Atlantic Spadefish fishing in Florida

Atlantic spadefish are disk-shaped, black-barred schooling fish that gather around pier pilings, bridge supports, jetties and nearshore wrecks through the warm months. From shore they are most reliable around the deeper pilings of Atlantic and Panhandle piers and at inlet jetties, where schools can be seen circling in clear water on calm, sunny days. They feed on jellyfish, barnacles, worms and small crustaceans, so they ignore most lures and can be maddeningly picky. The classic approach is a small piece of clam or shrimp on a #2 to 1/0 hook, suspended under a float or freelined with a split shot near the school, on 15 to 20 lb fluorocarbon. Chumming with crushed clams or scraped barnacles off the pilings can bring them up; check that scraping is allowed where you fish. They fight hard for their size, circling tightly around structure, so keep steady pressure. Spadefish are good eating when cleaned carefully, and the fin spines are sharp. Check current FWC rules before keeping one.