Captain’s Corner: Jay Mastry

The Tampa Bay Times

Looking for that last minute special Mother’s Day gift?  Take a Mom fishing!  And let her take her pick.  We don’t traditionally think of kingfishing in May with water temperature in the eighties but there are still some around.  The outer markers in the ships channel and the mid-depth artificial reefs and wrecks will be worth a look.  If tugging on a tarpon sounds appealing, now’s the time.  They’ve been stacked up at the Skyway.  The new moon in a couple days will have the crabs flowing during the stronger than normal afternoon outgoing tides.  Tarpon will instinctively gang up in the passes to take advantage.  The pass off Bean Point on the north end of Anna Maria and those on both the north and south ends of Egmont Key are among the most popular.  If fishing in a crowd is not your thing, head to the beach and find your own school of tarpon to work as they migrate along, often just outside the swim buoys.  Easterly winds will calm beach waters making the schools easier to detect.  If looking for something a little better to eat, now is when I like to mangrove snapper fish along the ships channel inside Tampa Bay .  They will at times eat a variety of offerings but nothing beats a frisky three inch whitebait.  It’s worth the extra effort to gather some if necessary.  Particularly during strong tides of this new moon phase I like fishing the bit slower changes when we can effectively keep the baits on the bottom with two ounces of weight or less.  If none of that trips her trigger, tell her you love her and you’ll see her when you get back J.

Captain Jay Mastry