Started off our 2023 season with a 3 hr fun trip. Terry and his son booked at the last minute, and said they just wanted to get out and have a nice day. The Spanish mackerel bite is really early this year, but it was getting pretty good, along with our short run of Atlantic bonito, so I figured we ought to be able to get into something. I ran a couple of Clark spoons out just as we cleared the inlet, and it wasn't long before the first Spanish of the day was skipping in the wake. Unfortunately, he was a little too small, but at least it was action to start the morning. The water was really churned up from a passing cold front, and the bottom layer showed up like a cloud on the depth finder. That's not ideal, but we still managed to hook a handful of Spanish... although they were mostly shorts and had to be released. As usual, there were a number of "remote releases" too. I was sweating it a little bit, because 3 hours isn't always a lot of time to run to new locations to hunt the bigger fish, and I hated to send these guys home empty-handed. I pushed off toward a different piece of structure, and at last it happened. Both rods went over hard. Fish were taking line, and that's not something you see with Spanish mackerel. I knew we'd found some Atlantic bonito! The fight was pretty epic, with Terry and son both working pretty hard to manage these hard-fighting fish. After the small Spanish, they were both surprised at the strength and tenacity the bonito demonstrated. To their credit, though, both fish came to the boat and into the box. The morning continued with a few more small Spanish, and then one last bonito (smaller than the first two) before the bite completely shut down. The wind had freshened and we were starting to see a good bit of chop, so it was good timing when we agreed that time was up and we needed to get back to the dock. Overall, it was an excellent day with a couple of guys who had **hidden content**itudes and went home with some of the best-tasting nearshore fish our area has to offer. The Atlantic bonito are only here for a month or so every spring, so I was glad to get them onto some.