Spadefish
Spadefish have a mostly silverish colored body, with multiple large dark-brown to black vertical stripes or bands over the whole body area, as they age, these stripes or bands fade in color. The easiest way to describe a Spadefish, is to say they look very similar to a giant Angelfish, like the ones commonly seen in home fish aquariums.
Spadefish are a very good eating fish, their meat is nice and mellow tasting, and it cooks up nice and white and flakey. It's appearance and desire as a great eating fish make it a highly desired catch to thousands of anglers.
Spadefish can be found out in deep water, but they seem to prefer or mostly stay in shallower water, sometimes in water that is under 18 feet deep. One thing to keep in mind when fishing for Spadefish, is that they love debris and structures, floating or submerged. They love hanging around such things as; reefs, piers, shipwrecks, anchored or free floating buoys, often in large schools.
When fishing for Spadefish, whether fishing from a dock, pier or boat, some tips to keep in mind that can help you catch more of them is, they are a kinda shy fish. If you observe them swimming around structure, or just cast thinking there are some in the water, cast beyond the area where they are located, and slowly reel or retrieve your bait into the area where they may be. If you cast directly into a school of Spadefish, the sudden splash may scare them into fleeing from the area, or becoming wary of your bait.
Once a Spadefish bites, you should not jerk your rod too hard, because they have gentle or tender mouths, and a sudden jerk of the rod to set the hook, will often tear it right out of the fish's mouth, causing you to lose your catch.
When hooked, the Spadefish must be reeled in with caution as they will tend to fight with all their might and muscle to get away, and at times this action alone will tear the hook from their mouths, but like in catching any species of fish, the more experienced you become in catching them, the easier it will be.
When fishing for Spadefish using bait, some of the baits that numerous anglers have reported great success with bait cut into small strips or pieces, some of the best baits seem to be; jellyfish tentacles, shrimp, squid or clams.
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