What Tradies Want — August-September 2017

34 WHAT TRADIES WANT.

challenging art which I could write an entire
article on.
There are some good videos out there on
social media channels if you’re interested in
having a go at trolling dead-baits.

Lures
Trolling hard-body lures is another tried and
tested way to catch a Spanish mackerel, and
it’s an easy approach that doesn’t require
catching live baits or rigging dead baits.
It’s a good idea to have a couple of lures of
different styles or colours out to see what
flavour they’re into on the day. I find trolling
the lures at a speed of between six and eight
knots works well.
Spanish are found in any offshore area
where baitfish are known to hang. The
front edge of a hard reef, rubble grounds

or coffee rock are good examples. Usually

the mackerel will be feeding at a certain

depth. You can run your live and dead baits

at different depths with a downrigger, or by

placing different sized sinkers on the main

line with a rubber band about 10m in front of

your bait. With hard-body lures it’s a good

idea to run a couple of different depth divers

until you know where the fish are feeding. If

you get a strike at a certain depth at a certain

spot I recommend you mark that spot and

go back over it trolling baits at that depth.

Because mackerel are a schooling fish it’s

not uncommon to pick up another fish in the

same location on the next pass.

Bycatch

When fishing for Spanish macks you put

yourself in with a good chance of boating

some other top-quality fish. Often your

bycatch (non-target species) will depend on

which fishing method you use and where

in Australia you’re fishing. Towing live baits

can result in a myriad of other hard-fighting

pelagics being landed, including tuna, cobia,

and sometimes marlin. Smaller mackerel

species are notorious for hitting both live and

dead baits. Lures can attract tuna, wahoo,

kingfish and trevally to name a few. Every

now and then you can even get surprised by

catching a good bottom fish like a coral trout

or snapper.

As tucker

Spanish mack are not the best candidates for

catch-and-release fishing. They tire quickly,

attract sharks and often get hooked in places

that cause them to bleed to death. If you’re

an avid catch-and-release angler, targeting

these fish on lures retrofitted with single

hooks would be a sensible approach. Guys

targeting GTs on poppers and stick-baits

often successfully catch and release large

Spanish mackerel.

Fortunately for those who enjoy taking

home a feed of fish, Spanish mackerel are

absolutely delicious. They have a firm, white

flesh full of good omega-three oils. It’s a

Pointy end of a toothy Spanish.

Luke caught this Spanish while

winding his live bait in to check it

at the end of a mornings trolling.

34 WHAT TRADIES WANT.

SERVING UP BIG MACKS