Thunderstorms, jacks, flounder and snook

Dark clouds loomed offshore, holding off for most of the morning. Evidently, the fish seemed to know that bad weather was on the way.

Small jack crevalle swooped in on unsuspecting baitfish along the shoreline just north of Big Butt Beach. The bait frantically tried to escape, some leaping from the water and onto the sand. Ladyfish got in on the action, too.

The bait is plentiful along the beach from Big Butt north to Sand Bowl.

The target, as usual, was snook, a species that just might be Florida's most popular inshore gamefish. They were there by the hundreds, as usual, but they've been acting peculiar.

Blame it on the full moon. Blame it on the tide. Blame it on whatever you want. But we figured this day would be different. That offshore storm had things stirred up and that's often enough to spur snook into a feeding frenzy.

We didn't strike out. We rarely do. But it wasn't as good as we had hoped. We caught and released a pair of small snook and lost another.

All was not lost, though. We caught eight or 10 small jacks, a couple of ladyfish and another flounder -- all on fly.

Ken Taylor of North Port joined us again and totaled one snook, several jacks, a ladyfish, whiting and a mackerel. He lost the best fish of the day -- an almost-doormat flounder.

Flounder fishing will improve through October as the popular flatties move into the surf to spawn. That another species that should provide some fun over the next month.

We fished with Ed Hurst of Sarasota on Tuesday and did fair. Ed landed a redfish on fly. We caught a pair of snook and several little jacks.

My white feathers from Feathercraft arrived in the mail today. That's great. I was out and I need to tie up some more D.T. Specials (variation). My dog, Jack the Jack Russell, got ahold of my last good rooster neck and chewed it.

I wasn't happy, but I had to laugh when I saw him plucking those feathers. That's what dogs do.

Now to the tying desk. Got some D.T. Specials to tie.