A few early mornings last year I saw schools of what I believe were spanish busting baits on top water pretty aggressively in a couple of spots in the harbor (could have been blues too I suppose). I’d like to be prepared this year for when I see that again. What would you say is the best way to cast to and catch them? i.e. what lure and retrieve? Also, is tossing with mono leader too risky? What lb. test? Or should I have something rigged with wire for that situation?
I’ve never fished for or caught spanish and would like to change that this spring.
those clarkspoons are really light and mostly for trolling, need something like a stingsilver, deadly dick, gotcha plug, etc with some weight behind it for run-and-gun style. short, heavy mono leader or you’ll spend a good bit on chrome. they usually eat anchovies in the spring, which makes small silver a lot better than gold as a color choice IMO
they’re wire shy, I’ve heard just a few inches of 30-50lb mono is best
trolling for them is cool too, the clark spoons will twist so use a good swivel and long heavy leader- I’ve used trolling weights and planers with success, they go deeper as it gets bright so dawn is usually the time for topwater of course
Barbawang pretty much summed it up. The only thing I do that he didn’t mention is make sure you have a handful of Clark Spoons if you are going to troll with them. I had the hook snap on three of mine during one trip and it was the first time all three of them had ever seen the water.
I’ll use a swivel with roughly 10ft of mono leader to the spoon. Troll it far enough back to where you can drive around a school of spanish and pull the spoon through the school. With the Gotcha plug, yes, throw over the school and reel reel reel.
You probably know this, but if you troll a school, troll the edges. If casting, ease up on them with trolling motor or use the wind. Boat shy like most everything else.
Edited to say I agree with seasick about dragging the spoon through them if offshore a little. It might be hard to do in the harbor.
All good info here. I wore them out one day last year on a 1/4 trouteye finesse jig and small Z-man profiles. 15 lb leader and full disclosure they bit them off about half the time. A bit more leader would have helped no doubt. Cast as far as you can. Let it fall a few sec then reel as fast as you can. Fun stuff!
My favorite is to use a casting spoon like a Kastmaster and run and gun for them. These spoons are super shiny and heavy for their size so they cast a mile with the right set-up. 10#-15# braid with a flouro leader and launch them towards the busting school. Super fun and a great sign of Spring.
I’ve never had luck casting into the school. We caught a pile of them trolling Clark spoons two summers ago. Every pass by or through the school we would catch one on both rods. But when we tried casting Clark spoons or gotcha plugs through the school we got nothing.
Good stuff here. We mostly see them show up when water gets up to 68+. The deadly dick is, well deadly, on the early fish that are mostly feeding on small baits. Another good one is a sting silver (Haw River Tackle) that can be chunked a country mile. I like to connect directly to braid (uni, bristol, fg knot, etc.) with about 2 feet of 40 pound fluoro. Cast to the edge of the school and rip it back at full speed. Check your leader often and replace if you don’t want to sacrifice too many metal jigs to the fishing gods. Wire will result in less hookups, especially if the water is clear or the fish aren’t in an absolute frenzy.
Trolling for them I really like two yo zuri crystal minnows that dive and two small clark spoons on the top. Always worked for me. The run and gun approach for spanish is one of my favorite kinds of fishing. Tiny ,heavy spoons and reel it as fast as you possibly can with erratic motions.
