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Best to prepare boat, gear for frenzied fall runs

By DAVE ZALEWSKI
Published October 6, 2006

The days are getting shorter, water and air temperatures are dropping slightly each day, and soon the height of the fabulous fall season will be here. Now is the time to check out the kingfish tackle, because once the season is here, tackle and boat repair shops will be inundated with anglers begging for quick repairs.

A good, circulating baitwell is necessary to keep bait alive when targeting kingfish, mackerel, cobia and other pelagic species that will arrive in force when the water temperature finally drops into the 70s.

Pump connections, both electrical and hose, should be checked for signs of corrosion and tightness.

Connectors often look good to the eye, but inside wires can be corroded. Pulling the wire will usually indicate if this has happened.

Carefully inspect hose clamps and double clamps if possible. A broken clamp can result not only in a hose coming loose and bait dying but a large amount of water inside the boat.

Now is also the time to think about plumbing a second pump into the system to serve as a backup if the primary fails offshore.

Drags must be silky smooth to handle the runs of large kingfish. Tying the line to a fixed object, setting the drag, which should be backed off completely after each trip, and walking away will reveal if any sticking occurs.

It is usually obvious when a tip on a rod is broken. Checking the other guides is just as important because if a guide is cracked or nicked, the line crossing over the flaw will be shaved off, reducing the strength of the line.

The best way to check a guide is to pass a piece of women's nylon stocking through it. The nylon will flow smoothly if it is okay, but it will snag if the guide needs to be replaced.

Changes are occurring rapidly offshore with both the benthic and pelagic fish that we have at this time of year beginning to feed more aggressively to store up energy for the winter when bait will become scarce.

The gulf bottom out to 40 foot depths is still feeling the effects from last year's destructive Red Tide, and only time will tell if the usual wintertime grouper spots in 15 to 30 feet of water will produce this year.

Last year it was almost as if there was an imaginary wall at the 40 foot depth, and it was necessary to venture that far offshore or farther to catch wintertime gags.

In the past week we have tried some ledges in 40 feet and were rewarded with mangrove snapper, a few yellowtail snapper, large white grunts, triggerfish, many short gag grouper and a few keepers.

A month ago, stops on these same ledges resulted in little activity. That usually indicates that the annual inshore migration of these fish is right on schedule.

Spanish mackerel activity has become somewhat spotty recently in the areas close to shore. This may be because of the scattered areas of Red Tide that have invaded our area recently.

It only takes a short run offshore to the artificial reefs that are around 5 miles out to find as many fish and larger ones than the inshore fish. These reefs were 2,000 feet long and had material scattered in many locations.

Diving birds are the best indicator that bait has gathered over a piece of structure and predators are actively feeding on the bait.

Limits of mackerel can be easily caught, but keep only enough for a few meals.

Barracuda have become aggressive on most of the offshore wrecks and at the west end of the Egmont shipping channel.

Bait size has suddenly become important, and the larger baits, such as live blue runners and Spanish mackerel, are the only thing that will trigger a strike even from the smaller fish.

We have been able to catch as many small blue runners as we need by using Sabiki rigs, but we have had to resort to trolling double aught and 0 spoons behind planers in the same areas to catch the larger runners.

A bonus has been several large mackerel that inhabit the same areas. When using mackerel for bait it is necessary to catch them close to the area that you will be fishing and rig them immediately on a stinger rig because they will not live long in a baitwell.

Dave Zalewski charters the Lucky Too out of Madeira Beach. Call (727) 397-8815.

[Last modified October 6, 2006, 06:49:57]