How to catch Spanish Mackrel
Spanish Mackrel is one of those species that even if you don’t fish you have probably heard the name. Here in Southeastern North Carolina Spanish Mackrel are very abundant and people love to target them certain times of year and for good reason. They are good to eat, fun to catch and just about any boat is capable of catching them if the conditions are right, from a John boat to a massive sport fishing boat. I grew up Spanish Mackrel fishing on a regular basis as most kids do that like to fish and live on the coast of North Carolina, although I will say until I started guiding I never really tried to get that good at it as all we ever did was troll for them from our family 18 ft Boston Whaler but there are plenty of ways to catch them and some ways that are much more fun than trolling (in my opinion). In this post I’m going to go over the time of year that they visit our waters and what tackle and lures I like to use to catch them.
Spanish Mackrel seem to start showing up right around Spring time so think Late April - Early May and when the first start showing up is generally when you can find some really big ones. Big Spanish Mackrel seem to prefer slightly cooler water than your average size Spanish so finding them early on will typically result in some bigger catches. I love fishing for them right when they show up be because there are not a million boats out there trolling for them quite yet. Usually I do not find them right on the beach in early spring but more so around the 2 to 5 mile range. Once the water temp begins to get around 71/72 you will seem them start to get closer to the Bach and in the surf from what I have been able to tell. They will be here all throughout the Spring and Summer and into the Fall but for the most part I have my best days in the Spring and early Summer. Summer can be great but in the dog days of summer they seem to shut off a bit and potentially move further north to water that is not so warm or push offshore. If you are going to target them in the heat of summer my recommendation would be go as early in the morning as possible because once that sun gets high and the water heats up slightly they tend to disappear. By no means is this always the case but I have seen it happens more times than not.
What do you look for when Spanish Mackrel fishing? Well, honestly it’s fairly simple. Birds diving on bait are generally a really good indication of where Spanish Mackrel might be as something is generally pushing that bait to the top of the water column. Always keep an eye on your fish finder as that can tell you a couple things…one where the bait is and two if the Spanish are sitting deeper you can mark them pretty easily as long as there is a school of them. Lastly I look for them jumping out of the water which is a great sign that they are feeding and willing to eat a lure. If you are not seeing any of these signs of life then it may be time to move to a new zone.
So there are a couple ways that are really productive for catching Spanish Mackrel. One is with casting jigs the other is trolling. I will cover both but I will start with my personal preference, casting jigs. Growing up all we did was troll for Spanish so I may have gotten a little burnt out on that method but I think there is a time and place to troll which I will go over. Casting Jigs are fantastic for Spanish because they mimic exactly what they are eating most of the time (glass minnows) they are pretty heavy so you can cast them really really far and they sink fast. What I like to do is find birds working, or Spanish jumping, idle up within casting range of the action and cast my jig into the madness. The first cast I’ll let it sink to the bottom and then burn it in almost as fast as I can reel. If I don’t get a Spanish bit that way the next cast I’ll cast into the action again and won’t let is sink at all but just rip it in on the surface. If neither of those work I’ll do the same to casts but slow my retrieve by about 25% and will also let it sink to different depths before burning it in. If still nothing I’ll do a few more casts on the sides of the birds and bait. If none of those casts have resulted in a Spanish I’m on to the next. Many times when you are doing this you will pick up a lot of blue fish, which is a good sign that Spanish are around as well. If you are picking up blue fish after blue fish, increase your retrieve speed as blue fish bites seem to taper off when a jig is moving at a good clip. I’ll keep running around until I start finding bait and birds with Spanish on them. Sometimes these “hot zones” will hold all the Spanish you could want and sometimes you may catch one or two but that’s what makes it fun and at times challenging. The second part of casting jigs is vertically jigging. If you are not seeing much action at all on the top then try and find them on your fish finder. If you are seeing large schools of bait or long squiggly lines on your fish finder elevated above the bottom of the ocean drop a jig on them. Occasionally, especially around structure, you can find them schooled up in one zone and catch them really good. I will get right over top of the mark and start drifting. While doing so I drop my metal jig all the way to the bottom and then reel it straight up fast, if that does not work try reeling it a little slower straight up and then if still no bites I’ll drop it down again and reel up to the depth I see them marking at (this is always just a guess unless you have marked line) once I feel like I’m in the right zone I’ll start to jig the lure up and down at various depths. This usually results in a lot of blue fish but also has the tendency to produce Spanish as well.
Last piece of this is trolling for Spanish Mackrel. Here is when I like to troll for them. If I have a lot clients that have little to no experience casting a spinning rod, if I cannot find birds, bait or marks on the fish finder and lastly if I am taking a large group of people that just want to hang out and reel in fish when we get hits. Trolling can be extremely productive if you are going for a high number of Spanish but that said I have seen it go both ways. I have had friends/ other guides catch more than my group when we were casting but have had days where casting out performs most anyone who was trolling. I think if the fish are spread out and are not concentrating on bait or a piece of structure that is when trolling can really shine. For trolling I typically only run 2 to 4 rods. I will always run two heavy rods, one with a #1 planer set long and one rod with a #2 planer set shorter. If I am seeing an occasional Spanish on the surface I will also pull some surface baits with a lighter lead sinker incorporated on the line to drag it just below the surface. On every trolling rod I will be pulling Clarkspoons 90% of the time. You can pull Mackrel trees, spoons etc and they work great but clarkspoons have always been my go to for Spanish. Lastly there is a speed at which you can mostly eliminate bluefish bites and just get Spanish bites and that for me seems to be right around 7 mph.
Just a real quick over view of the gear I use to cap this off. For casting Jigs I like Big Nicks Spanish Candy Jigs in various colors and various weights but lean towards the 3/4 oz Silver or Silver & Pink. For trolling I like Clarkspoons in various sizes and various colors as well but learn towards silver, gold and pink. My rods of choice when casting jigs is a TFO Professional 7’0 M power paired with a Florida FIshing Products 3,000 size reel. For trolling planers I like a #50 TFO Sea Hunter rod with a conventional reel ( I also use this for deep sea bottom fishing) paired with a Penn Senator.
I hope this helps next time you got to target Spanish Mackrel, good luck!
Happy Fishing!
Capt. Cameron Pappas
(910) 547.9353
