Years ago, I went to St. Simons Island off the coast of Georgia to spend a week with good friends, including my joined-at-the hip fishing buddy, Ray Pruitt. One afternoon, Ray and I took his 14-foot skiff out into the dead calm waters off the island. We were bottom fishing for whatever would bite, ideally a grouper. The water was gin clear and I recall a hammerhead shark about the size of our boat making a pass beneath our craft. That was interesting. He was so close, I could have reached in the water and stroked his side, but I decided not to for some silly reason, but I have had high blood pressure ever since.
While Ray and I were bouncing bait and sinkers off the bottom, I noticed a school of fish finning in the surface down current.
“What are those?” I asked.
“Spadefish,” he said, “They are like big angel fish you see in an aquarium. They are good to eat, but they won’t bite a hook and line.”
Telling me that a fish won’t bite is like waving a red flag at a Brahman bull at the rodeo. I won’t believe it until I’ve tried for myself.
So I picked up a piece of shrimp and cut it into tiny pieces, then tossed them out one at a time. Sure enough, the spadefish began feeding on the bits of shrimp. Gradually, I increased the size of the shrimp pieces until the fish would hit larger servings. The tackle box I had with me was basically a freshwater box and I had plenty of small hooks. One of my reels even had six-pound test. I took off all the weights and swivels, tied on a size 8 hook and buried it within a sliver of shrimp. I opened the bail and let the line drift back. A fish took immediately and I set the hook.
Whoa, Nelly!
The spadefish burrowed for the bottom like a tractor-trailer coming down Afton Mountain with no brakes. I lost a lot of hooks that day, and about half the line on my spool, but eventually landed a few of those so-called non-biting spadefish.
Years later, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay would also discover that these overgrown angel fish will indeed hit a hook and line.
Spadefish are schooling fish and are very structure oriented. Some of their favorite haunts in the Chesapeake Bay include The Cell, York Split Light, the 4A buoy, and the Chesapeake Light Tower, as well as various reefs and the islands near the Bay Bridge Tunnel.
The natural food for spadefish consists of bits of jellyfish and other small matter. But they will eagerly respond to a chum line of clams or mussels. Spadefish are delicious to eat, a blast to catch and they’re biting now in the Chesapeake Bay.
A veteran fisherman out of Deltaville, Capt. Gilly, was one of the first to discover the sporting opportunities with spadefish. His technique was to anchor his boat so that the current and wind would take the chum and his baits directly over a submerged structure called The Cell, where the spadefish concentrated. The boat’s position had to be perfect. Once settled, Capt. Gilly began tossing the chum overboard, and soon, like bluefish, the spades would be right beside the boat. The fish were very selective and it took patience to get one to finally take a piece of clam on a hook, but then the fun began.
Once hooked, spadefish head immediately for the bottom and it becomes a matter of sheer strength to turn them before they reach the safety of structure. Spadefish can reach weights of 15 pounds, but average 2 to 4 pounds. An 8-pounder is a monster. These are powerful fish and use their deep bodies to work to their advantage. It’s like dragging a bucket full of water to the surface when you hook up.
Once Virginia anglers discovered that spadefish would bite, the Coastal Conservation Association worked diligently behind the scenes to establish a strict creel limit. Since spadefish remain near the same structure throughout the summer, it would be possible to fish out a school entirely. So CCA was a big help in establishing, promoting and protecting this fishery.
If you have never had the pleasure of hooking into one of these valiant warriors, how about a Road trip to the structures along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Bring some clam chum and small circle hooks.
And remember this. There is such a thing as a fish that won’t bite.