Outdoors

Captain's Corner

The last few days were to cold for trolling.

By Dave Zalewski
Published March 21, 2007

The last cold front put a few day's damper on great hardware trolling for kingfish and Spanish mackerel. The fish were concentrated at some of the popular spots that will soon be teeming with bait, fish and anglers. Markers 5 and 6 in the Egmont Channel will be a good place to start trolling spoons and plugs behind planers until the fish and bait are found by working eastward along the dropoff along the edge of the channel. A fish finder will reveal the edge and the bait and fish schools. The tug Orange and the three barges at the South County artificial reef held assorted baitfish including bluerunners, Spanish sardines and hardtails. Bluerunners will usually be found at all of the structures.

Protocol: Kingfish and Spanish mackerel are targeted in several ways. Live baiters may either anchor and chum the fish to the boat and their baits that are deployed on stinger rigs or they may slow troll the same type of bait. Hardware trollers will be moving at about 6 knots moving in patterns that will put their lures over the structure being fished. If a live baiter is already on the scene do not troll too closely with hardware. If a troller is on scene do not position your boat as to impede the established trolling pattern.

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

[Last modified March 20, 2007, 23:19:58]