A unique website dedicated to fishing information from Florida's Northern Big Bend. This includes the area from the Econfina River west to the Apalachicola River
How do you do it? I have never figured out trolling for them. I have done well following birds working bait and caught them incidentally while trout fishing. But can anyone tell me how and where to anchor and fish for them? I've heard you can chum them but dont know how. Or any other tried and true method. I love to eat them and they freeze just fine in water. Thanks
Find a pass or place where they feed. (hard tidal flow.) Sometime during the tide they will feed. I always do better on the strong out going. There are a lot of Spanish lures but I always do the best on small clark spoons. 30 pound mono works for me. I have never gotten cut at the leader but plenty of times up the line. Some days you lose many spoons and other days you lose none. Go figure. If they are in the area with birds they will move to be current when it starts moving.
Oh and many presentations will work but I have the best results cranking the Clark spoons as FAST as you can crank them. Once in a while I flutter them down but not often. I seem to lose more lures fluttering them. Depths will vary but shallow will usually work. If not let it sink and check different depths.
I ALWAYS JUST FLOAT ALONG WITH THE SCHOOL OF SPANISH, USE A 00 SIZE CLARK SPOON, CRANK IT AS FAST AS YA CAN, BE SURE TO ALWAYS TO USE A WIRE LEADER, I US A BRAIDED BRONZE LEADER COVERED BY A BLACK NYLON WITH SWIVELS ON BOTH END. GENERALLY I USE ANDE MONO LINE, 10# TEST, THE COLOR IS NA TURAL, CAN NOT SEE IT IN THE WATER. GOOD LUCK.
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SEMPER FI
A little further south of here there is a place called "Spotty Bottom" around the Horseshoe area. It is around 12-18 feet of water. When the spanish run in the spring lots of boats go out there. The best way I have found to target them is use a 3-4000 Abu or equivalent, tie on a diamond silver spoon with a brown steel leader. Put this behind the boat with the drag set very light, turn on the bait clicker if it has one, idle around as slow as you can with the spoons 20-30 yards behind the boat and if possible put a third spoon right in the prop wash. If they are there it can be a BLAST. Almost non stop. Look for bait on top of the water or birds diving.
I target Spanish mackerel all summer long. For me it's a 5/8 oz. Krockadile spoon, 30 pound test leader, no swivle and 8 pound test clear mono line. Cast out as far as you can, let it sink to the bottom, then hold your rod tip close to the water and reel just as fast as your chubby little paws can turn the crank. Do not twitch or jerk the rod. This enables you to cover the entire water column. You can't reel fast enough to outrun a mackerel. For what it's worth.
I target Spanish mackerel all summer long. For me it's a 5/8 oz. Krockadile spoon, 30 pound test leader, no swivle and 8 pound test clear mono line. Cast out as far as you can, let it sink to the bottom, then hold your rod tip close to the water and reel just as fast as your chubby little paws can turn the crank. Do not twitch or jerk the rod. This enables you to cover the entire water column. You can't reel fast enough to outrun a mackerel. For what it's worth.
Get your bait and chum ready by cutting a bunch of fillets off thawed sardines (any type of baitfish, so long as the fillets are a few inches long and no more than an inch wide). Keep the backs and heads in a chum bag. Get in front of the birds, cut the engine and put out a chum bag. Throw some chum toward the birds if you like. Use your lightest tackle with a 20 or 30 lb leader (no swivel) and a small silver long-shank hook (I usually just go without a leader; the long shank hook tends to keep teeth off the line). Hook a fillet through the skin on the thick side and cast toward the birds. You can just let the bait drift or twitch and retrieve. The fish may or may not gather in your slick (keep trying) but if and when they do you should have a fish hit on every cast. Ultra-light tackle and a still (not trolling) boat allows a lot more fight for the Spanish.
Trolling spoons (I prefer silver Clark spoons) is the easiest and most effective way to find them if there's not a lot of obvious surface activity. Sometimes Spanish will attack any size spoon with reckless abandon, other times you have to "match the hatch". I prefer 30-40lb mono leaders and no swivels--Spanish will attack them and you'll get cut off.
Once you've found an area that's holding them, you can fish for them however you want...pitch the same spoons, small white bucktail jigs, topwater, suspending baits, you name it. You can get them really worked up fishing live bait and live chumming with small pilchards. Also, Spanish are pretty fragile and can get torn up pretty quick by a lure with treble hooks. That's not a big deal if you plan to keep a bunch of fish, but if you don't, replacing treble hooks with single hooks will cut down on the number of fish that get torn up, and will make your life a little easier when it comes time to wash the boat.
The spanish see or feel it moving in the water no matter how small or what color. It looks like the lure is chasing it I think. They strike at the swivel and cut your line instead of striking the lure a lot of times.
No swivel( between the mainline and leader) because the spaniards will hit them and cut you off. But I use a silver and a gold Johnson spoon and put a small black,not stainless swivel with a split ring directly to the spoon. We will troll both spoons on dog island reef with 30# floor and almost never get cut off. That's what I usually do if I am fishing with kids so you don't have to worry about casting.
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Spanish get competitive when they're in feed mode, and swivels are just big enough to get their attention. They'll slash at it as if it's a baitfish, and if they clip the mainline, they'll cut it.
No matter how small or the color of the swivel, when it hits the water on a cast air gets trapped in the loops and shimmers as it moves through the water...triggering a strike.
How do you do it? I have never figured out trolling for them. I have done well following birds working bait and caught them incidentally while trout fishing. But can anyone tell me how and where to anchor and fish for them? I've heard you can chum them but dont know how. Or any other tried and true method. I love to eat them and they freeze just fine in water. 
Thanks
