahi-mahi) that appeared under the boat while bottom fishing in 70 feet of water. From now on we will have one or two 10 to 12 pound class rods rigged with 2/0 gold hooks ready to put into service. Our usual drill when they show up is to start chumming with small slivers of sardine to beep them nearby and active. Chumming with large chunks only feeds them and they will soon move on. The use of a small gold hook allows a piece of bait the size of the chum fall naturally in the water column. Because these fish feed so voraciously, keep several hooks handy as it is usually quicker to cut the line and retie if the hook is swallowed.