Captain’s Corner: Dave Zalewski

The Tampa Bay Times

Dave Zaleweski

Now that red grouper has become catch, photo and release until the end of the year, we have rethought the bottom fishing species that we will target until then. There are plenty of other benthic fish that will provide a colorful and tasty box of fish. Because these fish are smaller we have downsized our tackle to 10 to 20 pound class spinning and bait casters which provide more sport and a better feel of the bite for the angler. 2 hook dropper rigs with the lower hook being a knocker rig with both circle hooks being about a 3/0 in size. Squid strips, chunks of frozen sardine and live or dead shrimp are the baits of choice. Our knocker rigs are usually baited with the shrimp to entice the hogfish which are often attracted to the commotion of the other fish feeding’. Mangrove, Lane and vermillion snapper can be readily caught with this downsized tackle along with white grunts, porgies and gray triggerfish. Triggerfish are now open with a minimum fork length of 15 inches. A better variety of these fish will be found on the hard Swiss Cheese bottom in the 70 to 90 foot depths. Many anglers hesitate to target these smaller reef fish because they are difficult to clean with the knives utilized for grouper. A thin bladed flexible filet knife will make the chore much easier. Not only have we downsized our tackle, but we have downsized our utensils.
Mackerel are showing up in larger numbers day by day and kingfish season is only a scant six weeks away. Now is the time to check guides on rods, drags and line on reels.