by Capt. Bart Marx
April is here, the waters are warming up, and the bait is migrating north. This is a great time to get your trolling rigs out and target some King mackerel. I like to use a planer number one size. I put wire in front and in back of the planer as it is a shiny object in the water and they will try to eat it. Add a piece of 8’ mono to the rear of the planer and attach a snap swivel, then a spoon sized to match the hatch. Or you may get a spoon and add a trolling weight in front of it with a wire leader, too. Make sure that you use a good swivel, it will save lots of frustration. I like to troll around the big schools of bait. This to me is where the bigger fish hang out and I think king mackerel are good eating. Yes, I like to steak them, soak them in teriyaki sauce over night, and then on the grill a few minutes on each side. It has a moreish taste, yup like more. You may also catch Spanish with this same method. Also, this time of year, targeting bottom fish and snappers is productive. I most always use squid to get things started with the bottom bite, then add sardines or shrimp, or squirrel fish caught earlier make great cut bait. At times I will stop in forty-five feet of water to harvest squirrel fish; some you hook bad, put them into the bait cooler and if they are healthy throw them into your live well for later use. The ones in the cooler you cut up for grouper bait, or lanes and mangroves will eat them. I like to mix in all different types of bait to see what is working the best. Watching your bottom machine and if you see fish suspended in the water column try floating a bait back with no weight, they may be snapper coming up to feed. As you are fishing try to make some small changes to get more bites. Even just letting a few feet of anchor line out, or reset your trolling motor spot. If you are on good grouper bottom, put one of your squirrel fish, hooked in the tail, a couple of feet off the bottom. The gag grouper will find this bait as they would rather eat live baits, but will eat dead as well. Also doing this bottom fishing you may attract some sharks that will attack your catch. So, reel like crazy to get them in the boat as fast as possible so you get to eat the fish, not the sharks. Also in these areas you will find some porgies that will eat squid or shrimp for bait.