Captain’s Corner: Dave Zalewski

Dave Zalewski 460-9893

The Tampa Bay Times

Don’t put the trolling and live bait King and Spanish mackerel gear yet. Water temperatures between 72 and 74 degrees are what we look for in the spring to herald the arrival of these species. Water temperatures are at those magic numbers and there are plenty of pelagic species still around to make targeting them worthwhile. When winds are easterly, baitfish tend to come closer to shore and on most days we will start trolling just as we leave the bridge and often catch fish all the way to the JP marker. Use of a #1 planer and a smaller spoon is the key because of water depth. A larger planer would hit bottom resulting in loss of expensive tackle. Large “smoker” kingfish will be caught by anglers who have a lot of patience very close to the beach, often just outside the swim buoys by slow trolling stinger rigged live ladyfish or blue runners. Smaller schoolie kings can be found in numbers further offshore on most of the near shore and mid water artificial reefs along with the markers in the shipping channel. The most effective way is to troll spoons and plugs which allow one to cover the entire reef as opposed to anchoring and chumming with live bait. The near shore reefs such as St Pete Beach and Treasure Island are 2000 feet long and about 300 feet wide running north and south. The mid water reefs are a ¼ mile square. Structure is scattered over these areas. Bait will congregate over the structure along with their attendant predators.. Marking the structure with the GPS will allow you to return exactly to it by use of the highway function.