[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his winter has been a tough one, but springtime is finally here and the late spring heat is only days away. Air temperatures on the rise means the warm water is very close behind. The small menhaden have already filled into the dredge pond in the river so the other fish are becoming more active in our area.
The Spanish mackerel are only days away from showing up in large schools. Catching these guys is a whole lot easier than speaking Spanish, but you will need the right rigs if you expect one to bite.
When fishing for these I typically like to use two #0 or #00 spoons on the surface and two more that are pulled subsurface using a trolling weight or a #1 planer. Everybody has their own personal preference on spoon color but I start with one pink, one green, one silver, and one gold to figure out what the fish are attracted to that day.
Then I change out as I see one color being more productive than the others. The best tip that I can give you is to increase the length of your leaders. I use leaders that are 25- to 30-feet long attached to my mainline with ball bearing Coastlock snap swivels.
I have found if you use a slightly larger swivel size than you typically use, it helps to keep the twists out of your line. For your leader material you can use regular mono, but if you want to catch more fish use Vanish fluorocarbon. This will help with those fish that are hook shy. Now all you have to do is go out the inlet and turn left or right. Drop your lines out and troll anywhere between 4.5 to 5 knots.
The whiting are definitely here for catching and they are fairly easy to catch as well. All you need for those are a two-drop mono rig with #5 long shank hooks and fresh shrimp. You will find the whiting schooled up on the shell bank inside the mouth of the Cape Fear River, close to Bald Head Island. The flounder have also already started showing up in the ocean at the nearshore wrecks and on the piers. Catch some live menhaden, use mud minnows, or Gulp shrimp on a jig head to catch these.
Get out and go fishing!