# Know your Mackerel!!!! (updated)



## rhbama3 (Jul 18, 2014)

This thread is intended for the saltwater newbies( like me) and not for  you experts. I'm not proud of it, but wanted to share to save somebody else some grief down the road.

    I had never caught a mackerel in my life till last weekend. My brother in law lives in PC and we decided to take the big boat trolling for Kings off the beach. Put out two J duster  rigs with cigar minnows and trolling weights. We trolled about a mile off shore from the St. Andrews jetty to the 2nd public pier. Had a great time but the weather was getting rough and the 4 foot seas were taking a toll on the wife so we headed back. We caught 6 nice sized spanish and lost another 3 at the boat. 
    As we entered the bay, we were stopped and boarded by the FWC. He checked all the licenses, registration, and safety equipment and then asked what we had been fishing for. We were honest and told him we were trolling for Kings but only caught some spanish. You can imagine my concern when he told us that there were very few spanish out there this time of year and that what we had were probably juvenile Kings.
   Now, like i said, i had never caught a mackerel before in my life but assumed the yellow spots on the side were only on spanish. NOPE!!!! The juvenile kings also have yellow spots. He measured all our fish and just by sheer luck, only one was short by an 1/8 of an inch. He told us the penalty was $500 per short fish but was going to only write us a warning provided we threw the short fish overboard( which we promptly did). 
   So, if you catch a "spanish", make sure the pectoral fins are dark, the dorsal fin has a black patch at the front,and the lateral line ridge goes mostly straight to the tail. If it goes halfway down and drops diagonally to the tail, you are holding a King.
   I know ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law, but that was what it was. The FWC officer was very thorough in explaining the differences between the two species, and we were very grateful for his leniency.
 Just wanted to try to save someone else from making the same mistake.


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## Nicodemus (Jul 18, 2014)

That makes me wonder how you tell a cero mackerel then?


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## rhbama3 (Jul 18, 2014)

Nicodemus said:


> That makes me wonder how you tell a cero mackerel then?



This may help, Nic:


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## Nicodemus (Jul 18, 2014)

Thanks Robert!


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## oops1 (Jul 18, 2014)

I've probably done the same in the past.. Thanks for the heads up.. I'll be looking more closely now


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## Dustin Pate (Jul 18, 2014)

It can happen on the piers as well. Back in May there were a bunch of juvy kings mixed in with the spanish. The sharp drop in the lateral line is the easiest way to pick them apart IMO.

A little off topic but similar, I have been seeing many reports off the piers of people being being ticketed for small AJ's that are mixing in with the hardtails. They are also very similar in looks.


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## Nicodemus (Jul 18, 2014)

Kinda hard to see the yellow spots on the side and the lateral line, but in ya`lls opinion, which one is this?


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## oops1 (Jul 18, 2014)

King?


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## rhbama3 (Jul 18, 2014)

Nicodemus said:


> Kinda hard to see the yellow spots on the side and the lateral line, but in ya`lls opinion, which one is this?



Thats a King, Nic. Diagonal lateral line.


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## pottydoc (Jul 18, 2014)

Yup, kingfish, no doubt


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## Hooked On Quack (Jul 18, 2014)

Do Cero count against your Spanish limit ??


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## Nicodemus (Jul 18, 2014)

rhbama3 said:


> Thats a King, Nic. Diagonal lateral line.





pottydoc said:


> Yup, kingfish, no doubt





Thanks. This was a valuable lesson.


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## rhbama3 (Jul 18, 2014)

Hooked On Quack said:


> Do Cero count against your Spanish limit ??



I googled and the only thing i could find was there is no size or bag limit on cero's. I also saw where it says cero's mostly exists in SOUTH florida waters, so i would guess you won't see many in the panhandle. 
Like i said, this is all new to me though.


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## Hooked On Quack (Jul 18, 2014)

rhbama3 said:


> I googled and the only thing i could find was there is no size or bag limit on cero's. I also saw where it says cero's mostly exists in SOUTH florida waters, so i would guess you won't see many in the panhandle.
> Like i said, this is all new to me though.






We've caught alot in the Big Bend area, always thought they were Spanish until our guide showed us the difference.


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## d-a (Jul 18, 2014)

Nicodemus said:


> That makes me wonder how you tell a cero mackerel then?



Location. There generally found south of Tampa and on the keys. 

d-a


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## d-a (Jul 18, 2014)

Nicodemus said:


> Kinda hard to see the yellow spots on the side and the lateral line, but in ya`lls opinion, which one is this?



King. Best eating size too. 

d-a


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## 2degrees (Jul 20, 2014)

the lat line can be a bit confusing. The black spot is always spot on.


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## basser (Jul 20, 2014)

Kings have 4 rows of spots, and Spanish have 3 rows.


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## rhbama3 (Jul 29, 2014)

I forgot the wife took a pic of our fish at the cleaning table. You can see the diagonal line on a couple along with the yellow spots still visible on the fish at the top( must have been the last one caught).


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