Captain’s Corner: Dave Zalewski

The Tampa Bay Times

Dave Zalewski 460-9893

Large schools of Spanish sardines, threadfin herring and hardtails have finally shown up bringing with them their predators such as Spanish mackerel, kingfish, barracuda and bonita with an occasional cobia in the mix. These shoals of baitfish may or may not have their predators lurking around them waiting to feed on the weaker ones who may not be able to keep up with the school. Through the years we have learned that when the schools are concentrated in an almost circular pattern, they have taken up residence over some type of structure such as natural hard bottom, artificial reefs or wrecks, These become our targeted areas and most often will produce fish either by trolling spoons, plugs or live bait caught on site near the circumference of the school. Trolling through the school will only serve to disperse it. Bait schools that are in a banana shape usually do not hold fish because they are moving from one piece of structure to another and most predators will be found around bait that has already established itself over structure.
Using a sabiki to catch live bait from a school and “matching the hatch”, a fresh water trout fishing term which means presenting an artificial bait that resembles what the fish are feeding on is usually very effective. To determine what size spoon or plug to deploy it pays to watch the pelicans feeding maneuvers. If a pelican is diving on a school of bait from a height, this indicates the baitfish below are large. If just rolling over into the school the bait is small.