Mackeral Fishing ROd

[Splash]

WHich rod is best (and why) for mack fishing off boat:

7' Shimano King Mack Overhead or 7'6" Bluewater Overhead 10/15kg

lures and floating pillies

THoughts?

Splash

[brrbear]

I prefer 8' in 7-10 kg.
for tossing lures u get a bit more distance.
for fighting the fish u don't need power (unlees there are shark problems)enjoy the run on the longer stick!!

[Splash]

is 8' too long in your boat?

hwo do u manage such a long rod in boat?

is distance important when castign from baot?

What brand rod in 8' do u prefer?

Splash

[Cheech]

8ft seems to be the standard to get enough distance to get to boils. I was considering using my 12 ft surf rod this summer. Long rods are a pain anyway so what is a bit more length (ok 4 ft more, but think of the distance!).

[Horse]

My old FSU 4120G might come out for a few trips this season. Probably cast 30% further than my 7' spin stick.
I think if you are spinning then try to go better than 7'

[Splash]

Great points - thanks!

I once made a great rod from the FSU blank - then it was snapped in 3 by a fkcn truck driver!

So - longer the better hey.

Thanks

[brrbear]

is 8' too long in your boat?

hwo do u manage such a long rod in boat?

is distance important when castign from baot?

What brand rod in 8' do u prefer?

Splash


8' is not to long and i prefer the longer rod for macks.Brands are not really important as long as your comfortable with it.
2 of the main ones I use are a lve fiber and a fenwick(the fenwick came from a hock shop).
If casting to feeding fish distance can be important , you don't want to spook fish by putting the boat to close.
casting bait is not as important for distance,
I have several rods and its only been in the last few years i've switched to the longer rods and i feel the move has been for the better.
bear

[Splash]

Do u use an overhead for your 8' live fibres?

[Splash]

What model number live fibre in the 8' do u use?

[brrbear]

I use calcutta for bait fishing and a diawa sealine for lures and baits
as for the live fibre blank the nu' arn't shown,i had it made the other rod in the pic is a pacific composite ?

[brrbear]

Great points - thanks!

I once made a great rod from the FSU blank - then it was snapped in 3 by a fkcn truck driver!

So - longer the better hey.

Thanks


the fsu 4120 was a popular blank, I found the large dia. of the rod made it difficult to handle for a long session plus it,s power is not required for macks in a boat also its a 10' rod

[Splash]

Nice setup Brrbear, real nice! Well balanced look! What lb line do u use on these outfits?

[Jeremy87]

is 8' too long in your boat?

hwo do u manage such a long rod in boat?

is distance important when castign from baot?

What brand rod in 8' do u prefer?

Splash
Are you chasing bay spotties? any spin rod between 7 and 8ft will do the trick. Anything longer than 8ft is to hard to cast, less accurate, more cumbersome in a boat and increases fight time. The advantage being longer casts. I have found that making long casts at boiling fish can be pointless anyway, specially when the school are moving quickly and not staying up for long (by the time your slug hits the water they could have gone down or moved). If you can punch a slug 50-60 metres then thats enough. I use a loomis sjr941 (7'10" 10-17lb) spin outfit with a sustain 4000 and 15lb briad to do nearly all my inshore spinning. I can puch a 25gram slug with this rod over 80 metres, but out of the several hundred pelagisc i spun up with it last summer 90% would have been taken from casts only 20-50 metres away.

The era of the tss4 for bay spotties is over, you can crank just as fast for longer periods of time and cast lighter slugs with greater ease using a 4000 spin real. 12-15lb line is more than ample for spotties and tuna up to 10kg. The old 8ft live fibre while a great rod for the old tss4 is to heavy and not enough action for light slugs. A 7--7'6" 3-6kg or 7-8ft 4-8kg spin outfit with a 4000 shimano or daiwa is the new standard.

[Splash]

great point Jeremey.

7'10" is pretty close to 8' though...

I'll consider..

Splsh

[Jeremy87]

Yah 8ft is just on the max of what i would use, there are some spin rods out there that are closer to 9 that are just too big. If your going out with a boat load of people then 7ft is a better option. You were looking at overhead set ups? what was the motivation behind this. For baits and trolling they are a better option but for casting you need a spin rod, i'm just a little confused from your posts as to which you want to do. If you want to troll, spin and drop baits down for macks then you will really need 2 set ups

[brrbear]

Nice setup Brrbear, real nice! Well balanced look! What lb line do u use on these outfits?


15lb is ample as jeremy said there are many ways u can go ,look around and find something your happy with.
just don't go to heavy,mackeral are a lot of fun on light gear even spanish will be stopped quite easy on this gear if your not in a hurry
personally I don't like using braid for macks I prefer the stretch in mono with that initial first hit plus I find braid a bit harsh.
as jeremy said this is only scratching the surface
If your happy with overhead gear I suggest u stick with it.
5 years ago no threadline would be in the boat but times change with plastic fishing and some of the deep jig gear about.
good luc bear

[Splash]

Hi Jeremy.

Overheads - the saltist - big drag and fast ratio. Your pros and cons of the overhead vs threadline for spinning?

Brrbear - do u spin with your overheads?

SPlsh

[Jeremy87]

Hi Jeremy.

Overheads - the saltist - big drag and fast ratio. Your pros and cons of the overhead vs threadline for spinning?

Brrbear - do u spin with your overheads?

SPlsh

Are you after spotties in the bay or are you after spanish or a bit of everything?

I'm going to go with the assumption that you will predominantly be chasing spotties. Moreton bay spotties feed mostly on small white bait and frog mouth pillies that are no more than 70mm long when busting the surface. I've never chased hervey bay spotties but they i think they might eat bait a bit bigger and this is where alot of people get the idea that you can use bigger slug in the bay. they will eat other things when offshore, hanging down deep or off beacons but when they are busting the surface it's all small bait. In the bay a 40gram slug is as big as you should be using to immitate these baitfish, period. 20-30grams is a more acceptable size. When they have freshly arrived into the bay they are often less picky but after a week they will only take close immitations of their food source.

In terms of pros and cons for overhead or spinning. i'll start with cons.
Con you will physically not be able to cast a 20gram slug with a saltist overhead. The daiwa saltiist high speed is designed as a jigging/live baiting reel. Experienced fisheos will be able to cast big poppers etc with one but small slugs, not a chance. A big drag is not required and a fast gear ratio is useless when you don't have enough tension on you line and have no level wind. If you were still dead keen on using an overhead something like a calcutta or abu 7000 would do alot better.

I don't know what your price tag is but for about 150 bucks you can get yourself a shimano symetre 4000 and with the new range coming through you could even pick up an old model stradic 4000 or 5000 for less than $200. These reels are physically lighter capable of casting slugs down to 10 grams over 40 metres and you will be able to crank line in alot faster with them. They are perfectly suited for 10-12lb mono and braid up to 20lb. I cannot think of a single dissadvantage other than if a 20kg longtail grabs your slug then your in for one hell of a fight, but then again if you use a daiwa saltist high speed then you won't even be able to cast a slug.

[Splash]

Thansk Jeeremy - grea tpoints and you may have just adjsuted my thinking - using this logic.

I live in GOVE - and will be fishing for large pelagics, spanish, tuna, possible cobia, GT's.

Why are light slugs so prominent in a lot of sdiscussion i see on this froum?

SPlash

[Jeremy87]

You will find that the main population base for this website is from south east queensland and for the reasons i stated above spinning small slugs is the most successful technique for catching spottie mackeral which is the most commonly sought after pelagic species. The fact that your up in the NT would have been useful to know before ranting on about moreton bay spotties::) .

Oh well you get that. But i still maintain that to cover bait, trolling and spinning will need 2 outfits maybe 3 depending on how good you are at casting an overhead. I you want to cast then you will probably need two outfits. One with 50+ pound line for gt's (spin or overhead again depending on if you can cast a big overhead) and a 20-30lb spin outfit for the tuna and spanish. You can and will have to use larger slugs in accordance with the bait size found up north. Trying to use a big gt rod for macks and tuna is pointless as it will be to difficult to cast smaller lures or for a long period of time and only fishing light will inevitably end badly when chasing gts around reefs. While mono is ok for lighter applications you will definately want braid for purely for the fact that you get extra line capacity and it sitting better on the spool. You don't have as much stretch but this can be compensated for with longer rods, smooth drags and longer stretchy leader material.

I'd suggest going for a 10-15kg spin outfit to start with, something like a 6000 shimano or a new penn spinnfisher (spend more if you can afford it) with a soft 30lb braid. If you need a heavier stick later on for the gts then you can go for that later.

What you decide on for baits and trolling is up to you.

[nigelr]

Great replies Jeremy, really enjoyed reading your informative answers.
Cheers.

[brrbear]

small slugs are used around brisbane as they match the hatch.
I believe the spotties tend to be on the smaller side to.(majority)
the time I spent in gove and the coburg that also seemed to be the case.It may of been the time of year(may).
I use a diawa sealine OH or spinning but if your not sure stick with the threadline.
The shark population up there might be a problem on extended fights.
I think you will have to work out exactly what you want to fish for,small or large,bait spin or troll then choose a weapon.
get the best quality you can afford for the aspect of fishing you want to do the most of.If the bug bites you it won't be long before you have 20 plus rods and reels.Then you will be tell people how one rod does not do it all.
Haly your luck your in a top fishing area.
bear

[Horse]

Jeremy, I think you will have to teach me to cast. 80m is great with a 25gm lure. Thats not much under what I can get with 10'er and 65gms with 14lb Fireline.
My light stick is a Snapper Raider Stradic 4000 combo and I would only get about 40m with 20gms and 6kg GSP
I will be looking for a better rod and was looking at the Starlo Stix Pro Spin 701M or something similar. The loomis is a bit $$$$$$

[Jeremy87]

Guessing distances on the water is very difficult, i actually plotted it out one day at a park to figure out just how far i can cast. Your snapper raider stradic combo should be up around the 65-70metres for a 20gramer easily.

It's all in the technique but a good rod will add 10-15 metres to the cast and swapping over to a soft braid like pe or tuffline will add another 5. the loomis is about $300 and its specifically designed for 20-30gram metals. I saw an 8ft daiwa sol 10-17lb spin stick at tackle warehouse the other day for 335, probably the best looking bay spottie stick i've ever seen.

My mate is the one who taught me to cast, having the right weight and amount of line hanging from the rod tip is very important, as is the way you hold the rod, dominant hand on the top pushes forwards while the bottom hand pulls back.

[Splash]

thanks boys

[Horse]

I will have to get back to the park and remeasure what I am getting

[Jeremy87]

i just go to a park with a salt water lake and use the ruler in google earth. you can easily figure it out within 5 metres or so if you cast for land marks.

[dodgyone]

TCurve King macks are a great rod and have plenty of guts in reserve. I use the spin model with 50lb Fins as my light jigging and casting for macks rod and it has quite a few to its credit now up to around 15kg. Very impressed.

[Splash]

Waht line class (10-15kg or 15-24kg)?

Why this rod over others that were mentioned in this thread?

SOme say, this rod lacks good casting action.

Your thoughts on above comments apprecaieted - because I am in the market right now..

Splash