The beaches of Martin and St. Lucie counties have been the place to be this month for anglers interested casting into bait schools to catch drag-taxing jack crevalle, Spanish mackerel and even tarpon.

Its all about finding the black streaks in the water just off the beach clouds of bait fish that have included glass minnows and pilchards in recent weeks and probably will include finger mullet in the weeks ahead.

Jim Cargill of Hobe Sound Bait & Tackle said he found jacks, Spanish mackerel, blue runners and tarpon (along with dozens of pelicans) feeding on one of those big black clouds of bait fish near the Hole in the Wall just inside St. Lucie Inlet recently.

During a walk on Hobe Sound Beach last weekend, I found the dark streak of bait just out of casting distance for my light spinning rod holding a chrome 7/8-ounce Gotcha lure on 30-pound-test fluorocarbon leader. Tarpon were rolling near the bait.

Schools of bait fish were holding tighter to the beach at Hobe Sound the weekend of Aug. 4, when beach anglers were happily fighting jacks and Spanish mackerel for much of the day, said Steve Barron, a Hobe Sound angler who enjoys walking the beach with his spinning rod.

On the north side of St. Lucie Inlet, anglers are finding plenty of action when they find the bait along the beaches of Hutchinson Island.

Theres a black line running up and down the beach, said Henry Caimotto of the Snook Nook in Jensen Beach, who recommends looking for the bait schools from Bathtub Beach at the south end of Hutchinson Island to Walton Rocks Beach farther north.

Caimotto rattled off a list of fish following the bait schools along Hutchinson Island: snook, tarpon, bonitos, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, whiting and croakers. He recommends casting from the beach with a 7-foot spinning rod holding a D.O.A. Bait Buster or shiny chrome casting spoon. A fly rod will work when the conditions are right.

The along-the-beach bait run is a precursor to the fall mullet run, when the fish feeding frenzy typically shifts into high gear along the beaches.

When the mullet will begin to run is an age-old question, but they usually start sometime in September, depending on the weather.

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