Tom Ferrit of Whiplash, Montana arrives each spring to fish one specific part of the Florida Panhandle—to stand on the beach and surf-fish hungry schools of incoming Spanish mackerel.

Last year he caught them on the straw rig. This year he got skunked because they preferred something else.

Tom Merby of Alabama always caught incoming Spanish on a favorite kind of silver plug. Last spring, they wouldn’t even look at it.

Local angler Ferris Locabee, who grew up catching Spanish on his big white bullet-nosed jigs, this year retired in shame as anglers to the right and left limited out with another kind of lure.

I have always said that no matter how good the Spanish catch was the year before, you have to spend three days learning what they want this year. It takes one day to get to the catch site, one day to see what the fish prefer hitting, and the third day when you go properly rigged and catch a limit.

Naturally, we all remember years when no matter what we threw resulted in a strike. Sadly, that’s not always the case. What is true, however, is that certain rod, reel and lure combos are almost always winners, providing that you can make any of the sometimes needed small adjustments that make the difference between catching and not. That adjustment can be as seemingly insignificant as switching to another size of the same lure.

Fine-tuning is extremely important. I have spent every year in the last double handful of years making a point of being on hand for the Gulf Coast spring Spanish run, noting what surf anglers are using to earn instant hookups.

Anyone who thinks he can step out on those golden sands and cast something that may have worked last year may be in for a disappointment. Here’s why:

The last Panhandle hurricanes and subsequent repair of dredging have altered the coasts. Where we used to fish isn’t where we fish today. A case in point is the jetty-flanked ship channel at Panama City. The hottest beach fishing area is now Sandy Point, a half mile east of the St. Andrew State Park bay boat basin. Anglers either hike there or paddle in with canoes or kayaks.

Where once we stood on that long sandspit and cast directly into deep water of the cut, two hurricanes and “beach renewal” operations have changed all that. Today, a large underwater sand flat stretches out from shore around the northern tip of Sandy Point. The Spanish now stay in the deepwater channel beyond casting range. No one wades too far out on that flat because heavy boat traffic kicks up big waves in those shallows.

Consequently, the fishing has shifted farther south along the cut where the sand shelf is not so wide. But not all tackle will shoot lures well into that deep water where mackerel feed. Those who can’t make it, catch nothing.

Because Mother Nature changed our underwater fishing topography, successful anglers have to change as well, if they hope to connect with incoming schools of hungry mackerel. Since these coastal changes have occurred across the entire Panhandle, that means surf-fishing anglers from Panama City to Pensacola had better fine-tune their equipment and fishing tactics, with lessons learned from today’s successful surf anglers.

Nothing is worse than fishing shoulder to shoulder with others who are casting to a school of hungry fish only to see the competition doing all the catching. (Okay, maybe a car wreck is worse.)

There are definite reasons for this. I’m talking about that one angler in four who can hook a fish on every third cast while you stand right beside him using essentially the same equipment, and fail to get hits.

Several things will improve your ability to catch more fish. Here are tips that will make that difference.

USE THE RIGHT LURE

At one time or another, a variety of lures appeal to feeding Spanish mackerel, but other times they can be extremely picky. Last year, for example, we knew the bite began not long after the first gray of morning light fell on the water. The fish favored the diamond-shaped silver minnow. But it didn’t take an observant angler long to learn that not any size spoon would work. The first fish always went for the smallest spoons, the size 00. Anything larger was no good. The reason: The first incomers were smaller mackerel, barely legal. These voracious eaters grabbed the size bait they could handle while the larger Spanish that always appeared later in the run held off and let the youngsters satisfy themselves. Then maybe an hour later the small spoons were not getting hit at all but the medium and large spoons were now connecting with much larger mackerel. If you came prepared for that size switch, you were still in business. If not, you let someone else do the catching. I counted 101 anglers standing shoulder to shoulder around that long sandy point and the adjoining cove one spring-break day when the Spanish arrived, so the competition can be fierce.

CAST A LIGHT SPOON FOR DISTANCE

Last spring was especially challenging in that respect. Not only was there a long sand flat to cast across to reach the mackerel, but we had a 20- to 25-knot east-southeast wind to cast into for the three days we mackerel-fished from that beach.

Successful anglers used a barrel lead between swivels linked to at least a 36-inch length of 40-pound leader. Even then, cutoffs came with no more than a quick tug. Hard to guess what could cut off an entire leader. But bluefish were in the mix as well as big macks with slicing tails, so the importance of having backup rigs already made and quick to reload counted for a lot. The smart mack angler makes up several of the barrel lead and swivel combos we call The Magic Link, plus long leaders already attached to different sizes of diamond spoons—both with the red bead head, and without the red bead—which sometimes makes a difference. These are coiled separately, wrapped with a wire twisty and slid into a plastic half-sandwich bag or snack bag with a zip top. Multiple bags of leads and leaders can then be carried in one large zip top and all the tackle you need can go into a jacket pocket.

A 7-foot rod with a limber tip seems to be the choice of anglers flipping that light lure into a half-gale. When I found my casting buddy reaching out into the blue a good 12 feet farther than I could with my stiffer rod, I began to take notice. What I saw when he cast was that his rodtip curled back like a buggy whip and gave his lure that extra pop that took it beyond the sandbar and into green water, where every couple casts resulted in a mackerel. My casts were landing right at the edge and just not producing. But since I always carry at least three different rods and their sand spikes, I corrected that error fast and was soon dragging in fish.

A tiny difference and what nice rewards.

I should mention that all our rods are loaded with small-diameter braided line that casts remarkably far when you need to reach out. Anyone who uses this kind of lightweight line realizes extra problems result from the wind doing strange things to your line before the lure touches down. Often those strange things are wind knots. If they don’t jerk out we cut and re-do them as fast as possible. One thing that cuts down on loose loops over the spool is to close the bail with your hand just before the lure lands. We’re talking spin tackle of course, perfect for casting into strong wind.

NEVER USE FRESH IN SALT

Some freshwater anglers figure that if a spoon of a certain kind works for mackerel, so will a freshwater spoon of a certain kind. Forget it. Most freshwater spoons have too much wobble for these fish. Watch successful retrievers and you see them crank that spoon in as fast as they can. Spanish are used to seeing bait dart off at high speed, not dawdling around out there.

WATCH THE PERFORMERS

When I noticed one young angler out-fishing three older fellows, my curiosity got the best of me.

I asked him what he was doing differently. He said he was letting his spoon go down deeper before the retrieve and then he could almost feel the hit before it occurred. He was using a small but well known reel with a long, limber rod and braided line. The others were using heavier rods and lines with similar diamond spoons. But “the kid” had the combo and moves that the Spanish liked best.

FINE-TUNE A LURE

There is one lure (the Gotcha) that at first looks like the best all-around casting lure available for Spanish. The deadliest version has a chrome body and red or bright green head. No weight is needed because it weighs enough. If you tie it on with a loop knot instead of a tight knot it zigzags with every twitch. It catches Spanish like nothing else. If they even make a pass, the double treble hooks catch them.

And that’s this lure’s drawback. Unlike the spoon with its single straight hook, the double trebles take time to remove from your thrashing catch. If you unhook one and try for the other, there is a good chance that other hook may end up in your thumb or finger. It did to me and I knew in advance it could happen.

If you fish Spanish with this productive lure, some anglers make it safer to handle by cutting off the body treble and snipping off one or two tines of the tail treble. You may miss a fish or two but it will save time unhooking when every minute counts. Needle-nose pliers are still good to have, however.

CHANGE UP YOUR RETRIEVE

Often as not, the most successful anglers are the ones with the best rhythm. Spanish are notorious for refusing to strike slow-moving lures. If you aren’t getting hits, try picking up the pace. Some days a flat-out straight retrieve gets the most hits, while other days a whip retrieve works best—where you jerk the rodtip while reeling. Another trick is to allow your lure to sink to the bottom, and then reel it back to the boat with the whip retrieve.

GUARD YOUR CATCH

Knowledgeable anglers carry plastic buckets for their catch. Most know that blue herons like to stand behind anglers catching Spanish. Those who toss their fish up on the beach soon see them flying off with those stealthy scheming long-beaked fish stealers.

We’ve found that a short length of broomstick and a whack on the head (for the mackerel) makes them easier to unhook and more quiet in the bucket. To speed up this process, some anglers cut a hole in the plastic lid large enough for their fish. Others slit a cross on the lid so they can just shove fish through and get right back to catching. Stringered fish only attract sharks.

BE MOBILE

Wheeled beach tackle carriers of every description facilitate the hauling of coolers, rocket launchers and gear for these surf fishermen. If slogging through a half mile of soft sand dampens your spirit for surf fishing, try a canoe or kayak for more comfort. Those who take the time for these details have also taken the time to fine-tune their gear and tactics, so they catch fish while the rest of the crowd wonders why they can’t. Vive le difference. It’s the small things that make the biggest difference in this sport.