🌊 Best on the flood💨 Likes calm wind📅 Mar, Apr, May, Sep, Oct, Nov
- Water temp
- 68–84°F
- Depth
- 3–33 ft
- Max weight
- 8.8lb
- Day vs night
- ☀️ 🌙
Spanish mackerel are the fast, gold-spotted, razor-toothed mackerel that follow bait along both Florida coasts, arriving off the piers, jetties, passes and beaches as the water warms in spring and returning in fall as they migrate south. South Florida sees them through the winter. They need clean, green water, so a flooding tide at inlets and passes and calm or offshore breezes that settle the surf help, and they feed in daylight, early morning above all. Look for birds working and bait spraying, then cast a 1/2–1 oz silver spoon or Gotcha plug and retrieve fast, or freeline a live pilchard or shrimp. Use a 7 ft spinning rod with 10–15 lb braid and a short leader of 30–40 lb fluorocarbon or light wire, because those teeth cut line; a small black swivel avoids strikes on the knot. Keep fingers clear of the mouth when unhooking. Good fresh eating; check current FWC rules before keeping one.
Best bait for Spanish mackerel
- 1 Silver Casting Spoon
- 2 Gotcha Plug
- 3 Pilchards (Scaled Sardines)
- 4 Clouser Minnow
- 5 Live Shrimp
Rigs that work
- 1 Freeline Live Bait
- 2 Tandem Bucktail Rig
- 3 Slip Float Rig
- 4 Jighead
