Trolling spoons, casting plugs or pitching live bait are a few ways to put tasty Spanish mackerel in your cooler.
Spring saltwater fishing along North Carolina’s southeastern coast begins in April when the water temperature warms enough to draw Spanish mackerel up from Florida where they spend the winter. It also helps that the baitfish that headline their menu also return.
Anglers who target Spanish mackerel are the first to cruise the beaches, and they’ll keep them in the crosshairs until cooling water in the fall moves them back to the south.
The prime water temperature that triggers the Spanish mackerel onslaught is 68 degrees. According to Kevin Sneed of Rigged & Ready Charters in Holden Beach, last spring held one of the best Spanish bites in the six years he’s guided.
“It was really good,” he said. “We caught a lot of fish and some big ones. Most of the large Spanish came near the end of April and into May.
“Early in the month, Spanish sizes usually aren’t that big, but depending on the weather and how warm the water gets, bigger Spanish can be caught starting about the last two weeks of the month. May is really when you have chances to land whoppers.”
After May ends, big Spanish move off to nearshore wrecks and artificial reefs while smaller fish continue to roam the beaches.
“You’ll catch smaller fish — a lot of them — off the beaches from June to when the (nearshore) big-fish bite starts again in September,” Sneed said.
Fishermen typically choose from two popular methods to catch Spanish mackerel: trolling because it puts more fish in the boat, but casting to fish feeding at the surface will produce larger — but fewer — fish.
“I use live-bait king mackerel (outfits), especially early in April,” Sneed said. “My reels are Shimano Speedmasters fitted to 7-foot rods rated to handle 15- to 30-pound test line.”
He spools up with 25-pound Momoi Diamond mono and ties on a 20-pound fluorocarbon leader.
“If the fish are finicky and won’t bite, I’ll downsize to 12- to 15-pound line,” Sneed said. “You’ve got to use fluorocarbon (leaders) because Spanish have great eyesight, and it is invisible in the water.
Typically, a two-piece leader includes 10 feet of 20-pound mono, a ball-bearing swivel and 10 to 15 feet of fluorocarbon.
“I like live-bait series rods with flexible tips,” Sneed said. “If you use a broomstick and a fish hits, it’ll rip the hook right out of his mouth.”
When he trolls — always looking for clear water — Sneed usually pulls four 00 Clark Spoons: some on top, some just beneath the surface and some behind planers.
“The planers run 10 to 15 feet beneath the surface, and 1- to 3-ounce trolling weights pull (spoons) 1 to 5 feet down,” said Sneed, who usually pulls at least one “bird” — a t-shaped planer about 4 inches long that has two slanted wings and resembles a bird. He paints his birds white with a red stripe and two black-and-white eyes. He ties 10 feet of fluorocarbon leader to a snap-style barrel swivel attached to the back of the bird, then ties that leader to a swivel at the front of a Clark spoon. He’s trying to imitate a Spanish mackerel or other gamefish chasing a baitfish, hopping and splashing at the surface. Spanish are attracted to the commotion, see the spoon and figure it’s a fleeing baitfish.
Sneed’s favorite way to catch Spanish, however, is casting live baits at surface-feeding fish.
“I starting looking for Spanish outside the inlets,” he said. “Bait fluctuates in and out of inlets with the tides, so you sometimes find Spanish stacked up there.”
Sneed said he looks for birds — terns, gulls and pelicans — diving on baitfish that have been forced to the surface.
“Spanish usually are where the birds are,” he said. “I’ll either throw a Got-Cha plug or my favorite thing, a live finger-mullet rig.”
Sneed’s topwater tackle is a little lighter than his trolling geer: MonoStradic 4000 reels spooled with 20-pound braid, the same live-bait rods he uses for trolling, and 5 or 6 feet of 20-pound monofilament leader, a small Spro barrel swivel and 10 to 12 inches of Seven Strand wire tied to a hook and live bait or a Got-Cha. The wire prevents sharp-teethed Spanish from slicing through a leader.
Whether he’s trolling or casting, Sneed always looks for diving birds and baitfish. Otherwise, he watches his depth finder.
“Spanish mackerel mostly will be in 15 to 35 feet of water because that’s where you’ll find schools of (menhaden) in the spring,” he said. “If I’m marking fish deep, we’ll troll with planers or lead trolling lures. If sea gulls are on top, I’ll sight-cast.”
“I think Got-Chas resemble glass minnows or menhaden,” said Sneed, whose favorite color is gold with gold hooks. “The way to fish them when you’re casting and retrieving is to reel the Got-Cha back to you as fast as you can — really burn it — and hope for a reaction strike. If you don’t reel it fast and let it pause and twitch it, like they do on piers, you’re likely to get a bluefish strike.”
One morning last April, Sneed headed out of Lockwood Folly Inlet and prepared four rods to troll around inlets.
“I usually pull two birds or two with trolling weights on the outriggers,” he said. “I’ll have two rods on (the T-top) and sometimes pull two ballyhoo. But I might use two planers, one 50 feet and the other one 100 feet behind the boat.
“The action is so fast that four rods is about all I can handle if I’ve got two to four clients on the boat and fish are biting,” he said.
If he’s strictly targeting Spanish mackerel, each rod will pull a 00 Clark spoon.
“Sometimes a king (mackerel) will hit a spoon, but mostly it’s Spanish,” Sneed said.
He trolls in a large oval pattern, with half of the circuit nearer the beach and the other half farther away from land after he makes a turn. He’ll troll from Lockwood Folly inlet to Shallotte Inlet, back to Lockwood, then north to the mouth of the Cape Fear River.
Somewhere along that route, he’ll encounter fish.
“When we don’t have birds circling and diving, I watch the depth finder to see if Spanish are near the beach or farther out,” Sneed said.
Once he locates a school of fish willing to bite, Sneed makes tight turns, trying to stay in contact with the fish, which might be in schools that cover one-half to an acre in size — or larger.
“Tourists who come down like to catch a cooler of meat, and trolling is the best way to do that,” Sneed said. “On a half-day trip … an average catch is probably 20 fish (that) weigh from 1 to 5 pounds.”
When he wants to try for bigger Spanish while trolling, Sneed often runs a long line off a rod set in a rod-holder on his boat’s T-top.
“I’ll put a ballyhoo on a leadhead with two treble hooks in it, and that’ll catch bigger Spanish, sometimes 6- to 7-pounders,” he said.
Sneed also likes to target bigger Spanish by finding schools of feeding fish and pitching live finger mullet in their direction.
“Last year was a really good year, especially for live-bait fishing,” Sneed said. “We caught several 8-pounders and one 9-pounder. I love it when a big Spanish makes a reel scream after you’ve cast to surface activity.”
But, if one aspect of fishing for these tasty fish is true, it’s that catching them is a day-to-day adventure, because success isn’t assured. When Spanish mackerel put on the feed bag, sometimes they may or may not pay attention to boats.
“Sometimes they’re not spooky, and sometimes they are,” Sneed said. “I’ve had them jump and hit my boat when we went toward a school. You don’t want to run your boat right into a school, but if you get within casting distance, they’ll hit a live bait.”
The limiting factor for early spring Spanish mackerel fishing is weather and how it affects water clarity.
“Weather patterns and wind affect the bite,” Sneed said. “If there’s a lot of rough weather, a strong southwest wind muddies up the water and blows fish on the east side (of the Cape Fear shoals). But when it calms down, they come back.”
DESTINATION INFORMATION
HOW TO GET THERE — To reach Holden Beach, take US 17 west from Wilmington to NC 130 south, which ends at Holden Beach. From the Piedmont, take NC 87 south to Elizabethtown, NC 701 south to Clarkton and NC 211 east to US 17 to NC 130. From Charlotte, take US 74/76 east to NC 211 and NC 130.
WHEN TO GO — April through October.
BEST TECHNIQUES — For trolling, 7-foot live-bait rods with flexible tips and reels spooled with 25-pound monofilament and 10 to 15 feet of 20-pound fluorocarbon leader. Troll No. 00 Clark Spoons. For casting, 7-foot live-bait series rods, 4000 class reels spooled with 20-pound braid and 10 to 12 inches of Seven Strand with two No. 6 gold hooks or a Got-Cha plug tied to the business end. Live baits such as finger mullet or menhaden will work well.
FISHING INFO/GUIDES — Kevin Sneed, Rigged & Ready Charters, 910-448-3474, www.holdenbeachcharter.com. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.
ACCOMMODATIONS — Gray Gull Motel, Supply, 910-842-6775; Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce, Shallotte, 910-754-6644, www.brunswickcountychamber.org.
MAPS — Sealake Fishing Guides, 800-411-0185, www.thegoodspots.com; Capt Segull’s Nautical Charts, 888-473-4855, www.captainsegullcharts.com; GMCO’s Chartbook of North Carolina, 888-420-6277 www.gmcomaps.com.
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