Captain’s Corner for June 29 Dave Zalewski 460-9893At this time of year in the past catching Spanish mackerel both along the beaches and on the near shore artificial reefs was never a problem and it became necessary to “limit your catch, not catch your limit. There was always enough activity from these spotted speedsters to keep the attention of younger children. We caught sufficient quantities of Spanish mackerel during the spring kingfish run, but the mackerel seemed to leave our area when the kings did. Some mackerel are still available near the entrances to all of the passes emptying into the gulf and the best time to target them is on an outgoing morning tide. The bait still is small and the use of small (00 or 0) spoons is needed to match the hatch, Anchoring near a pass, deploying a chum bag and freelining live shrimp or small white will usually result in enough fish for mealtime or a smoker.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure is an old saying and holds true for many of the fish caught in the gulf. Bonita are still around, and should continue here throughout the summer. When they can be seen boiling the water in their attack on small baitfish it pays to deploy some small spoons and troll for these drag pulling, hard fighting fish. Larger ones that are over 15 inches should be carefully released to fight another day because their dark red meat with an irony taste does not appeal to many palates. The smaller ones should be bled, iced down in the fish box and filleted at the end of the day. The two loins should be cut away from the dark lateral line meat and prepared the same way as any tuna. Pan searing and their use in ceviche, or as sashimi will make one a beleiver

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