Spanish, Southern Style

Cape Fear-area fishermen get the first big shot at the annual mackerel run.

The annual Spanish invasion usually begins along North Carolina’s southern coast in late April with a few platoons of scouts, but by May, the armada has arrived from more southern climes, and the occupation is in full swing.

Once the word gets out the Spanish mackerel have arrived, boats that have rested under shelters and in garages since the past fall are pulled out and hastily serviced. Reels get spooled with fresh line, and the deal is on.

One of the prime spots to catch the early Spanish mackerel are the waters around Cape Fear. It is the southernmost of the three North Carolina capes, bounded on the southern (Southport) side by the northern end of Long Bay and on the northern (Wrightsville Beach) side by the southern end of Onslow Bay. Unique attributes of the area is the numerous inlets fairly close to the cape, and the 90-degree turn the shoreline makes at the cape — which means that one side or the other is usually fishable on almost any wind direction.

Two captains who lead their clients to numerous limits of spring Spanish are Butch Foster and Matt Wirt.

Foster operates Yeah Right Sportfishing Charters out of South Harbor Marina in Oak Island; he primarily fishes the Southport side of the cape, but he can easily run to Carolina Beach Inlet when the wind direction warrants. Wirt, of Reel Adventure Charters, trailers his boats and works primarily from Carolina Beach and Masonboro inlets, but he can easily run or trailer to the Cape Fear River Inlet when the wind direction warrants.

“When our Spanish first arrive in late April or May, they are close to the beach and chasing baits like silversides and anchovies,” Foster said. “We go after them with small lures and use planers and trolling sinkers to get the lures below the surface. Clark Spoons have been favorites for Spanish for years and my favorite is a 00 size, in silver with red prism tape.”

Foster trolls a spread of five rods that includes lines with No. 1 or No. 2 planers, two more rods with trolling sinkers weighing several ounces, and a bird line running well back, down the center. The combination of lines at different depths allows him to find schools of Spanish that haven’t chased baitfish to the surface.

Foster said Spanish can sometimes be skittish about boats, so he likes long leaders. He uses a minimum of 30 feet of low-visibility mono between the planer or trolling sinker and the lure — and 40 to 50 feet isn’t too much. Line twist can be a problem when using such long leaders, he said, so he puts three or four ball-bearing swivels immediately behind the planer or trolling sinker to eliminate twist.

The bird rig Foster uses is just the opposite. It is a surface rig and only has three to four feet of leader between the “bird” and the lure. Sometimes he uses a mackerel tree as the lure on the bird line and said he has seen multiple hook-ups on it numerous times.

“The purpose of the bird rig is to skip along the surface and draw attention,” Foster said. “That’s why I keep the lure up close to the bird. It’s the attracting point.”

Foster uses 3/0 Penn Senator reels and 50-pound class rods for his planer outfits, but he lightens up to live-bait rods with Ambassador 5000 reels for the trolling sinker and bird outfits. He starts trolling at six to seven knots and moves in slow “S” curves.

“By moving in the ‘S’ curves, it allows me to fine tune the speed a little more. The best speed can vary a little from day to day, according to wind and tide conditions,” Foster said. “When making an ‘S’ curve, the lures on the outside move a little faster, and the lures on the inside move a little slower than the boat speed. If the fish are hitting the outside lures, they like faster speeds, and if they are hitting the inside lures, they like slower speeds that day. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but some days, it makes a world of difference.”

When Foster leaves Cape Fear River Inlet, he immediately begins looking for birds wheeling and diving low over the water — the best sign he can see. When birds aren’t active, he heads for the WOFES, the tideline that is usually near the Cape Fear sea buoy, the Yaupon Reef, the McGlammery Reef, or the Lockwood Folly sea buoy — places that often hold submerged schools of Spanish.

Wirt primarily leaves from Masonboro Inlet but will occasionally head out through Carolina Beach Inlet. Once outside, he also immediately begins looking for birds picking at baitfish pushed to the surface by feeding Spanish. If birds aren’t feeding, he first spends a few minutes around the inlets and then heads off to check the action at the Liberty Ship, the John’s Creek Rock, the Marriott Wreck and Sheepshead Rock.

Sheepshead Rock and John’s Creek Rock have a history of producing big Spanish during the early part of the run, Wirt said, so he almost always spends a little time at one or the other unless he finds big Spanish elsewhere first. There may be seagulls over the schools of Spanish, but white terns usually mark them, and they’re generally like having an “X” mark the spot.

Wirt’s trolling spread is basically similar to Foster’s, except the he often begins with a pair of planers and a pair of unweighted surface lines. When he adds a bird line to the spread, he uses seven feet of leader back to the lure behind the bird and places one of the surface lures the same distance back as the bird and the other about 10 feet ahead of the bird. He said the lure placement helps him play more off the splashing of the bird. Wirt also likes size 00 to 1 Clark Spoons, but he prefers plain silver or gold Clark Spoons.

“I don’t remember exactly where I first heard it said this way, but I use the ‘20/20 rule’ in setting up my leaders for Spanish,” Wirt said. “I use a minimum of 20 feet of mono leader made from a maximum of 20-pound test line. For the leader I use a clear, low-visibility mono.”

Wirt also carries several spinning outfits rigged to cast to schooling fish. These are 7-foot, medium-light rods with spinning reels full of 10-pound mono. An 18-inch fluorocarbon leader of 12- to 20-pound test is tied between the monofilament and the lures. His favorites are Maria Jigs in blue, green and pink. He has both 14-gram (½-ounce) and 21-gram (¾-ounce) jigs rigged, so he’s ready whether the fish are on the surface or a few feet below. The retrieve speed is pretty quick.

“If you are going to cast to schools of feeding Spanish, it is important you approach them correctly and easily or they will sound and disappear,” Wirt said. “The best way is to idle to the side of the school and stay parallel to its movement. If you approach from the front and block their path, you will usually spook them.

“The biggest mistake most fishermen make is to run through the school or allow themselves to drift into it,” Wirt added. “Both of these moves will usually spook the school, and they will sound and disappear. Not only will you lose that school of fish, you will make anyone who was already fishing them upset with you. This also holds true for when you are trolling. Troll around the edges of the school, not through it.”

Wirt said schools of feeding Spanish also make a great target for fly fishermen. He suggested a 7-weight rod with floating line and a Clouser minnow. For a little extra security from the sharp teeth of Spanish, he ties his Clousers on a No. 1, long-shank hook.

One point Foster and Wirt emphasized was trolling speed. The range they suggested was 4½ to seven knots, but as a point of reference, if you’re catching bluefish, you’re trolling too slowly and need to speed up. Spanish usually bite best at a speed that’s fast enough to eliminate most bluefish bites.