Godzilla Mackerel Tampa Bay

[onthemarkcharters]

Captain Steven is back on the water after a quick Las Vegas vacation with the Admiral (aka my wife). Stayed at Aria Hotel in a word amazing, when in Las Vegas check it out.

Its prime King Fish season and that was our primary target on Saturdays trip along with Spanish Mackerel, Bonita and sharks. I picked up my angler at 6:00 am and headed to get bait. Captain Billy Nobles of the Reel Animals TV and Radio shows gave me a new bait spot. I tossed the net and could feel the vibration of trapped baits shooting up the mainline. I could not get the net over the gunwale as it was so full and heavy. I had to ask Dave for help. Never before have I ever had that many baits in the net.

We made a short run to St. Pete Beach and anchored up in 22’. The water temp was right at 67 degrees at 7 am. With only one angler long time friend Dave on board Captain Steven picked up a rod and joined the fun. Its also very competitive between the 2 of us. The first bait in was crushed by a Spanish Mackerel within 2 minutes of hitting the water. With the drag screaming we were surprised it wasn’t a Kingfish instead a large 6 pound Spanish Mackerel.

A steady flow of chummie white baits kept the action red hot for 3 hours. We took over 50 Godzilla Macks that morning. I cant recall Spanish Mackerel this big in such big quantities ever. We lost 2 Kingfish both mid 20 pounders. We also had sharks spinners and a brown shark I could not identify.

Captain Steven Markovich
www.onthemarkcharters.com