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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 9, 2002
One question during the gulf hurricanes was, "What effect is this going to have on our kingfish season?" If the action continues as it has for the past several days, the answer is, "None." Schools of large threadfins are present on the artificial reefs, and kingfish and Spanish mackerel are there with them. Saturday we stopped at the Madeira Beach artificial reef to add some threadfins to the bait well, then continued west to 65 feet of water to target grouper. We started bottom fishing using cut sardines and squid and had grunts, triggerfish, scamp and small grouper bending the rods. The loss of a sizable grouper to a gill-plate cut leader signaled the time to switch to live baits.
The first two threadfins dropped to the bottom produced 28- and 24-inch gags attracted to the activity. No one was paying attention to the double treble-hooked flat line patent attorney Bill Larson had put out with a threadfin when the large spinning rod doubled over and the drag began screaming. Three-quarters of the spool later, the fish turned and started toward the boat. Passing the boat, it managed to wrap around the marker jug. Bill jumped into the water, freed the line, returned and continued to fight the kingfish to the boat. The fish weighed 29.8 pounds. A great way to start the season.
-- Capt. Dave Zalewski charters the Lucky Too out of Madeira Beach and can be reached at (727) 397-8815 or by e-mail at Luckytoo2@aol.com.