Captain’s Corner: Dave Zalewski

The Tampa Bay Times

Dave Zalewski

We always say that St Patrick’s Day (March 17} signifies the beginning of the trolling season for Spanish mackerel, kingfish and bonita. Barracuda normally follow soon after that. We had banner days on both kingfish and mackerel right around the 17th and then were shut down by windy conditions for a few days after that. Once we were able to get out, we returned to the same hard bottom areas off Clearwater expecting the same results and came up with a big goose egg. Thankfully bottom fishing in 60 feet of water saved the day in 60 to 80 feet of water. White grunts, red grouper, porgies, Lane snapper, and now open triggerfish all contributed to a colorful box of fish. Gag grouper, now out of season, provided lasting memories when caught on light tackle snapper rigs.
It won’t be long before all the usual spots that we target for kingfish will be teeming with activity because reports indicate that there is a large concentration of them offshore of Longboat Inlet and several large fish have been landed from the Skyway fishing pier. The Tampa shipping channel from markers 5 and 6 westward is always great place to start trolling with #2 and 3 planers 30 feet of 50 pound test monofilament and large spoons or small lipped plugs for kingfish. The buoys hold the concentrations of bait and trolling close to them will result in a strike if fish are present. Once fish are found a few put in the box, we like to sabiki live bait and slow troll them on stinger rigs to provide more sport on lighter spinning tackle. Kingfish and Spanish mackerel will be soon present on any of the artificial reefs once the large schools of baitfish arrive and they should not be overlooked when running offshore