Dave Zalewski 460-9893
Although the majority of the kingfish have left our area there are enough stragglers and ones that have decided to stay to make it worthwhile to spend some time pursuing them along with their smaller cousins Spanish mackerel. No matter what pass one leaves from while venturing offshore in search of grouper and snapper you will travel close to one of the artificial reefs or wrecks. These high profile structures will provide a haven for bait and oftentimes their larger predators. We typically troll at these sites for about 15 minutes using a #2 planer with a large blue or gold spoon and a #1 planer with an 0 spoon at a speed of 5.5 knots. The reasoning behind this choice is that baits of all sizes will be found on the reef or wreck and using the different spoons will facilitate matching what size bait the fish are feeding on. If no strikes occur, we pull up the lines and continue on to our bottom fishing locations.
Bottom fishing has remained steady in the 60 to 90 foot depths with red grouper, white grunts, porgies and some mangrove snapper being caught in the 60 to 70 foot range. Moving deeper to the 80 to 90 foot depths will add Lane and vermillion snapper to the box along with the other species. These snapper have small mouths and are able to easily strip the bait from larger hooks. The use of a 2 hook snapper rig with a 3ounce sinker on the bottom and 2/0 circle hooks will insure catching these both colorful and tasty fish.
Some large solitary kingfish are still prowling these depths and it and deployment of a stinger rigged flatline will often result in a strike from one of them.
- Jay Mastry - March 26, 2024
- Captains Corner, Gorta - March 23, 2024
- Dave Zalewski - March 12, 2024
