What Tradies Want — August-September 2017

(Axel Boer) #1
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

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