Captain’s Corner for Sept 13 Dave Zalewski 397-8815
In mid October gulf water temperatures will have fallen to the mid seventies because of the shorter days and the beginning of cold fronts moving through our area. This is the ideal temperatures for the baitfish such as Spanish sardines, hardtails and blue runners and along with them kingfish, Spanish mackerel, cobia, and sharks which will be feeding ravenously on them. The start of our trolling season is only a month away and now is the time to dust off tackle that has been sitting since last spring. Guides should be checked for cracks and wear, drags which should have been backed off checked for smoothness, line should be respooled to full capacity.
Right now trolling or live baiting for Spanish mackerel has been exceptional, with both quantity and quality of fish enough to satisfy every angler. Mackerel are a great fish to target when introducing children to offshore angling. The size of the fish are easy to handle and there is usually not a long time between strikes.
We have been catching juvenile kingfish which often school with their Spanish mackerel cousins. Kingfish have a lateral line that dips significantly compared to a Spanish mackerel. Also a Spanish mackerel’s dorsal fin will be black or very dark while kingfish will have a grey or white dorsal.
Minimum size for kingfish is 24 inches measured from tip of the nose to the fork. Spanish mackerel must be 12 inches to the fork. Deploying a stinger rigged flatline with either a frozen or live sardine while bottom fishing has produced some kingfish all summer and as the season approaches kingfish caught in this manner will be an everyday occurrence.