Thread: Spadefish Details

Hello All,I'm new to the forum and was seeking some advice on catching spadefish. This fish just intrigues me.I hear its a hard fighting fish and great table fare as well.David, has given me some advice about catching them but I'm always open to more suggestions like where on the pier to catch them,near the pilings or in open water,and what bait and rig to use to catch them.This weekend will be my first trip to the pier so I'm open to anything you GSP vets have to offer up to a newbie.TIA

I do best with spadefish when they're schooling in good numbers near the end of the pier, where you can see 'em. I use a weighted float (in case they're a distance out from the pier) with 10-12 lb (about 18 inches) fluorocarbon leader and a small, strong hook. I take fresh-dead shrimp and shrimp flavored fishbites, since some days the spadefish will prefer one over the other. I find it beneficial to cover/hide the hook as much as possible. I've found them in good numbers at the OCTI and sometimes the school will hold mostly dinner-plate sized ones. I saw some the other day, but by the time I got rigged for them, the school was gone. Yes - hard fighting/great eating! They feed on jellyfish, shrimp and squid, but they're notorious nibblers, hence the need for a small strong hook with a relatively small piece of bait - again, fresh-dead shrimp piece (about fingernail size) or a small bit of Shrimp FishBites.

In murky water, I've located them using a sabiki rig, tipping each jig with a tiny piece of shrimp. You're likely to lose a bigger spadefish on the tiny sabiki rig, so you'll want to use that technique just for locating them and figuring out the depth that they're holding to and then switch to your regular rig of weighted float (set at the proper depth), swivel, leader, small hook.

Thanks for the info eym_sirius!Thats a lot of good stuff!Is it primarily a sight casting type of fish or can you fish for them "blind?"

Couple of summers back I really put the hurt on them using pink fishbites on a #4 baitholder and a single split shot. Sight casting to schools of them circling the ocit. Filler the cooler with dinner plates.
Most days you can catch piles of smaller "bream sized" ones using the same technique fishing around the pilings. Some people use larger sabikis tipped with shrimp.
Small ones are great scaled gutted and bakes or fried whole.

Originally Posted by cfowler5

Thanks for the info eym_sirius!Thats a lot of good stuff!Is it primarily a sight casting type of fish or can you fish for them "blind?"

It's just easier when the school is up where you can see them. If they're deeper and the visibility is three or four feet, lots of times they'll come up to your bait and congregate around it and that's when you'll see them. Of course the experience is enhanced when you're able to sight-cast past the school and bring your weighted float near them. Like CarlF said, though - you can use shrimp-tipped sabikis (fished straight down) if they're deeper. Problem is that you can't NET a sabiki rig without making a total clustermess! Some of the bigger spadefish need netting!

What's really cool is when there are jellyfish around and to see the school attacking jellyfish in the area! They seem to be attracted, initially, by the weighted float because it casts a shadow similar to that of a jellyfish (my analysis - that theory hasn't been confirmed by a spadefish). Remember to use a small hook, since using a large hook allows the nibblers to leverage the bait against the hook and you lose your bait without a hook-up.

Originally Posted by eym_sirius

It's just easier when the school is up where you can see them. If they're deeper and the visibility is three or four feet, lots of times they'll come up to your bait and congregate around it and that's when you'll see them. Of course the experience is enhanced when you're able to sight-cast past the school and bring your weighted float near them. Like CarlF said, though - you can use shrimp-tipped sabikis (fished straight down) if they're deeper. Problem is that you can't NET a sabiki rig without making a total clustermess! Some of the bigger spadefish need netting!

What's really cool is when there are jellyfish around and to see the school attacking jellyfish in the area! They seem to be attracted, initially, by the weighted float because it casts a shadow similar to that of a jellyfish (my analysis - that theory hasn't been confirmed by a spadefish). Remember to use a small hook, since using a large hook allows the nibblers to leverage the bait against the hook and you lose your bait without a hook-up.

Have you ever used a jellyfish for bait? Is it possible? How would you hook it? Small treble? Have I asked enough questions yet?

Originally Posted by chillinfish

Have you ever used a jellyfish for bait? Is it possible? How would you hook it? Small treble? Have I asked enough questions yet?

I haven't used them for bait. I seem to remember Haywire saying that he has used cut-up cannonball jellyfish. But the possibility exists that I imagined that. You'd have to have a boat and scoop them up with a net, I'd imagine.

My mom used to eat pickled jellyfish; we're from Okinawa. Maybe some Asian food market has em?

Originally Posted by eym_sirius

I haven't used them for bait. I seem to remember Haywire saying that he has used cut-up cannonball jellyfish. But the possibility exists that I imagined that. You'd have to have a boat and scoop them up with a net, I'd imagine.

You are correct. Haywire did say that, else we are both losing our minds. Which is a possibility if you listen to Haywire too much. The cannon balls are usually found more offshore I believe so I won't be using them.

I caught several spadefish friday&nbsp;<img src="http://www.gulfshorespierfishing.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6398&amp;stc=1" attachmentid="6398" alt="" id="vbattach_6398" class="previewthumb"><img src="http://www.gulfshorespierfishing.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6399&amp;stc=1" attachmentid="6399" alt="" id="vbattach_6399" class="previewthumb">&nbsp;nd Saturday thanks to help from you guys.I was able to catch several whiting and bluefish too.The real treat was getting into the mangrove snappers though.It was a great first trip and can't wait to go back.Again thanks to all of you for helping make my first trip to the pier a success!