Captains Corner, Dave Zalewski

The Tampa Bay Times

Dave Zalewski

We finally had a chance to venture offshore for some bottom fishing when the winds laid down. The benthic fish bit well on both 4 and 6 hour trips. We fished in 42 feet of water on the ½ day trips and 60 feet of water on the ¾ day trips. Because of the lack of bait fish which have migrated south, the fish were hungry and eager to feed in both depths on squid, shrimp, threadfin herring and live baits caught on site. Gag grouper (Catch, Photo and Release), Red grouper (Open now 20 inch minimum), Gray triggerfish (Closed), Lane snapper (Open 8 inch minimum), white grunts, Mangrove snapper, and Sea Bass were among the species caught. Frozen squid seemed to work best in the forty foot depths, perhaps because the water was still silty from the past recent high winds. The water clarity improved greatly in the 60 foot depths and the fish did not seem to care what was presented to them, with all baits working well. Because they are closed we are not specifically targeting gags, but always put a rod with a live pinfish, tomtate, or small grunt unattended in a rod holder. The activity created by the feeding of the smaller reef fish will attract a large gag and they find it hard to resist that large struggling bait.
After sitting on a spot for awhile, we have found that hardtails, often called cigar minnows or scad will be also attracted to the activity and morsels of bait left over from the other fish feeding. Dropping a sabiki to the bottom will result in a great live bait for bottom fishing or deployment on a flat line.