Capt. George Tunison

Depending on what forecast you have faith in, looks like scattered showers and winds under 10 for the weekend. Now after saying that, there will most likely be heavy rain and 40 mph gusts with hail, so updates are obviously in order.

When it comes to far offshore adventures in chancy weather, unless you have a sizable boat, my friend from the Bronx says it best: “If in doubt – forget about it!”

Fortunately there are quite a few nearshore reefs and structures around Southwest Florida to keep fish and anglers happy without risking everything. If you’re new to the area, the FWC website contains all the information you need including maps, GPS numbers, as well as fishing rules and regulations.

Spanish mackerel are showing up inshore, around the passes, moving along the coast to several miles offshore. Scan the skies for bird activity to lead you to the feeding frenzy where a live shrimp under a float will quickly disappear. Cast or troll small chrome spoons along the edges of the action.

Don’t drive over or through the feeding frenzy unless you like being alone with no fish around, which also ruins everyone else’s day, especially those who where there having a great time, til you decided to spoil the party. Fly rod types will do well to purchase some cheap flies or spin up a dozen at your tying bench to present to these razor toothed, fly-shredding, eating machines. When tying your own, using long shank hooks helps reduce bite-offs.

Spin casters can tie on a short piece of single strand wire or opt for more bites (and bite-offs) using 40-pound fluorocarbon. When using wire, learn to tie an Albright knot to securely attach your wire to your main line be it braid or mono (See YouTube). This is a time-tested knot and very strong if tied properly. The other end of your wire leader uses a Haywire twist to attach the lure to the leader. Both wire knots require a bit of practice to perfect and should be in your angling knowledge base.

Gotch-Plugs are classic mackerel casting plugs that are very effective and can also be trolled. Clark spoons are a well-known lure for casting as well as trolling, where they really shine. Sometimes the fish are not on the surface so trolling an inline cigar weight several feet in front of the lure gets it down to the action as well as using planers.

If you don’t see bird activity but you suspect fish are in the area, save fuel by anchoring and chumming them to the back of the boat, creating your own feeding frenzy.

Although not nearly as big as their kingfish cousins, Spanish macs are still a high speed blast on ultra-lite to lite tackle and a great family, easy to catch, fun fish. Many folks also enjoy eating mackerel prepared in the usual variety of ways, although many have concerns about mercury. Being relatively short-lived, mercury contamination isn’t as bad in Spanish macs when compared to their larger and longer-lived cousins, the king mackerel.

If you’re looking to break the Spanish mac world record that was certified back in 1987 and caught in North Carolina, it will have to be over 13 pounds!

If your regular inshore game isn’t producing, try moving your hunt westward. More food, cooler, cleaner, more oxygenated near-Gulf waters or some combination of these factors, is drawing the fish. Get out of your Cape comfort zone and head north to explore the “west wall,” or simply the west side of Charlotte Harbor, which as of late has been more productive than the Burnt Store Marina side of the harbor. There’s been good numbers of fish under the mangroves and in and around rainy creek mouths. End your north to south west wall trip by exploring Bull and Turtle bays, which have also been producing good numbers of fish.

Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at 239-282-9434 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.