Original plan was to head to 60’ or better, but it was raining out that far so we headed over to 4KI after checking out another spot on the way. As you would expect we started picking up BSB’s right away. about 3 fish in I look down and spades are everywhere!! I start yelling to the kids to throw peeled shrimp or squid at them and it was ON for 2 hours straight!! Huge fish and fought like I’ve never seen. This is my first experience with spade fish and I can’t wait to get back out there. They were fighting so hard many of our hooks were pulled straight! We left them biting as I was wore slam out. I don’t know what brought them to the boat other than maybe we were throwing cut bait in the water they were attracted to. Has anybody else had this good fortune?
Spades are a blast. Probably just looking for some shade. Jelly balls are the ticket for those tasty treats. Net up some jelly balls on the way out. Put three on a clothes hanger and drop down about half way to the bottom. You can feel them when they start hitting it. Slowly pull up the jelly balls whee you can see the fish. Drop down little chunks of the jellyball to the spades and hold on. Pull like the dickens on light tackle.
I find them easy to clean. They have a big rib cage so the fillet is odd shaped. But an 8 pounder will feed a family of 4!
They don’t freeze well, so best to eat them fresh. When you’re on them, you could load the boat. Two per person is plenty, IMHO. Practice conservation!
