Captain’s Corner: Brent Gaskill

The Tampa Bay Times

Capt. Brent Gaskill
 
 
 

        In the heat of summer I tend to look deeper for more consistent catches.  When I have families with young children, stalking fish in the shallows is not typically the best option.  Heading out to deeper hard bottom areas in the bay allows us to catch a variety of species that tend to be more cooperative.  We can mix it up by doing some light-duty bottom fishing while also setting surface lines out.  The same 10-pound test spinning gear that I use for redfish and snook in the shallows also works perfectly in the 20-foot depths for this style of fishing. Knocker-rigs are used on the bottom to target snapper, sea bass, and white grunts.  Surface lines are rigged with a short trace of wire to target Spanish mackerel.  Occasionally I’ll also bring a larger outfit to target a shark with fresh cut-bait.  Anchoring and chumming by hanging a frozen block of ground fish off a transom cleat will help bring all of these species right to the boat.