Trolling for mackerel - mono or braid?

[S_Bend]

Well mackerel season is pretty much upon us and I will be making the trip out shortly to give it a go again - as soon as the wife lets me anyway. I'm pretty much an advocate of the mono for trolling for mackerel but just wanted opinions of you other fishos if anyone has a preference for braid and if so, why? What set up would you then use? I suppose I ask really from the point of my not enjoying the prospect of removing the braid again from my reels when I have all the best intentions of storing it for next snapper season but either losing it (storing it in a real safe place) or having it end up in such a mess that I end up throwing it away and buying more again.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be great.

I suppose I could always just go out and buy more fishing reels if I'm allowed???

[backhoe]

Mono's the go
Need a bit of stretch. Too many hooks pull with braid.

[darryl_l]

agree with backhoe go the mono line

[Jim_Byrne]

Mono for sure!

Jim

[JustOneMore]

I have used both and rarely dropped or pull hooks on either. Was using mono exclusively until last season, when I tried a mates rod loaded with braid. Had no problems and have another old fisho mate that uses one rod of each and accounts for good mackerel catches on both.

I think that if you use braid you must firstly have a rod with a little more flex and length than normal and secondly set your drag as light as possible then when you get the strike, don't lock up the drag and pull the hooks. Also a good length of mono leader helps as well.

I also only troll livies and dead baits at slow speeds, have not had much experience using lures at higher speeds, so this may be a different situation with a higher drag setting and pulling hooks.

I have loaded up two of my rods with braid ready for this mack season and i'm looking forward to get into them.

[Clint06]

I use both and dont think it makes much difference. If your drag is smooth and set correctly you shouldnt pull the hooks using braid.
With the braid i just tie the end to a small black swivel then attach a mono trace about 2ft long with my lure or trolling rig on the end, exactly the same as if i were using mono main line.

[Kiktz]

Have to say that I was strictly a mono man until we had a super seession on
mackeral last summer.

Will have to back up what 'Justone more" has said by saying that
as long as you set you drag a lil lighter than whatyou would with mono
you will be in the hunt. I have found with correct drag settings you wont pull any hooks and at the same time you will still have enough on the lure to set the hooks as well.

Aj

[Geoff_Atkinson]

I'm with Clint06.

If you have your drag set right you dont lose too many.

[whiteman]

Not trying to brag but I catch hundreds of mackerel a year and I use braid with TLDs set so there is just enough drag to hear the occassional "click". Always use a couple of meters or quality mono leader. Never troll faster than 6 knots - usually 4 knots.

[Duyz72]

Whiteman - might have to bail you up for a trip out this season and learn a bit since I now got myself a TLD!

[S_Bend]

Thanks, guys. Will give the braid a go this year for a change (still have one of the TLD's set with mono anyway so will compare). Will use a long mono trace so as to compensate and set the reels on slightly softer rods.

Dependant on the weather, I will head out next weekend (wife has me booked in for social events this weekend).

Good luck with all of your upcoming trips.

Lee.

[grich]

I was thinking of using braid this year with a 40 metre topshot of good mono to give the stretch. this will allow extra line with the braid and the stretch of mono. The next question is mono or wire trace and how long?
Cheers. G.

[whiteman]

Whiteman - might have to bail you up for a trip out this season and learn a bit since I now got myself a TLD!
Mate, not a lot to learn but I do a lot of trolling as I have a couple of kids who really don't like fishing so we have to achieve a lot in a couple of hours. My technique is pretty much the same for trolling for spaniards, doggies, fingermark (got some biggies on the troll) or coral trout:
- use Halco 5m or 8m lures. Always replace the trebles with quality 3x - Owners are excellent. Fingermark are particularly harsh on the standard trebles. Always keep the points sharp - test by dragging the point across your fingernail - you'll see what I mean. Colour is important but sometimes it's hard to know so I'll change colours every 30 minutes if not getting a strike. The last couple of times I cleaned up the orange on white lure was doing all the damage. I have had little success on 2m lures for some reason.
- never use wire. I've had a couple of bust-offs with mono leader but I've never caught a thing using wire.
- I use a very small albright to attach the leader to the mainline. Small but strong swivel on the lure. Buy the best terminal tackle you can afford as the cheaper stuff tends to break.
- with 2 lures out the back, make sure they are different somehow, such as colour, depth, length of line.
- troll over structure. Look for bait schools and mark these on the GPS. I try and get a small pattern to work within a 500m area. If you get a hit, mark it immediately then check the rod. If you are not getting a strike within the hour, move.
- boat speed is usually 4-5 knots but I will sometimes slow down when I think the lures are right on top of the highest structure. This is particularly effective for trout and FMs.
- sometimes the fish don't want to cooperate and you can't do a thing about it.
Hope this gives you something new to try.

[scottv50]

"whiteman" nice detailed response on trolling technique. Thank you.

[S_Bend]

Thanks, Whiteman. Always good to get another fisho's thoughts like this. Appreciated.

[tailorboi99]

Mate use the Mono line alot stronger Lo-Stretch though... Good Luck!

[steve99]

Having spent literally thousands of hours trolling for pelagics I cant see any benefit in using braid. None whatsoever... Just because braid is three times the price of mono doesnt mean its better. If ive got a big fish hooked by the barest margin Id much rather be using mono simply because the stretch in mono provides protection agiasnt the shock generated by head shaking [or jumping ] fish
Usually, when I make such statements the true believers come out of the woodwork swinging,in most instances suggesting i should be using a rod with a
softer tip or extra long mono leader to absorb some [if any] shock . Why bother!!Braid might be terrific for bottom donging in 50 fathoms,but for trolling its mono all the way. cheers steve99.

[Jeremy87]

Trolling for pelagics is one of the few situations where there is no real advantage for using braid. The only possible advantage i can think of would be increased line capacity if you were in a situation where it was desired. I know a bloke who used to run braid as backing and have a hundred or so metres of mono on the top. He then used to strip off the mono every now and again and replace it with some fresh stuff. But the point is the stretch will keep the hooks in easier. Yes you can still catch fish trolling with braid but you have to make compromises in your tackle, making it more difficult to land a fish for no apparent reason.

Casting for inshore pelagics on the other hand braid all the way. It will cast further and more accurately with light metals, the small diametre means you can use smaller reels (despite popular belief a 2500 stradic is well and truely fast enough for spotties a 4000 shimano/daiwa fast or slow gear ratio will catch every fish and then some that a tss4 will) and still have a decent line capacity for a bigger fish. True you still have the hook pulling issue but this time the adaptations to the rod that keeps hooks in are also benificial to casting so its a win win. you don't need to run 4 kilo's of drag for spotties 1.5-2 is ample let them take their couple of runs and then tighten it and wind em in. Single hooks set into their jaw better so once you have them hooked up they tend to stay hooked.