With the water temperatures at a glorious 72 and bait flooding the lower Tampa Bay area you know the Mackerel would be gorging themselves. Mackerel once located are almost always a sure thing. Spanish Mackerel are voracious, opportunistic carnivores. I think they will eat most anything that moves with Captain Steven's absolute favorite bait being the Clark Spoon. Silver in sizes 00, 0, 1 and 2 all work well, I try to match the size of the bait they are eating. The technique is very easy, cast let sink for 3 seconds then reel as fast as you can. When you think you are reeling to fast wind faster! Seriously you will not out pace a Mackerel. Have plenty of spoons on hand as cut offs are common. If you have never seen the teeth on a Mackerel you are in for a surprise as they boast a set of razor sharp chompers you will not forget. I have seen people try to lip the fish and I promise you they will never forget the lesson they learned. Even small 12' mackerel can do damage. We ran to Pinellas Point to test our Mackerel skills and found numerous Mackerel ready to play, we also had an abundance of Ladyfish and trout all at the same location. We even took a small gag grouper! Nothing of any size but lots of fun.
As the tide started to recede it was time to hit the flats looking for redfish. While up in the tower it was only a matter of minutes before I located a school of 30 red fish. Having a tower is huge advantage sighting fish. These were big bruisers all 30' plus! A threadfin 2' under a cork was the ticket as we had our first hit within minutes. A beautiful bronze Redfish 31" was a great fight, moments later a couple quick photos and safe release. We did this 3 more times with similar results. With 4 great fish the day was a huge success little did we know what we would see next. A huge redfish turned on bait in full view of everyone, inhaled the bait and the game was one. This bruiser made run after run needing 10 minutes to boat. The Red measured at 36", my Boca Grip only goes to 15 pounds so I was unable to get an accurate weight.
Back to Mackerel basics. Live baits work well for mackerel, free lined white baits or threadfins will do the job. Mixed in the Spanish mackerel you may find their cousin the King Mackerel which grow to over 50 pounds where 5 pounds is a very large Spanish mackerel. The lateral line on Spanish and Cero mackerel slopes gradually from the top edge of the gill to the tail. In contrast that of the king mackerel takes an abrupt drop at mid-body.
Regardless of your technique your leader has to be at least 30 pound with many people using 40 or higher. Wire leaders are effective but I feel you will not get as many hits with wire. If you plan on keeping your catch ensure you visit www.myfwc.org for the latest regulations.
Capt. Steven
