queensland More Mackerel mayhem

[marty]

Magic day on Palm Beach reef this morning - minimal wind and fish played the game. Started early and was second boat on the reef, ensuring we secured the same spot as last week. Some of the astute AFO members may recognise one of the boats in my pic. Action was slow through the morning with the odd fish, but switch was flicked at 6:30am and it was mayhem for 45 mins. We had two triple hook-ups and four double hook-ups which always make us look like amateurs as we dance around the boat.

At one stage I was spinning a slug when one of my bait rods went off, so I gave the spin rod to my mate. I wind left handed (like all true right handed lure fisherman haha) so he struggled - and as soon as he got coordinated the line went tight and drag was screaming. I ended up with a good Spotty from the bait rod but my mate kept fishing my spin rod, eventually landing a 110cm Spanish. He claimed it but I am a little dubious as to whose fish it was 

We managed to land the Spanish, a Kingfish and five Spotties before calling it a day. Our conversion rate was terrible - we must have lost 15 fish this morning. One of the Spotties was lost to a solid Shark that took the fish beside the boat.

Anyway, my decision to extend my holidays by one extra day turned out to be a good one. The mackerel mayhem always brings a smile to my face.

Marty

[ellicat]

I must be astute. Haha

Fun morning. Good call on the holiday extension.

Which is your favoured eating fish out of that lot ?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Great effort marty, the Spaniard would've been awesome! I'm pretty sure that can count as a team effort.

I don't have a clue to any of the boats. Lol.

Cheers Hamish

[marty]

21 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Which is your favoured eating fish out of that lot ?

First time I have tasted Kingfish and Spanish - so far the Kingfish is the best for sashimi in my opinion.

[kmcrosby78]

Great session again there Marty, very well done. That biggest spottie looks like a horse - must have gone very close to 1 metre? Wonder if @tugger has been feeding local van park .......? 

[Hweebe]

Good call on extending the holidays and conditions look mint in the photo.

@marty when fishing palmy for Macs what if your typical rod, reel and bait rig?

Cheers

hweebe

[marty]

Setups and rigs for Mackerel fishing vary from angler to angler - no set rules. And I won't list brands to avoid starting a Ford v Holden debate 

My bait setups are fibreglass rods 6-7' long, 6-10kg rating, with bait runner reels (approx 250m line capacity and 9kg drag), spooled with 20lb mono. I don't use braid on the bait rods as it gets a bit dangerous when multiple rods go off at once. The rig is a 4/0 octopus hook, with 100mm of 17-30lb multi strand wire and a swivel. I use cubes of pillies no bigger than 50mm and float them out the back of the boat. Often use a float (ballon or foam) on one rig to vary the depth of the bait.

My spin setups are 7-8' graphite rods, 5-10kg rating, with a 5000 size reel, spooled with 20-30lb braid and 1m of 30lb leader. Slugs vary in size from 15-45gms and colour changes on the day - white and pink are the most successful.

Thanks

[Hweebe]

Thanks @marty interesting that you don’t use gang hooks I’ve always thought wire in popular areas such as palmy would turn off fish but ur def getting the results. I will definitely give wire a try.

Only cubes rather then whole pillies is also something I have to try maybe the adage “big bait big fish” doesn’t always work on macs

So ur using bait runners to float the cubes unweighted out the back to get the bait down to the strike zone. I’ve not really invested in baitrunners so will need to look into that as well. 
 

I haven’t fished on the boat outside Moreton bay as similar to @ellicat I’m trying to grow my sea legs but want to pick a good day to try my luck out the seaway.

Thanks for sharing. 

 

 

[marty]

You don't need baitrunners @Hweebe but they are easy to use for this style of fishing. You could always use a basic spinning reel with good drag, and fish it with a light drag setting, then once you hook a fish tighten the drag to the required load. Same result as using a baitunner, but not as clean - and you need to know exactly how far to tighten your drag before you start fishing. Also, these rods are sitting in rod holders - i am not holding them.

As I said this is just what I do - everyone out there has their own method and techniques. Some fish whole pillies, some use no wire when the fishing is slow. What works today may not work tomorrow.

Bait fishing gets results and you can have a few baits out oat one time, but I love spinning for them. Nothing better than a good cast, fast retrieve and coming up solid to a good fish. You work harder so appreciate each fish more.

[kmcrosby78]

@Hweebe if you want to use whole pillies, a good option is to use a bait needle attached to the swivel at the top of your wire trace (single strand like @marty suggested earlier) and use it to thread your trace through the pillies, well .... bum, and out through it's mouth. You then pull all the trace through and sink the hook into the tail section of the pillie. Old trick taught to many of us by @tugger and the recently deceased legend @aussie123 . 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

13 hours ago, Hweebe said:

Only cubes rather then whole pillies is also something I have to try maybe the adage “big bait big fish” doesn’t always work on macs

Interestingly, I've seen lots of situations where it's 'Big Bait, Small Fish', like when a whiting will eat a hard lure 3/4 the size of itself. Thanks for the good advice on gear and rigging marty and KM!

Cheers Hamish

[Woodsy1]

Good post, very informative 

thanks 

Woodsy

[tugger]

1st picture i reckon i know that boat in the center of screen, well done we landed very much the same with 1 spanish and  7 spotties for our box.