Captain’s Corner for September 29 Dave Zalewski 727 460-9893

2016 has been a strange year for offshore fishing in the Gulf of Mexico for many of the species that we target. In the spring king fish season is considered to be the entire month of April and the first two weeks of May. Not only the kingfish are here in force, but the other pelagic species such as Spanish mackerel, cobia, bonita and barracuda take up residence for the summer. We have been able to target kingfish on the wrecks and at the end of the shipping channel on a daily basis until Hurricane Hemine blew threw. Spanish mackerel fishing was spotty all summer and has just now come on strong. The same for barracuda which seem to have followed the mackerel into our area. Bottom fishing has been spotty for both red and gag grouper, requiring a lot of stops to put some keepers in the box. Downsizing to 12# class spinning or bait casting tackle has been the key to providing non stop action for white grunts, mangrove, Lane, and vermillion snapper.
Normally the fall kingfish season starts around Columbus Day (October 10), but this year we may be in for a wait before they began their southward migration. Water temperature in the gulf was 85 degrees, a far cry from the 76 degree temperatures that they prefer. Because conditions have been so different this year, we are making every trip into the gulf prepared to both bottom fish and troll. Trolling on the wrecks and artificial reefs on the way to the 90 foot depths we are bottom fishing in may produce some welcome surprise results.