Our fishing scene is in transition through September.
Tarpon season will start winding down, snook will work their way back into the bays and soon schools of mackerel will begin showing up everywhere.
Now is the time to get spinning gear in order. Replace cracked or bent guides on the rods. Check drag washers if necessary, and respooling reels is the least expensive investment you can make that pays dividends.
Gathering live bait has been feast or famine depending on the size you are targeting. Much of what has been available at the bridges, range markers and nearshore reefs are fully grown greenbacks, many too large for some inshore species. A lot of what you'll find at the piers on Fort DeSoto, along the swashes near the beach and even on the flats are about half the size of the preferred 3-inch whitebait or Spanish sardines.
If you don't have a 1-inch mesh cast net, you owe it to yourself to get one. The cost is far less than the aggravation you'll endure if you open even a three-eighths-inch mesh net over a school of these juveniles.
It likely will be another month, but even a hint of cooling water holds promise that grouper will move closer to shore and the pelagic species will migrate toward our area.
Jay Mastry charters Jaybird out of St. Petersburg. Call (727) 321-2142.
