Captain’s Corner: Dave Zalewski

The Tampa Bay Times

Dave Zalewski 460-9893

The weigh in for the King of the Beach kingfish tournament will be today April 29 at the Madeira Beach Recreation Complex starting at 3:30. Old Salt Fishing hit it right on the head with their timing. Kingfish and Spanish mackerel have invaded our waters and can be caught in most of the traditional places. The Tampa Bay shipping channel has been producing very well for both those trolling hardware and live baiters. Those trolling spoons at about 5.5 knots behind #1,2,and 3 planers along with a rigged ballyhoo as a third line down the middle have been doing very well. The ballyhoo has been producing some larger fish when the boat is slowed to fight a fish and the ballyhoo sinks in the water column.. The theory is that the larger fish are attracted to the commotion caused by the hooked fish and seize the opportunity to get an easy meal from the ballyhoo. If ballyhoo are not available, a stinger rigged frozen or freshly caught Spanish sardine can be substituted.
We tend to think that both kingfish and Spanish mackerel are surface feeders because so many times we see them attacking bait on top of the water. They actually are opportunistic as are all of the predators and feed wherever the bait is. When slow trolling live bait’s the placing of one near the bottom by use of a down rigger is advised. If a down rigger is not used the use of a large trolling sinker will work.
Bottom fishing has picked up in the 60 to 80 foot depths with white grunts, triggerfish, Lane, mangrove, vermillion , and an occasional yellowtail snapper contributing to a colorful tasty box of fish. It pays to deploy a flatline on every bottom drop with a frozen bait or a freshly sabiki caught sardine or hardtail. Be on the lookout for cobia while bottom fishing and have a rod ready to toss a bait in front of them.