Sweet and Simple Spanish Mackerel Recipe
Similar to bluefish, Spanish mackerel have oily meat and are delicious when fresh but not nearly as appetizing when frozen. Therefore, it is best to prepare them for eating a day or two after catching them. Also be sure to ice them down thoroughly and immediately.
Make your own home-brewed Saba if you like sushi and are feeling daring.
In the ocean it is wrecks and reefs. To find the action, look for the same breaking fish under diving birds.
The trolling setup that has been successful for me is very basic. I use a #0 Huntington Drone silver spoon, and I tie a 30-foot length of 15-pound Hi Seas mono line to the spoon’s welded ring. The leader is then fastened to either a Huntington #1 planer or a one- to three-ounce trolling sinker via a ball-bearing snap swivel. Sea conditions and the depth I want the spoon to go depends on the sinker’s weight.
The rips at the tunnel tubes in the Virginia portion of the Bay are fairly consistent producers of Spanish mackerel in the summer. The Spanish will typically be present even if the current is strong and the time of day is still early or late.
Bluefish might be present when the mackerel are on the surface. When I first began to fish for Spanish, someone advised me to move more quickly to avoid the blues. I have yet to go that fast. Just put the blues in the box and keep fishing when they are present.
They arrive in the Lower Bay much earlier in the year and typically become available by June 1st. They will stage here near features like the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel’s tunnel tubes and the rips where the bay and ocean waters converge.
FAQ
How do you rig a mackerel for trolling?
Troll more quickly to catch more mackerel using lures. Although 6 knots is acceptable, 7, 8, 9 or 10 knots are preferable. The quicker you can troll, the greater your chance of connecting is.
What is the best speed to troll for mackerel?
Small soft plastic lures also work well. These will be taken by mackerel in the first 20 feet or so of water. The Fiiish Black Minnow 70 and Savage Gear Sandeels in the small 10 cm or 12 cm sizes are effective lures. sizes up to 5 cm and numerous others that resemble tiny baitfish like sandeels and sprats.
What lure is best for mackerel?
The same rig is used, consisting of a 8/0 circle hook and a 3 metre 80lb mono wind on with 80-100cm of 80lb single strand wire. Making sure the bait fish swims as naturally as possible, insert the circle hook through its nose and troll at about two knots, releasing about 70 to 80 meters of line.
