Captain’s Corner for May 19 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

We were hoping that our spring kingfish season that started late would last longer than usual. Although there are scattered schools of kingfish to be found near the artificial reefs, wrecks and the shipping channel, the majority of the fish appear to have continued their migration to the Panhandle. A recent trip to markers 1and 2, 3and 4, and the Whistler was very disappointing in the fact that there was no bait to be sabiki up and the lack of bait resulted in no fish to be had even trolling hardware. Whenever we leave the dock, the bait cooler has an ample supply of frozen sardines and squid so that we can bottom fish as a back up plan. The hard bottom 2 to 3 miles north of the Whistler produced a variety of reef fish that included catch and release gag grouper, both undersize and keeper red grouper, white grunts, mangrove snapper and a surprising amount of undersize yellowtail snapper that were caught on the 2 hook grunt rigs.
The 60 to 65 foot depths are the key to some non-stop bottom fishing activity at this time. Keeper red grouper can be readily found in these depths by using both frozen and live baits. A live or dead sardine on a stinger rig will surely result in a few kingfish strikes while bottom fishing. White grunts are in a pre-spawn mode in these depths and some fish in the 15 to 17 inch range are being caught . Downsizing tackle to 10# class will provide both sport and excellent table fare