Fishing for Spanish mackerel around the Skyway

Well, the first charter went so well today, bottom fishing, I was a bit nervous when our second charter of the day requested to do nothing but troll. We have been working the shipping channel for a week or two with very weak results. What does a fishing guide do when asked for something that probably isn’t there? He goes fishing for what his clients ask for… and has allot of faith.

I ended up taking our new friends Jim, Marge and JJ on a hunt for Spanish mackerel, Bonito and Kingfish down around the Skyway bridge. We were instantly rewarded with some smaller Spanish, but the weeds were really a pain and made trolling a bit tedious for my mate, Tom. Finally, I found the edge of the weeds and water color change, and Bammm! The port side goes off and I was sure we had a Kingfish; it sure fought Marge like a King. Instead she pulls up this giant Spanish mackerel (pictured above). JJ got one to match his Mom's big mack on the next pass, nice macks!

I think the tally was about twenty fish in the box after this 4-hour charter fishing trip, not to mention all the released fish under 16”. Trolling for Spanish and King mackerel around the Skyway and Egmont shipping channel is great way to entertain clients who prefer to troll. And when the seas are too rough to get offshore, we can always offer a plan B and get the insistent fisherman out for a great day on protected Tampa Bay. Call Jawbreaker Charters and go fishing in Tampa Bay today. Happy fishing to ya! Capt.Dan