In mid-July thoughts of kingfish are usually just a pleasant memory from the spring. For the past month we have been targeting kingfish on a regular basis along the shipping channel starting at markers 7and 8 and westward to the Whistler. Some have been caught on hardware with spoons and large plugs behind # 2and 3 planers, but the best and most consistent action has been on live bait caught with a sabiki near the markers. Not every set of markers will be harboring them on a daily basis, but once they are located, non stop action from not only kingfish, but bonita and sharks will often happen. Spinner sharks with jumps as high as 10 feet in the air will provide memories of a lifetime as well as the dogged attack of a bull shark on a helpless hooked bonita.
Bottom fishing for the usual red and gag grouper, white grunts; mangrove, Lane, yellowtail and vermillion snapper has been consistent in the 70 to 90 foot depths. Gags are still scarce, with one being caught occasionally. All of the snapper in these depths are best targeted using a 2/0 2 hook snapper rig with the sinker on the bottom or a large sabiki rig cut in half to make a 2 or 3 hook rig. Strips of squid on each hook will result in multiple hookups. Stinger rigs with a live sardine or hardtail should be deployed on every bottom stop and will provide a welcome bonus to the bottom fish. We have caught kingfish, mahi-mahi, bonita, Spanish mackerel, and barracuda recently while bottom fishing.

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

Trolling for a multitude of species is a great way to take a break from bottom fishing for a part or even a whole day. Spanish mackerel have not been as abundant near shore as they have been in past years but still can be caught in the gulf by targeting areas near the passes on an outgoing tide which flushes many different baits from the bays into the gulf. Inside Tampa Bay Spanish mackerel are more abundant and can be caught near almost any type of structure by trolling small spoons, plugs or live baits. Barracuda have taken up residence on most of the artificial reefs and can be targeted by slow trolling live blue runners, Spanish sardines, and hardtails. Hardware trollers should try an assortment of lures including large deep diving plugs, tube lures, and large spoons 30 feet behind planers ranging in size from a #1 to a #3. Slow trolling live baits should be done as slow as you can go, hardware will be more effective at between 5.5 and 6 knots.
Gag grouper are now open with a minimum overall size of 24 inches. Most fishing for them is done by bottom fishing with live or frozen bait over structure. Trolling for gags is not often done except for a group of anglers which target the edges of the shipping channel inside of Tampa Bay. An often overlooked tactic is trolling for gags offshore in the gulf. The same depths should be sought out that the bay trollers find successful. 30 to 35 feet depths near the mid water reefs and the reefs themselves have produced some great fish since the season opened. Large blue or gold small lipped plugs, a skirted ballyhoo behind a #3 planer, or a large deep diving plug will both produce when trolled at 4.5 knots.

Captain’s Corner for June 13 Dave Zalewski 460-9893

Now that school is out parents and grandparents are turning attention to providing children and grandchildren with different activities. Many people think of “offshore fishing” as requiring a long boring run to and back from deep waters to seek large fish. With kids onboard, this type of trip is not necessary because we have great opportunities to catch a variety of fish within 10 miles from shore. Spanish mackerel can be found near many of the passes entering the gulf and on the mitigation reefs that stretch from Clearwater to Indian Shores as close as 100 yards from shore, and also on the near shore artificial reefs that lie 5 to 7 miles offshore. Another viable alternative or addition to mackerel is shark fishing. During the summer months nearly anyplace that harbors mackerel will have a shark population that preys on them. These sharks are not all the “monster “ that we see in the movies and TV, but range from 20 to 50 pounds that provide a memorable catch and release for young anglers. The midwinter artificial reefs now harbor a population of barracuda, amberjack , mackerel, and bonita. Every one of these fish can be handled by younger anglers with light tackle suited to them. A wide variety of bottom fish such as white grunts ,grouper, porgies, triggerfish, and mangrove snapper can be found within a few miles of the reefs and often provide non-stop action for youngsters as well as harvesting some of these to eat. Taking kids fishing forges a bond between everyone onboard that is priceless. The look on a youngster’s face when they catch their first fish that has waged war with then (even though it was small) will never be forgotten.

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.

Captain’s Corner for May 13 Dave Zalewski 460-9893

Kingfish still remain one of our daily targets. The water temperatures and vast quantities of bait that have arrived offshore are the key ingredients for the extended time that they have remained off our coast. The most consistent area that we have targeted has been the shipping channel from markers 5 and 6 westward.
Spanish sardines, hardtails, and blue runners concentrate near the markers and can be seen on the surface or as a cloud on the bottom machine when they are not visible. Baitfish, like their predators, have fins and tails and move from refuge to refuge. If the baitfish are not present at the first set of markers that we start at, we do not waste precious time trolling live bait or hardware in the vicinity but move to another set until we find one that is holding bait.
An often overlooked kingfish spot is the natural gas pipeline that runs about a mile south of the shipping channel. There are several large rock piles on and near the pipeline that often hold bait and fish. Many times, especially on the weekends when boat traffic is heavy, these spots have few boats on them and provide an alternative to fighting the crowds.
Bottom fishing for red grouper, mangrove snapper ,white grunts, and sea bass has been excellent in the 60 foot depths. The clear water has necessitated downsizing both leader and sinker size to produce the most activity. A 2 or 3 ounce knocker rig coupled with a 4/0 circle hook has proven the best for us for the past several weeks.

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

The Gulf of Mexico off of the Tampa Bay area is considered to be shallow water compared to many areas of the world where the bottom drops dramatically just a few miles from shore. Our waters allow the sunlight to penetrate to the bottom which in turn promotes vegetative and reef growth on any type of structure such as natural limestone reefs, artificial reefs and wrecks. that protrudes from the bottom. At this time of the year we have been devoting time to both bottom fishing and trolling. Trolling for pelagic fish, those that can be found throughout the water column, is best when targeting higher profile structure like the wrecks and artificial reefs which tend to harbor larger concentrations of baitfish and their apex predators such as kingfish, Spanish mackerel, bonita and barracuda. Our bottom fishing for grouper and snapper often is conducted in areas close to the mid water artificial reefs and wrecks . The reason for that is that even though the artificial reefs were placed on areas of sand bottom to prevent damage to natural reefs, every one of them were placed adjacent to limestone areas that already had a concentration of benthic fish.
The kingfish bite has been as good as it gets for the past two weeks. Spanish mackerel has been disappointing. We will be targeting kingfish on the artificial reefs trolling both hardware at 6 knots or slow trolling live bait caught on site as slow as the boat will go in the morning and switching to bottom fishing in the afternoons as long as the kingfish remain in our area.

Captain’s Corner for April 23 Dave Zalewski 727 460-9893

In past years when asked when is the best time to fish in the spring, I would quickly answer. The entire month of April and the first two weeks of May. This was predicated on the fact that water temperatures would be in the mid to high 70’s which provide the optimum conditions for baitfish to arrive in our area along with their predators, kingfish, Spanish mackerel, bonita, and barracuda. This year I have to change my response to the last two weeks of April and the entire month of May. Water temperatures dropped into the 50’s just a few months ago and now have just slowly risen to 74 degrees offshore on Friday. Spanish sardines, scad, blue runners and threadfins can be found on all of the artificial reefs and high profile wrecks and ledges.
The Spanish mackerel we have been catching have been of above average size, often mixed in with the schools of kingfish in the 6 to 12 pound class, which right now are more abundant than the mackerel. Slow trolling sabiki caught bait in the area targeted has produced multiple hookups and drag screaming runs when targeting these fish on 10 to 12 pound spinning tackle.
Bottom fishing has also come into its own, with red grouper, white grunts, Lane and mangrove snapper being the targets of choice in the 60 to 65 foot depths. Deploy 2 stinger rigged flatlines while bottom fishing, one with a live bait such as a Spanish sardine or hardtail and another with a frozen sardine so that the entire water column is covered when the kingfish which are attracted to the activity and chum in the water show up

Captain’s Corner for March 29 David Zalewski 460-9893
It’s time to break out the trolling tackle and concentrate on kingfish and their lesser cousins Spanish mackerel. The gulf erupted for us while bottom fishing in 60 feet of water southwest of John’s Pass. The bottom fishing on a small ledge adjacent to a larger piece of jumbled rock bottom started producing white grunts, porgies, triggerfish, short red grouper and gags that would have been keepers beginning June 1. The stinger rigged flatline with a frisky Spanish sardine caught with a sabiki rig on the way to our bottom spot did not produce any strikes, but when two bottom rigs were cut off and a kingfish was brought to the surface where it bit through the monofilament leader it became evident that a change in tactics was called for. The live bait was substituted for a frozen sardine which was cast out and allowed to sink towards the bottom. We were rewarded with a long run and battle by a kingfish. Sardines were cut into small pieces and dropped right off the transom to join the natural chum that was caused by the bottom fish expelling their stomach contents on the way to the surface. Switching to two flatlines produced numerous hookups from kingfish. A large cobia showed up in the chum line and frustrated us by refusing everything that we presented to him. Live and dead sardines, pinfish and a blue runner all were tried with no success. A 30 inch gag grouper did rise from the depths and inhaled the blue runner creating a memorable catch and release moment for the angler on the light kingfish tackle. From now to next winter we will be deploying two flatlines, one with a frozen sardine and one with a live sardine or hardtail every time the anchor is dropped to bottom fish because every species of pelagic fish found in our waters will be attracted to the commotion and chum being expelled into the water.

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

The persistent strong winds and high seas have prevented us from venturing offshore on most days, but when we have been able to some challenges have arisen. Bottom fishing for red grouper, white grunts, triggerfish; mangrove, Lane, yellowtail and vermillion snapper are the fish of choice to target at this time of year because of the water temperatures that plummeted into the 50 degree temperatures. Red grouper fishing has been disappointing because of their reluctance to feed because of metabolic slowdown and that many of them have moved to deeper slightly warmer water. A local dive shop operator reported that when they found a calm day and were willing to brave the cold water, the red grouper that they saw were smaller and very lethargic.
The water temperatures in the 60 foot depths have not affected the other reef fish that we can target. Downsizing tackle to 10 to 12 pound spinning or bait casting equipment as used for trout, mackerel and redfish will produce just as much sport and table fare as grouper fishing with heavier tackle. A two hook (1/0 or 2/0) snapper “chicken” rig with a 3 ounce sinker will produce almost non-stop action. The use of lighter tackle and the smaller hooks have been producing some unusual results. Triggerfish are now open and have a 14 inch minimum fork length to be kept. Yellowtail snapper are usually caught far offshore while targeting other species. The smaller hook rigs have been producing keepers (12 inches overall) in waters as shallow as 50 feet.. Strips of squid and small chunks of Spanish sardine have been the baits of choice.

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

One month ago water temperatures were in the 70’s and we were both trolling and bottom fishing on most trips offshore. In a normal year trolling stops around Thanksgiving because low water temperatures send the baitfish and their predators (Spanish mackerel, kingfish , and barracuda) south to warmer water. The last cold front with its hazardous winds which muddied up the water and dramatically dropped water temps into the 50’s slowed the metabolism of most offshore species.
Our last trip offshore started in 50 foot of water, which had been producing banner catches before the front. Anchoring over a limestone outcropping that always produces resulted in a few white grunts and nothing else. The fish that we caught were cold to the touch that indicated warmer water had to be found before there was any chance of putting fish in the box. We continued west to the 80 foot depths where the fish were more active, but still not as aggressive as they were the week before. It required a lot of chumming, use of squid, for the scent placed in the water and a lot of patience while waiting for the fish to start feeding. We returned to the dock with white grunts, a few red grouper, Lane snapper, and porgies in the box and great memories and photos of the bull redfish and gag grouper that were caught, photoed and released to provide future anglers the excitement of the battle.
Chumming can be counterproductive on days when the tide is running strong offshore and a weighted chum basket dropped to the bottom from the front of the boat will lure the bottom fish to the presented baits.