Page 76 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing magazine

Targeting spanish mackerel in the Torres Strait
* from P75
While many anglers choose not to use wire, I always run a short sin- gle-strand wire trace about 30cm long to avoid losing expensive lures.
wire onto a large snap swivel at- tached to the lure of choice. You can certainly fish lighter but we usually have a few sharks to contend with.
shredded and aren’t cost effective if you’re putting a new one on each drop.
Avoid shiny gold swivels because the reflection and bubble trail they create can result in a second mack- erel biting you off. I generally use between a 6000 and 8500-size spin- ning reel, 30-40lb Platypus Plati- num braid, 3-5m of 80lb black mag- ic leader for shock absorption and 30cm of 120lb Mason Single Strand
We have fishers in Cairns who have great success using berley to bring in fish and target them by floating out pillies on gangs, though we find sharks are just to quick to move in with this technique in the Straits.
Some mackerel fishers swear by using live baits but I find using the right lures at the right time and location to be equally effective. Of course feeding birds can give away the location of pelagics such as mackerel, so it is important to keep an eye on the water as well as your sounder.
As the sun rises higher in the sky, you will notice that mackerel often push deeper in the water column. They will still readily feed but troll- ing shallow diving lures and wog heads will no longer be a likely effective method.
Spanish mackerel aren’t dirty fight- ers, so there is no need for locked up drags. Actually, over-tightened drags can result in hooks getting pulled, especially when using braid because it has no stretch unlike monofilament. In fact, many fishos prefer mono when trolling for mack for this reason.
The author with a solid mackerel taken by spearing the pressure point of a small reef system.
Spanyid’s Maniac is another great metal lure. Of course knife jigs and micro jigs can be effective but – de- pending on the assist hook set-up – mackerel will often bite through the assist cord, so consider chang- ing to wire. Plastics will simply get
While landing mackerel isn’t over- ly complicated, they do have one dirty tactic, which involves a blister- ing run, a turn and a run back up the line towards the boat. When the line goes slack, the mackerel will give a few head shakes and often dislodge the lure. So it is important to always keep tension, even if you think you have dropped the fish. If in doubt, wind, wind, wind!
Depending on water depth and where fish are holding, it may be worth dropping metal slices to the bottom and then ripping them through the water column. If fish are there this high-speed retriev- al will trigger an attack response because the shimmering lure will resemble a fleeing baitfish. The Halco Twisty 70g lure in gold with a short wire trace is a favourite for this method.
Mackerel have a typical fight, which usually consists of two to four good runs before coming to the surface and finishing off with a few circles at the boat. Of course the work is then up to person with the gaff to secure the fish. I’ve seen a few poorly placed gaff shots rip the lure out of fish mouths ending with no fish and a heap of choice words. Textbook release.
Luke Beqir with a nice specimen caught off Jardine River.
Page 76 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2020
Bycatch when chasing mackerel can be a lot of fun and if you are landing queenfish, trevally and tuna you are in the right area. As many know, the pointy end of spanish mackerel can be very dangerous, so ensure you gaff and subdue the fish
Recognising mackerel on your sounder is quite easy compared to other species because they gener- ally show as clearly defined arches. Commonly they hang off bait balls, which are also obvious as a larger mass on the screen.
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