Captain’s Corner: Jay Mastry

The Tampa Bay Times

Mangrove snapper, sheepshead and the ever present Key West grunts continue to dominate the action while bottom fishing Tampa Bay.  Though at times we may get chewed on every drop, this is the time of year when we may have to weed through five juvenile mangos to get one we want.  Overly aggressive porpoise have become another issue and unfortunately they don’t recognize size or bag limits.  In several spots, particularly along the edges of the ships channel we’ve been run out by the ravenous creatures that have helped themselves to more of our hooked fish than they allow us to catch.  The only option is to move.  You’re not going to outlast them (we’ve tried) and you can’t reel fast enough to keep your catch if they want it.  Soon we’ll turn our attention to our spring run of Kingfish.  In a month, if tradition holds and weather cooperates we’ll begin catching the front runners.  Now’s when I begin inventorying my tackle and start accumulating what I need.  Doing it in intervals seemingly lightens the load on my wallet rather than all at once.  I may gather my assorted size hooks and trebles on a trip to the tackle shop and then wire, swivels and gold hook rigs on another.  Re-spooling reels with new line can pay a big dividend.  Mending cast nets or buying new will pay off when gathering bait.  Shop wisely but don’t scrimp when purchasing your tackle.  That old saying “you get what you pay for” often holds true.  Big kingfish are hard to catch and losing one due to inferior tackle is even harder.

Captain Jay Mastry