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

Water temperatures have declined to the magical mid 70’s offshore and we are in the midst of the fall transitional fishing which is proving to be exceptional. Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and ladyfish can be found as close as 100 yards of any of our beaches crashing into bait schools ranging in size from small anchovies to blue runners. Loner smoker kingfish and numerous sharks of all species complete the food chain feeding on the smaller predators. The Spanish mackerel action for those trolling small spoons or plugs can be non-stop. Those slow trolling stinger rigged mackerel, bluefish or ladyfish will not experience the continuous action, but when a strike occurs it certainly will be memorable. Trolling speed for the mackerel should be 6 knots and those seeking the apex predators should troll as slow as they can go or even drift with the wind and tide.
Barracuda fishing is as good as it gets with these spectacular game fish feeding heavily in anticipation of the long winter ahead and their migration to warmer waters. Large spoons and jointed plugs trolled over artificial reefs and offshore wrecks will produce drag screaming strikes, but the best bet is to slow troll large blue runners. Kingfish have also arrived on the high profile structures in the gulf and can be caught by employing the same methods.
Gag grouper are still open and targeting them by trolling is a both exciting and productive. We employ #3 planers in front of blue or gold plugs, 40 feet of 60# test leader and troll at 4.5 to 5 knots over hard bottom areas in 25 to 35 feet of water.

Captain’s Corner for September 29 Dave Zalewski

Columbus Day (October 13) is almost upon us and that day traditionally signifies the start of the fall Spanish mackerel, kingfish, bonita and cobia migration through our waters. If you haven’t already, several things should be done to insure a successful trolling season. Line should be checked for strength and abrasion or simply replaced with new. Check guides by running a piece of nylon stocking through them to see if a crack or rough spot exists that will rapidly abrade even new line. Spinning reels should be checked for smooth drag by attaching the line to a fixed object and walking away to check for any sticking. The roller should be spun to check for binding. On conventional reels the side spool adjustment and drags should be checked in the same way.
Cobia have been historically at the front of the migration and it pays to have a rod rigged and ready to target them. A 30 to 50 pound class outfit will work well. Heavier tackle is often needed because of their tendency to orient to structure such as shipping channel buoys, artificial reefs and wrecks. Terminal tackle can be a length of 60# leader attached to a strong 6/0 hook for the use of a nose hooked pinfish or blue runner or a large curly tailed pink jig again with a strong hook. These fish are notorious battlers and have the strength to straighten out a hook.. It pays to check out any type of structure that one may be passing on the way to ones kingfish or bottom spot. It only takes a few minutes and the reward may be great.

Captain’s Corner for August 29   Dave Zalewski  727 397-8815

What’s Hot: Despite the temperature of both water and air fishing offshore both trolling and bottom fishing remains exceptional. Historically late August are the dog days with fishing somewhat slow. It may be that everything seemed to be late arriving into our area this year. Spanish mackerel and kingfish are normally very active in early April and this year the majority did not show up in force until late April. Barracuda were a cause for concern because they were almost non-existent until mid-May when they showed up in force and began feeding aggressively. Spanish mackerel, barracuda, and bonita are the trolling targets at this time and most of the artificial reefs are almost a sure thing by using either live bait or hardware. Live bait caught on site through the use of sabiki rigs are much more effective than bait brought from elsewhere right now because matching size and type appears to be critical. We have been pleasantly surprised by the number of kingfish that are still around. There are not enough to specifically target them, but they are a bonus when fishing for the other species.

Bottom fishing remains strong in the 70 to 90 foot depths with colorful boxes of fish being brought back by anglers downsizing their tackle to target some of the tasty smaller species. On every stop we are equipping some of our  anglers with 2 hook 1/0 snapper rigs on baitcasting or spinning tackle. The reward has been a variety of bottom fish that are normally rarely caught on the larger grouper hooks. Mangrove snapper, vermillion snapper (beeliners), Lane snapper, white grunts and yellowtail snapper have all been returning with us because of the use of small hooks. Gray triggerfish will be caught, and provide a great battle on the light tackle, but must be released until January 1, when the season re-opens

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

Water temperature is hovering around 83 degrees offshore in the gulf and this temperature usually indicates that kingfish have left our area and now are residing in the panhandle area of Florida and the other upper gulf states. In past years trolling has targeted Spanish mackerel, bonita and barracuda through the summer months. We have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of kingfish that we have encountered in the past week. It started with the deployment of a stinger rig with either a frozen sardine, small blue runner or live Spanish sardine which produced several quality fish and numerous strikes while targeting bottom fish in the 60 to 80 foot depths.
Method:
In the past when the bottom bite ended, we simply pulled up our lines and left the spot for another nearby where we would anchor and start the bottom fishing procedure again. The pelagic fish are attracted to the boat while bottom fishing for several reasons. The primary being the chum slick being produced in the water column by the bottom fish expelling their stomach contents on the way up caused by the pressure differential and the loss of baits off the hooks ,along with smaller reef fish being released in a stunned condition which become easy prey.
We now spend 10 to 15 minutes after every bottom stop slow trolling live baits or spoons behind planers in a figure 8 pattern over the place we have fished. Not every place produces, but when it does the results have been great.

Captain’s Corner for August 3 Dave Zalewski

Spanish mackerel fishing offshore in the gulf throughout the summer has been relatively so and hit or miss. All this changed dramatically last week with an invasion of the spotted speedsters on all of the near shore artificial reefs such as that lie 5 to 7 miles offshore. Trolling 2 lines equipped with #1 planers or trolling sinkers 10 feet from a 00 or 0 spoon produced numerous double headers on all of the days we fished for mackerel. The action continued even after we switched to just a small spoon fished on light spinning tackle fished right on the surface to provide more sport for the anglers.
Tackle:
Because of the force exerted by a #1 planer minimum tackle must be at least 20 pound test with a rod that has a fast tip with some strength in the body. Use of a trolling sinker allows one to downsize tackle to 10 to 12 pound class. Live bait anglers can reduce tackle down to 6 to 8 pound class if desired. The baitfish that the mackerel have been feeding on are very small which necessitates the use of the very small spoons, jigs or small streamer flies. Even live bait users ( which is usually a sure thing) have run into problems with large baits netted inshore which the mackerel ignore because they are feeding on the small fry baits.
Tip:
These reefs are 2000 feet long and have barges , military tanks and piles of concrete rubble scattered throughout them . The bait is concentrated on the structure, which attracts the fish. Using the MOB button on your GPS in the highway mode allows you to return to that piece of structure repeatedly while trolling.

Captain’s Corner for June 28 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

Offshore fishing has become as hot as the weather. Both benthic and pelagic fish have cooperated well for the past few weeks. Red grouper (still legal to keep as long as they meet the 20 inch overall size limit) have been feeding heavily in their usual summertime depths of 80 to 90 feet over flat Swiss-cheese bottom. Numerous short grouper provide nearly non-stop action with the larger fish mixed in. We have observed that the larger red grouper tend to inhabit the transitional area where the bottom turns abruptly from sand to hard rock. This usually has a washed out area slightly deeper than the adjacent rock. Paying close attention to the sonar and marking the edge and anchoring over it will usually result in larger fish. Gag grouper (closed until Sept 16) have been mixed in with the reds in some spots and have provided exciting catch-photo-release action. White grunts, triggerfish, porgies, and some mangrove snapper have fallen victim to the two hook “chicken rig” with the 3 ounce sinker underneath presented to them. We have found it necessary to cover the full gamut of bait including frozen squid and sardines, live pinfish, sardines, squirrelfish, and hardtails caught with sabiki rigs. On some recent trips it has been observed that what worked well the previous day will hardly produce a bite the next.
Spanish mackerel have been quite scarce offshore with only scattered fish being caught whether using live bait or trolling spoons. A welcome surprise has been their larger cousins, kingfish. Using stinger rigged flatlines with live sardines or hardtails caught while bottom fishing or using a frozen sardine which will fall partially in the water column and remain suspended by the current we have encountered kingfish ranging from 10 pounds to the high 20’s.
Tip: School’s out — take a child fishing

Captain’s Corner for July 11 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

On several recent trips we have returned with colorful boxes of fish which included dolphin (mahi-mahi), yellowtail snapper, mangrove snapper, and red grouper. All of these species have been caught in the 80 to 90 foot depth range either while targeting red grouper or on the way. The dolphin have been attracted to the boat because of the protection it affords and mostly because while bottom fishing copious amounts of chum are released by the loss of baits and the expelling of stomach contents caused by the pressure change when fish are reeled to the surface. Whenever they are seen either chasing a bait or a hooked fish being prepared is the key to success. These fish are 2 to 3 pounds and have correspondingly small mouths, so small 1/0 or 2/0 long shanked gold hooks should be used tied directly to an 8 to 10 pound class spinning outfit. A pair of scissors for cutting a frozen sardine into thin slices should be at hand when the fish are spotted. These small slices will serve to tease the fish, remain near the surface and not fill them up. Using chunks of chum will often fill them up or the chum will sink rapidly drawing the dolphin into the depths and out of the strike zone. The use of the above mentioned hooks serves two purposes, the first is that the long shank helps to prevent swallowing of the hook. The second is that many times the aggressive strike of the fish will strip the bait from the hook. When these fish are feeding we have observed many times their willingness to strike the flash of the gold hook as it is being reeled in to rebait .Most of our yellowtails have been caught by use of a 2/0 circle hook rigged “knocker style” with a small sliding sinker and a chunk of frozen Spanish sardine just large enough to cover the hook.

Captain’s Corner for June 10 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

It appears that we may have a great summertime fishery for Kingfish just like we had in 2008. Looking back at some trip records from that period revealed that we had a population of kingfish that stayed in our area for the entire summer instead of continuing their migration to the Panhandle. Here it is June and we have been able to target kingfish in several areas instead of them being an incidental catch while bottom fishing. The 10 Fathom curve (60 feet of water) with its numerous ledges, jumbled rock areas and wrecks is holding the majority of the bait and kings.
Tactics:
Many of the fish that we are catching have been below the surface, halfway to the bottom or deeper picking off stragglers from the huge bait piles of Spanish sardines, hardtails and blue runners. Catching the bait with sabiki rigs using a 3 or 4 ounce sinker to prevent these larger baits from tangling the rig has been relatively easy. Presenting the baits is a little more complex. Downriggers can be used with a clip near the weight to present a bait near the bottom. A 2 to 4 ounce trolling weight can be used to present a bait in the mid range and a nose hooked bait can be deployed on the surface. A stinger rig should be used no matter what depth one is fishing. Initial light drag settings should be employed to prevent break offs on the strike.
Tips
Always slow troll around the bait piles with the lines far enough out so that they will pass through the bait instead of the boat which will tend to separate the bait into smaller schools.. These bait piles may not be visible from the surface, so place close attention to your depth finder to locate sub surface schools.

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

Gag grouper have been a catch, photo, release fish since November and red grouper will join them on February 1 when the closure for them will also go into effect. Until April 1. There are still plenty of fish available to provide a few delicious meals and some for the freezer. White grunts AKA Key West grunts, gray snapper, saltwater crappie and a host of other local names are our predominate reef fish and when tackle is downsized provide drag pulling action just like the larger reef fish that we so often target. In addition to the grunts mangrove snapper, triggerfish, silver trout, and sea bass are all open in the gulf waters
Tip: Bring some light spinning or bait casting tackle to a rocky area that is normally targeted for grouper, rig with a 2 hook “chicken rig”2/0 hooks, 3 to 4 ounce sinker and let the action begin. The activity of the smaller reef fish feeding will bring in the larger grouper, who will join in the fray and will test angling skills on the light tackle.
We have been pleasantly surprised by the number of kingfish and large mackerel that have shown up while bottom fishing in the 50 to 60 foot depths recently and have went back to deploying frozen sardine on a stinger rigged flatline.
Tip: Keep the flatline rigged and ready when traveling offshore, we have been encountering small pods of kingfish smashing into schools of bait and have had great success casting a frozen sardine and using a “walk the dog” method of retrieval to trigger a strike.

Captain’s Corner for March 31 Dave Zalewski 397-8815

The big decision that had to be made at the beginning of each trip offshore before the cold fronts blew through was what species to target. Spanish mackerel were abundant near every inlet emptying into the gulf, and were eager to feed on both live and artificial baits. On most days all it took was the presence of one or two diving terns to indicate that a school of mackerel was under the surface. Until last weekend baitfish were very small and the use of a 00 or 0 spoon was mandated. Large baitfish arrived in numbers over the weekend and trying different sizes of spoons became necessary to “match the hatch”
Kingfish arrived in scattered schools and some were caught in all the usual spots such as the mid-water artificial reefs , wrecks and the markers at the western end of the shipping channel. Cobia were spotted at many of these same locations but were hesitant to take anything offered to them. The clear water allowed us to see barracuda in the water over several high profile structures. Historically they show up about a week or two before the concentrations of kingfish arrive and will not strike anything until then.
Bottom fishing continues to be outstanding in the 40 to 60 foot depths for all species. Because of the grouper closure we have been directing efforts towards light tackle white grunt, triggerfish , sea bass, porgy and triggerfish activity. Catch photo and release grouper have been a welcome addition to the activity and beginning April 1 some of these will end up in the fish box. Red grouper will be open in both State and Federal waters and gag grouper will be open only in State waters. State waters extend up to 9 miles offshore.