Captain’s Corner: Jay Mastry

The Tampa Bay Times

With Thursdays’ severe weather thankfully being behind us, the recovering process has already begun.  Westerly winds that pounded the beaches and runoff from the rains muddied the near shore gulf waters and the bays too.  Diminishing winds and a return to a normal pattern of an easterly flow will allow them to clear.  Strong tides from the current full moon will also aid the clean up.  Thursday morning before the weather completely deteriorated and they closed the bridge because of high winds, I was at both Skyway fishing piers.  Pier operators reported before the blow, sheepshead and silver trout were being caught.  Last week a pretty good run of mackerel came through when the water was still clean.  A couple days earlier I observed at least some bait at both fishing piers on Fort Desoto .  Anglers on the gulf pier were able to jiggle up what they needed on gold hook rigs.  In southern Pinellas County , bait tends to gather at the Skyway and Fort Desoto before anywhere else as weather improves.  Around here, we’re blessed.  We get too many good days to go fishin than risk going out on the bad ones.  If you just have to go, stay weather alert, grab a bunch of shrimp and some fiddlers too if you can and go wrestle with some sheepshead, there’s enough bridges, docks, reefs, jetties and seawalls around here to hide from the wind.  They’re a blast to catch, they fight hard and they eat good too.

Captain Jay Mastry