Captain’s Corner: Dave Zalewski

 The Tampa Bay Times

Dave Zalewski 727 460-9893

The time has come to put away the trolling tackle and concentrate mainly on bottom fishing until mid March when the water temperature warms to the magical 72 to 74 degrees and brings back the baitfish along with Spanish and king mackerel. Until water temperatures plummets into the 50’s all of the bottom fish will be very active feeding on almost any bait presented to them. Some days live bait such as pinfish, pigfish, squirrelfish or small white grunts will produce more action, on others frozen bait including squid, Spanish sardines, and threadfins will be the key to a successful day.
We make it a practice to start on a spot with the frozen baits to establish a feeding pattern. This usually starts with white grunts, Lane snapper, porgies and some small grouper. Two things occur when this happens. First is that the smaller reef fish will be expelling some of their stomach contents as they are brought up from the depths creating a chum slick throughout the water column. Second is that the feeding activity will draw in the larger fish from all directions. When this occurs their may be a momentary lull in the action and this is the time to utilize the larger live baits to try to entice the bigger fish into action.
Gag grouper season ends and they must be released beginning January 1, but many species can be targeted to fill the gap left by the closure. Red grouper, white grunts, mangrove, Lane and vermillion snapper all can contribute to a tasty box of fish. All of the snapper and white grunts can best be targeted by downsizing tackle to a 2/0 circle hook, 3 ounce sinker and 30 or 40 pound test leader along with 20 pound or lighter spinning tackle.