catching big ones landbased

[kevin1987316]

i mainly fishing shorncliffe jetty and manly harbour and i'm doing landbased fishing.
i have been trying to catch big ones like makerel, tuna or queenfish from the jetty with extremely light tackle. some sucess with the biggest one goes 60CM mac. but the 6-8LB line sometimes let me done.
the biggest problem, however, is to get the fish hooked.
i usually used half or whole pilchard with ganged hooks, i cast and wipe them in at different speed. i found that most of the big bites comes when the bait's 1-1.5meters under the surface and bites down in the bottom mostly come from big bream. However, as the mac or tuna bites pretty fast, they bite a part of the pilly and quikly release the rest. the whole process takes no more than 1 second so i have no time to release the line to let them swallow the ganged hooks hidden in the fish. as well, as big breams bite, they tend to tear the pilly into shreds, with the hooks hanging there.
does anyone get success in catching these big ones landbased frequently? what technique are u using and where can i go seeking a best fight on that 1.8m, 8LB lure rod?

[Poodroo]

Mate it is the luck of the draw really with ganged hooks. Firstly you are lucky if the big ones are there and secondly lucky if they manage to hook themselves. My suggestion is to try something different. Those sorts of fish like tuna and mackeral like being enticed by fast moving baits so if you know they are out there then try casting slugs at them and doing the quick retrieve. If the big ones are there they will get excited and give chase and latch on. Have seen it work loads of times. Good luck and happy fishing.

Poodroo

[younstar]

have you tried using tuna hooks ( circle hooks) they might help

[kevin1987316]

thanks a lot, the ganged hooks problem really puzzled me a lot.
i am trying to tie one or two triple( is it?) hooks on the ganged hooks, then the whole pilly will be something like a tasty lure, ha ha , i will try it this weekend.
i tried slugs before, but the only catch were small pike and tailor, and a unknown fish (some kind of pike).