Captain’s Corner for May 29 Dave Zalewski 460-9893

June 1 marks the closing day for amberjack and gray triggerfish in the Gulf of Mexico. These closures will extend through July 31. June 1 also marks the opening of gag grouper and red snapper season. Gag grouper are slated to remain open through December 31 with a 24 inch minimum size limit and a limit of 2 per person. Red snapper will be open for private recreational anglers June 1- 9 with a 16 inch minimum size limit and a bag limit of 2 per angler. These openings will make available more species of bottom fish to target, and a lot of anglers will direct there time towards these species.
We should not forget about the great trolling in our area that does not require the long run offshore to target some of the benthic fish. Spanish mackerel have finally arrived in large numbers and can be found as close in as 100 yards off the beach to 20 miles offshore. Mackerel fishing with either live bait caught on site with a sabiki rig or trolling small spoons and plugs can provide non-stop action that appeals to any angler regardless of age. Barracuda can now be found on the near shore artificial reefs such as St Pete Beach, Treasure Island and Madeira Beach and the mid water reefs like South County, Indian Shores, and Veteran’s.
Kingfish season has not ended, and really has not completely ended with the beginning of summer for several years. Slow trolling live baits or large deep diving plugs over the mitigation piles that are scattered over the Gulfstream natural gas pipeline will yield large kingfish, catch photo and release amberjack, barracuda and the occasional blackfin tuna. Whenever we are bottom fishing near the “pipe” we try to set aside a portion of the day to target these species. It breaks up the day and the trolling provides a welcome respite from the heat.