Pelagics screaming up and down the Nature Coast!

Report Date: April 29, 2009

Kovee and John Schutt of Ocala spend the day with Red Hot Fishing Charters catching Spanish Mackerel, Speckled Trout, and Sharks. In total over 40-50 Spanish Macks were caught on the day.

Finally!! The warm weather is here to stay. Air temps are hanging in the 80’s and water temps are finally cemented in the low to mid 70’s. This combination of warm air and water is a recipe for disaster along the Nature Coast of Florida. The warming trend brings in tons of bait, which in turn brings in the masses of Pelagics. Cobia, Sharks, Tripletail, and Spanish Mackerel are all here in force and are HUNGRY!! Any live bait, lure or fly coming through the water is susceptible to a beating from any of these speedsters, making for a ton of drag screaming runs and soar wrists.

Just ask Kovee and John Schutt of Ocala, FL who spent a recent day fishing with Red Hot Fishing Charters. After a fairly good Speckled Trout bite, where we boated over 20 trout for only 6 keepers we managed to chum in some of the speediest fish that swim in the Gulf, the Spanish Mackerel. If you have never been Spanish Mackerel fishing before you’re probably missing out on one of Florida’s most underrated inshore light tackle game fish. When a Spanish Mack grabs your bait it’s already off to the races before a hook can ever be set. Just ask Kovee who missed a handful before she proceeded to put on a clinic by catching and releasing over 35 Macks in a matter of 2 hours. John on the other hand caught his fair share of Macks as well but he and I were definitely more interested in the nice sharks that kept cutting in and out of our chum line.

Cousins Gracie and Sarah York are pictured here with thier awesome catch of Redfish for the day.

The most common sharks that frequent our area are the Bull, Blacktip, Spinner, Hammerhead, and Sandbar sharks. All of which are excellent fighters and most of the smaller ones make excellent table fair. When targeting these sharks with light tackle it’s important to have a reel that can hold plenty of line because unlike the Spanish Mackerel when you put a hook into a shark he is heading South and he doesn’t plan on coming back. Runs of 300 yards are not uncommon and battles lasting hours are the norm. However, the excitement of a big shark should give any angler Goosebumps. Chumming is the preferred method and a Shark can rarely refuse a piece of oily, bloody fish making this an excellent by catch when fishing for the more reputable Cobia and Spanish Mackerel.

When chumming along the Nature Coast I am always asked by my clients “What can we expect to catch with chum?” I always reply the same way “Expect the Unexpected.” A few days prior to Kovee and John’s trip I put a few of my regular clients Jay and Nancy Allen on a few Tripletail, Sharks, Spanish Macks, Jacks and we even had 2 stubborn Cobia pushing 50lbs a piece swimming through the chum line. The uncertainty of chumming is what makes this such a fun way to fish. You never know what is on the end of the line, but all you know is that something is pulling line off the reel faster than you can retrieve it.

So if you’re interested in sharing some long drag screaming runs and soar wrist with friends and family, Give Red Hot Fishing Charters a call today we’re in the business of creating Fishing Memories.