Captain’s Corner: Dave Zalewski

The Tampa Bay Times

Dave Zalewski  460-9893

Spanish mackerel fishing has remained consistent close to shore. They make for a great time for both young and old anglers alike who do not wish to venture far offshore. They can be targeted in a number of ways. The most common is to troll a small spoon behind either a #1 planer or small trolling lead. The use of a trolling lead with light spinning tackle provides for more sport as the fish does not have to fight the weight of the planer in addition to the angler. The downside to the trolling sinker/spoon combo is the chance of having the mackerel strike the trolling sinker resulting in a loss of both weight and spoon. They are attracted to the flash of a wounded baitfish and that is why spoons that are shiny and reflect sunlight are so successful. Selecting trolling weights that have black swivels as opposed to shiny ones helps, in addition to spray painting the sinker with black paint.

Anchoring near a pass, deploying a chum bag and fishing with live white bait nose hooked with a long shanked hook or live shrimp hooked under the horn works very well. The long shanked 2/0 or 3/0 hook also serves as a sort of a leader to prevent cut offs from the sharp teeth. Pinfish and other small fish will be attracted to the chum slick and can be caught with a sabiki, cut into small slivers and are always a welcome addition to the slick. Once the mackerel show up the use of small plugs cast well back into the slick and retrieved in a twitching action provide an alternate way of targeting these speedsters