Captain’s Corner: Dave Zalewski

The Tampa Bay Times

 Dave Zalewski

Summer is here and many anglers concentrate their efforts towards bottom fishing even though there are several species to target trolling. Spanish mackerel can be found at the entrance to any of the passes entering into the gulf. They can be targeted at any time of day, but the best opportunity to catch them is on an outgoing tide when all types of baitfish, crabs and shrimp are being swept out of the bays. Some kingfish will remain throughout the summer and will be found on the mid water and offshore artificial reefs along with the mitigation rock piles on the natural gas pipeline. Barracuda and bonita, both provide light tackle drag screaming activity on the same places where one may encounter summertime kingfish.

Oftentimes, while bottom fishing in waters deeper than 80 feet dolphin or mahi-mahi will show up under the boat for several reasons. One is that they like to seek shelter around floating objects. Another is that they are attracted to bits and pieces of bait that are regurgitated by bottom fish being brought up from the depths. We keep 2 light spinning rods at the ready in case the mahis show up. One is rigged with a single 3/0 long shanked gold hook. The other is rigged with either 2 or 3 sections of a large sabiki. Chumming is essential but must be done by cutting up small slivers of a Spanish sardine or threadfin. These fish are small and can be filled up quickly if large pieces of chum are utilized. Use pieces of bait the same size as the chum on both the single hook and the large sabiki. It is easy to be caught up in the frenzy that often occurs and to keep more than can be used. In the Gulf of Mexico Federal waters there is no established size or bag limit.