Captain’s Corner: Jay Mastry

The Tampa Bay Times

Mangrove snapper fishing in Tampa Bay has heated up and it’s going to get even hotter.  From now through August is when we traditionally light em’ up in the Bay.  On each of our last several trips we’ve caught all we wanted during the first couple hours of daylight, mostly during an incoming tide.  All successful mango trips begin with gathering bait.  Whether you buy them or catch your own, nothing around here beats a 3 inch whitebait.  Grass flats off Weedon Island and Snell Isle are among those currently holding the perfect size.  Anchoring and chumming may be required to gang them up within reach of your ¼ inch mesh castnet.  Seems everyone has their own recipe for chum.  I’m told store bought chum works great.  I use a concoction of finely ground bread crumbs, can of jack mackerel, can of sardines in soy bean oil and a generous splash of menhaden oil.  I mix it up in a gallon bucket with a lid and refreeze it after each use.  For those still in pursuit of tarpon there are plenty to be caught.  Buddies of mine have been yanking on them mostly while soaking dead shad on the bottom.  Multiple hook-ups have been reported off the beaches in Manatee County .  Many of them now have settled into backwaters off the beaten paths in the Bay where us old timers have fished these “honey holes” for years.  Fresh dead shad is what their chewin’.

Captain Jay Mastry