Collection: Spanish Mackerel Tackle

Casting and trolling spoons in the sizes that move Spanish mackerel.

Spanish are the most accessible saltwater gamefish on either coast. They come within casting range of beaches, piers and jetties, they show up in numbers, and they will absolutely destroy a fast-moving spoon. If you want to put a beginner on fish, this is the fishery.

A spoon works on them for two reasons at once — it throws flash like a fleeing baitfish, and it puts out a wobble that fish find on the lateral line before they ever see it. That second part is why spoons keep producing in the stained water you get on the Gulf side after a blow, when a soft plastic goes completely dead.

Retrieve fast. Faster than feels reasonable. Spanish key on speed and a spoon crawling along gets ignored by fish that would have crushed it at twice the pace.

Match the size to the bait actually in the water — when the beaches fill with glass minnows in late summer, drop to a quarter-ounce and the difference is dramatic.

Always run a short wire or heavy fluorocarbon bite trace. Mackerel teeth cut mono clean and you lose the spoon with the fish.

Guide: How to catch Spanish mackerel — speed, flash and a bite trace