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Captain's Corner: Kingfish run is on

 
Published March 24, 2017

It's on … and if the weather will cooperate our spring run of kingfish can last into May. Pretty weather earlier in the week allowed waters to clear and bait to get back together. We wore them out Thursday morning slow trolling hard bottom in 40 feet southwest of Pass-a-Grille. Though we didn't get any ''smokers,'' schoolie size kings made up for it in numbers. We often had three and four on at a time while offering whitebait on stinger rigs. When we settle into a normal weather pattern of light easterly winds look for bait schools and the kings to work their way nearer our beaches. Traditional hot spots, including the "drop" off Blind's Pass, the Redington and Clearwater hard bottoms and the dredge hole off Anna Maria will all be worthy of a look. As the water clears and the bait gangs up — big numbers of kingfish tend to roam the "ditch." The buoys lining the ships channel from Egmont Key to the Whistler often hold schools of bait and the ones holding the most is likely where the kings will be. In spite of muddy water last weekend, bottom fishing remained consistent. We caught a couple dozen mangrove snapper, a batch of hogfish, a handful of triggerfish and a couple of grouper all on dead bait. The hogs and most of the mangos chewed shrimp pinched in half to get the scent going. Some of the bigger mangos and the grouper whacked frozen sardines. All were caught in 45 feet just south of the ships channel.

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