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

We have not put up our trolling gear for the winter yet because of the water temperature hovering around the 70 degree mark offshore and the abundance of bait and fish to troll for. Spanish mackerel can be found at the mouth of any pass entering the gulf and on patchy hard bottom areas around 3 miles offshore. Mackerel are present on most of the artificial reefs, but the quality fish are definitely closer to shore. Kingfish are still present near the markers for the entire length of the shipping channel. The buoys along with the large chain and massive sinker used to hold them in place are an area where baitfish seek protection , attracting the larger predators. Trolling between the markers has been disappointing for us lately and we prefer to run from one set of markers to the next to save time blind trolling. Barracuda are starting to thin out, but some remain on the mid water artificial reefs and offshore wrecks. Slow trolled live blue runners are the baits of choice. Some amberjack are mixed in with the other species on the reefs and wrecks and provide drag pulling action when hooked .
Gag and red grouper, triggerfish and amberjack are closed to harvest right now, but this does not mean that they cannot be targeted for catch, photo and release. Bottom fishing has been excellent with large fish carefully released to catch in the future. There is no lack of table fare fish to harvest in the 60 to 80 foot depths. White grunts, porgies; Lane, yellowtail, vermillion and mangrove are available for those willing to downsize tackle to a 2/0 hook, 2 to 3 ounce sinker and a long leader. Squid and small chunks of sardine are the bait of choice.

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

Strong easterly winds have kept us from venturing far offshore for several weeks, but we have still been able to get out and have great times and impressive fishing. Schools of Spanish mackerel can be found within a mile of shore along with scattered kingfish. They can be targeted in several ways. The most common is to use small spoons and #1 planers. Once fish have been located either by blind trolling, returning to hard bottom areas that have produced before, looking for diving birds or masses of baitfish on the sonar nonstop action will occur. Switching to hard bodied lures on light spinning or conventional tackle will provide more sport than using the planer/spoon combination.

The once decimated shark fishery has rebounded dramatically because of regulations and for a change of pace we have been switching to catch and release fishing for these predators which are hanging out near the schools of bait and mackerel. Switching to 20#class tackle, the same as used for kingfishing, anchoring, and chumming with fresh mackerel chunks will produce savage strikes and drag screaming runs. Several ½ filets of mackerel baits should be deployed, some on ballons suspended from the bottom and some allowed to rest on the bottom with no weight. Circle hooks and wire leader should be used to prevent cut offs and deep hooking.

Most of these fish can be handled from an anchored boat, but the occasional large one will stray into the chum, become hooked and necessitate leaving the anchor attached to a ball and chasing it down before being spooled.

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

The fall kingfish season has been less than stellar for me so far this year. Normally I would expect good numbers of schoolie fish (6 to 10 pounds) to be in our area at this time savagely attacking schools of Spanish sardines, hardtails and blue runners. Several trips to both the nearshore and mid water artificial reefs have resulted in a fish or two, but nothing consistent. The ray of hope for trollers has been the abundance of larger than average Spanish mackerel at all of the usual spots that should be harboring the kingfish. Small spoons trolled behind  #1 planers and many types of hard bodied plugs are producing the best results. Barracuda have been numerous and have been quick to attack a hooked mackerel leaving a set of lips on the spoon.

We have found a great use for our kingfish tackle. The light sensitive rods with 20 # class conventional reels have proved to be great to fish for sharks near any pass emptying into the gulf. We like to think of the monster sharks depicted in movies and television, but the reality is that most of the sharks that we are catching are relatively small (10 to 40 pounds) and provide great sport on the light kingfish tackle. 6/0 to 10/0 circle hooks and a 2 foot wire leader are all that is needed. A good chum slick augmented by chunked fish with some baits placed on the bottom and some suspended from balloons will quickly produce action especially on an outgoing tide.

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

Stone crab season begins October 15 and crabbers are allowed to bait and place their traps in the water before opening day. In the past crabbers would place their traps, marked by an individually assigned colored buoy, in the depth they thought would be productive. With the advent of highly accurate GPS they now are able to place their traps precisely on rock or stone bottom. The traps are baited with fish carcasses and become a chum pot and protective structure for smaller reef fish and their predators. Red grouper fishing has become catch, photo, and release with the recent closure, but gag grouper will remain open until December 2. Trolling for gags can be exciting and productive for those willing to invest the time.  A #3 planer, 30 feet of 50# monofilament leader followed by a large broken-backed small lipped gold plug or large jig head with a plastic curly tailed or shad shaped jig head or a large lipped deep diving plug  is all that is needed. 4 .5 to 5 knots is the ideal speed.  When a strike occurs, it is necessary to keep the boat in gear for a short while to pull the fish away from the structure.

Some kingfish, Spanish mackerel and the bonus cobia will also be caught at this time of year on the deep trolls, but it is wise to deploy a surface trolled bait while targeting grouper to cover the entire water column.

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.

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

Offshore fishing continues to be as hot as the weather, with a few bonus species added to the usual mix of red and gag grouper, white grunts; mangrove, yellowtail and vermillion, snapper on the bottom and Spanish mackerel, barracuda and bonita in the water column. The bonus species are tripletail and mahi-mahi. We have always been a proponent of taking the time to stop and pick up floating trash encountered while traveling back and forth to the area that we plan to target. Both tripletail and mahi-mahi are attracted to debris of any size that is drifting with the current. Balloons usually do not hold fish because they are wind driven and fast moving. The Boy Scout motto is “Be prepared” and that is what is necessary when fishing debris. We are now prepared on every trip by having several light tackle rods rigged with a 1/0 circle hook for the tripletail and a 2/0 or 3/0 long shanked gold hook for the mahis tied directly to the mainline. The reason for the gold hook is that mahis will often strip the bait from the hook and the flash of the gold hook will often trigger a bite on the bare hook.  Mahis have relatively small stomachs and can be filled up by over chumming. Small slivers of Spanish sardine ¼ in wide are ideal. Cutting some with a pair of sharp scissors while in a partially frozen condition and storing them on ice in a zip lock makes for less confusion when a school appears. Live shrimp fly lined to tripletail is the bait of choice, but the head of a squid with the tentacles waving often out fishes the shrimp.

Captain’s Corner for July 29 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

The Spanish mackerel have finally invaded the waters in the gulf of Mexico in our area. In past years the mackerel have produced daily activity from the shoreline to 20 miles offshore for the entire summer, making for fun filled charter trips combining trolling and bottom fishing. Two weeks ago we started spotting closely compacted bait balls consisting of juvenile Spanish sardines. These pods of bait could be found by observing terns and pelicans gorging themselves on the surface along with Spanish mackerel, bonita, and sharks attacking from underneath the surface. Now that the bait has arrived and established residence the mackerel are here until water temperatures drop to 70 degrees in the fall. Matching lure size for those trolling hardware to the size of the available bait is imperative. 00 spoons, small hard bodied plugs, and streamer flies trolled behind a #1 planer or small trolling lead will produce single and multiple hook ups.
Because of the west winds we have been experiencing that dirtied up the water, we have been targeting the near shore artificial reefs (4 to 7) miles offshore and the mid water reefs (10 to 12) miles offshore along with the edges of the shipping channel all the way out to the Whistler buoy. Anchoring and deploying a chum bag along with cutting small slivers of Spanish sardines will quickly draw these ravenous feeders close to the boat where they can be caught using a long shanked 1/0 gold hook and nose hooking a white bait or shrimp, casting small silver or gold plugs, or even with a fly rod and a small streamer. These methods provide more sport because of the lighter tackle that can be used.

Captain’s Corner for July 13 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

On a recent trip offshore we made several stops and never had a fish in the box or even a bite. Nevertheless both the party we had onboard with their grandchildren and myself were pleased. The first stop netted 2 mylar balloons that were probably released on land at a party, drifted over water , lost their helium and were floating. When the color washes off them and they become translucent, they resemble jellyfish which are food for turtles and other sea creatures. Ingestion of a balloon may result in a turtle death or serious injury. The second stop was to pick up bait boxes that had been discarded by thoughtless fisherman who may or may not have realized that these boxes are plasticized to make them waterproof and are not biodegradable.
Next was a floating foam buoy with about 20 feet of line floating behind it, just waiting to end someone’s day when it became entangled in a propeller. Last stop was to pick up a beach ball which became property of the kids. If everyone took the short time it takes to pick up floating trash the gulf would be in an even healthier state than it is in.
Call it Karma or whatever you choose, when we continued to the 80 foot depths over Swiss cheese bottom the bottom fish cooperated. Grandparents and grandchildren all fell asleep on the way in after catching red grouper, Lane, vermillion, and mangrove snapper, along with white grunts. Gag grouper, which are now open, failed to cooperate. We started the kids on light tackle 2 hook snapper rigs and it did not take grand mom long to ask to be switched from the grouper tackle when she saw how much fun the kids were having

Captain’s Corner for June 29 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

Offshore fishing has been full of surprises so far this summer. Normally the preferred targets of choice have been Spanish mackerel and red grouper at this time of year. Several other species have provided other alternatives. Spanish mackerel fishing has been spotty, but their larger cousins, king mackerel, which should have left the area a month ago, have more than filled the void. The kingfish have been active in all depths with our most consistent catches being near the western end of the shipping channel and on the wrecks in 60 feet of water and deeper. Slow trolling live sardines, hardtails, and small blue runners under the surface with the use of trolling sinkers or downriggers has produced many fish 20 pounds or better.
Red grouper have been biting well on the usual mixture of live and frozen baits in the 70 to 90 foot depths. Bonus catches of Lane, vermillion, and yellowtail snapper along with large white grunts have occurred when we make use of 1/0 two hook snapper rigs or large sabiki rigs cut in half and tipping the hooks with squid strips while targeting the red grouper with conventional tackle. Kingfish, barracuda, and sharks have been striking stinger rigged flatlines deployed when bottom fishing. The activity created when bottom fishing draws in these apex predators. After picking up the anchor, spending 5 to 10 minutes trolling a figure 8 pattern with either live baits caught on site or spoons and plugs have produced quite well lately.

Captain’s Corner for June 13 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

According to reports there are plenty of Spanish mackerel in Tampa Bay, but they remain scarce in the gulf. During the summer months when kids are out of school we book many of our most rewarding trips with 3 generations onboard. Trolling for mackerel has been the mainstay when we have young ones on the rods. On light tackle they provide both excitement and fast paced action. We have been forced to switch to bottom fishing for white grunts, grouper, and the smaller reef fish. Light tackle, two hook dropper rigs and fishing in the 40 to 50 foot depths to keep from having to make a long, boring ride have been the key to a successful trip. Terminal tackle can be the conventional swivel sinker with a 2/0 or 3/0 circle hook or the most productive will be to make a dropper rig with a bell sinker on the bottom with 2 2/0 or 3/0 hooks above the sinker. Large #16 sabiki rigs cut down into 2 or 3 hook rigs are very effective when used with a piece of squid. Normally when we have family trips we rig the adults up with conventional grouper tackle, oftentimes when the adults see how much fun it is to fish the smaller rigs they ask to be changed to the same. 6 white grunt filets are the perfect portion size for one person when beer battered or baked to make fish tacos. Red grouper fishing in the 80 to 100 foot depths, always deploy a stinger rigged flatline when bottom fishing no matter what the depth. Kingfish have been an almost daily catch in the deeper depths.