Captain’s Corner: Jay Mastry

The Tampa Bay Time

Any day now.  And it could be today.  Mid-March has been traditionally when the spring run of kingfish begin showing up in our neck of the woods.  Factors dictating when they show up and how long they stay is of utmost importance.  Water temperature matters.  We’ve done best in the 70-75 degree range.  An abundance of bait or lack of will often determine when they get here and how long they’ll stay.  A red tide presence would certainly disrupt their migration to our area.  When we settle into a normal pattern of easterly winds, nearshore gulf waters will cleanse and bait gets drawn in from offshore.  Kings will often hug the beach as they migrate up from the south.  The twenty foot areas of hard bottom off St. Pete Beach and Blinds Pass have long been favorites of ours when conditions are favorable.  The Redington and Clearwater hard bottoms can also be most productive when the kings arrive.  Mackerel action has picked up at the Skyway Fishing Piers.  Anglers report a bunch of those caught have been full grown.  Some are being caught on a variety of artificials and others on the whitebait drawn to the structures.  Mango’s and sheepshead are still chewing along the rocky edges of the ships channel.  Saturday, we caught all our sheepies on shrimp halves and most of our mango’s on whitebait during the last of the outgoing tide.  Escalating fuel costs and the recreational closure of several offshore species have made long trips hard to justify for some.  Those that have ventured out have been rewarded with seemingly better than average catches of yellowtail snapper and blackfin tuna.

Captain Jay Mastry 

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