Captain’s Corner for October 13 Dave Zalewski

Spanish mackerel have been in our area all summer, but we have been invaded by much larger ones which have left the Northern gulf and are migrating south in anticipation of dropping water temperatures. They can be targeted by both hardware trollers and those slow trolling live bait. Another fun, popular method is to anchor, deploy a frozen chum bag along with small slivers of white bait and target them with live white bait, shrimp or cast small hard bodied lures once they have been chummed up.
Right now they can be best caught within one mile offshore near any of the passes entering the gulf. Best time is during an outgoing tide which flushes many different types of food for these predators out of the bays.
Those trolling spoons and plugs should employ a 00,0 or #1 spoon depending on the size of bait in the area. Silver works good, but our choice is the gold ones behind a #1 planer or 2 ounce trolling sinker. Wire leader is not usually necessary as more bites will occur using 50 # monofilament leader
Live bait should be freelined using a 1/0 long shanked gold hook. White bait can be hooked through the nostril and shrimp hooked under the horn, taking care not to penetrate the black spot which is the brain.
Conventional or spinning tackle in the 10 to 12 pound class or even lighter provides drag pulling action for both novice and experienced anglers.
Spanish mackerel provide a memorable experience for youngsters because a long, boring boat ride is not necessary and a lot of action is sure to be had.