Captain's corner

By JAY MASTRY

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2000

There has been an invasion of mangrove snapper in Tampa Bay and even tarpon fishermen have gotten in on the action.

Artificial reefs, rock piles, and edges of the ships' channels in between have been inhabited by some of the tastiest snapper.

If tarpon fishing these areas of hard bottom, bring along a couple of 20-pound outfits. Rig them with as heavy as 40-pound leader if terrain is heavy. I'll use a 2-ounce weight if it's enough to keep my bait down, and hook size will vary depending on my bait and size of the fish.

Often when tarpon fishing in these areas, what is thought to be crabs or catfish might be "mangos" whittling your bait down to a size they can handle.

Though my first choice is whitebait, limits were met last week using small shad on smaller outfits.

Don Kearney and his group used this technique Thursday and caught the limit of snapper, up to 4 pounds.

Be selective in what you keep. Though the limit is five apiece with a 10-inch minimum, the yield after cleaning one that small is hardly worth the effort and they'll grow if we give them the chance.

- Jay Mastry charters Jaybird out of St. Petersburg. Call (727) 321-2142.

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