Guide Jimmy Keith targets the hefty Spanish mackerel that are found in the passes at this time of year along the Big Bend. Photo by William J. Bohica

It is hard to imagine anything that would ruin a baitfish's day more than the sudden arrival of a school of Spanish mackerel. From a baitfish's perspective, finding oneself in the middle of a mass of darting silver bullets armed with razor-sharp teeth and a take-no-prisoners attitude has really got to be a bummer.

About the only thing worse would be if the Spanish were the bigger, faster and more heavily armed king mackerel.

Running into either species ranks as a "real bad day" for any baitfish in the Gulf of Mexico. But it's not a bad day for anglers. When one encounters a school of rampaging Spanish, or some hungry kingfish, the action can be fast and furious. Your cooler can quickly start to fill with the fixin's for a fine fish dinner.

If you are cruising the Sunshine Coast this month, all of the above can, and will, happen. However, if you want the piscatorial version of a "Big Mac attack," you have to decide in advance whether the fish de jour will be Spanish or kings. Both are plentiful in the Gulf, but this month you seldom find them in the same place. Here's how to sort that out and make sure that reel drags scream and that stopping for ice on the way home to cool your catch becomes standard operating procedure.

SPANKIN' SOME SPANISH
Spanish mackerel are very abundant along the Sun Coast Gulf, and in recent years they have been getting larger. In 2004, many anglers reported finding 4- and 5-pound Spanish in areas where a 3-pounder used to be considered "big." During the spring and early summer, those big Spanish might wind up anywhere. While chasing cobia on the shallow 3-foot Homosassa flats in early June of 2004, I ran into a number of Spanish, including one that was over 30 inches in length. A few years earlier, a late May trip to the 6-foot grass flats off the Cotee River produced a 7-pound Spanish that beat a lot of trout to that jig.

As we move into July, however, do not count on routinely finding Spanish that shallow.

"One of the most consistent spots for finding Spanish in the Gulf during the heat of the summer will be in the 10- to 20-foot-depth range," says veteran Big Bend guide Jimmy Keith. "Just about anything that will draw baitfish can hold Spanish, and that includes deep grass, rockpiles, channel markers, and offshore humps and bars."

That still leaves a lot of water to cover, but there is a shortcut that anglers can rely on. Spanish mackerel are not the most fastidious feeders and tend to leave a lot of baitfish parts littering their dining area. The gulls and terns like that, and since they have much sharper eyes than any angler, they have little trouble finding Spanish on the feed. Savvy anglers have learned that being a bird-watcher can pay off.

"One of the best tools for finding offshore mackerel schools is a good set of binoculars," he notes. "Anytime you get Spanish feeding near the surface, which is their normal mode, they leave a mess, and the birds always seem to find it quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if there were flocks of gulls and terns that actually follow schools of Spanish in offshore waters. They certainly have the eyes to look down and see a mass of fish, and that's the only way I can figure out why every time I find a school of open-water Spanish feeding, there are always birds already working the fish. You can cover a tremendous amount of water on a plane while using those binoculars to find the birds. They'll find the Spanish for you."