Spanish Blues

As that cool brisk wind slapped you in the face with a Northwest blow and the whitely caps churned about as far as the eye could see against the Blue sky, I knew this could be a day for a great bite on a King or at least a novel day with the Spanish to tarpon as the sun set to the west on this hot mid eighties May day here in Sunny south Florida. Armed with a small Aqua Float on an eight foot Star with thirty pound Cajun Fire on my ancient Mariner, I drifted out a small Spanish caught earlier on my first cast with a yellow and white Gotcha from atop the boards here at Sharky’s on the Pier in Venice Florida, in hopes of tempting a cruising King Mackerel from out of the blue water and onto the shallows of the sandbars. With a trailer hook a dangling, the mackerel proudly displayed a thrashing under the float on the thirty-five pound steel wire with a flashy DE nickel-plated attractant above it in wait for bigger prey to come. As the wind increased in strength so did to the abundances of a blow up of Spanish to Tiny Tuna or Bonita as they may be, in schools of the hundreds; though they were not on a bite of most any tackle. Those caught snagged, as the grouping was so thick it was the only way. The mackerels were charging into the wind, onto the surface, across the wave tops like that of surfers catching a curl and riding the tube in an attempt to catch tinny minnows invisible to the eye unless grouped together in a ball and then only forming a grey like color under the ever so clear water below. Schools of Jack Crevalles guided by, with a few taken by trolley to show a presence at the “T” on the end of the pier, but overall the day ay the end was pretty much just a bunch of blow. After awhile a lone smoker took a likeness to my bait under the Aqua Float but by now, it was dead meat and the King went on by in search for a more lively prey. On the end, just before the sun set to bed, a youngster hooked it up with a small fifteen or twenty pound king to proudly take home as a prize to all to see. We went home for pork chops and tatters and to get ready for another day out on the water to play. Remember to Keep’em Wet, CPR and “Fish ON!”