In search of mackerel 28/01

[hodges4]

Had a late start, about 9:30 after the grandkids started school, and headed off with son from Whyte is to look for spotties. Heard the spotties don't fire up until the NE seabreeze starts up.
The reports suggested there were plenty about from the Inner Beacon to the 4 Beacons and north.
We stopped at the 'outer beacon' where there were 4 other boats. Things were looking good, one boat landed what looked like a shoolie as we arrived. We tried a few casts to start off, letting them sink to the bottom before ripping back to the boat. 2 slugs were quickly lost to bite-offs on what felt like small fish so we anchored up between the other boats and started dropping weighted pillies down while still casting.
Son troy eventually caught an undersize schoolie which was returned.
Things really started looking good when all other boats landed fish and 1 boat even had his wife trying to land 2 fish while the bloke fought what looked like a really good fish.
All around us fish were being caught without us loosing a bait except for pickers.

We gave up and headed for Moreton. Not a single bird was sighted. No schools on the surface either. After an hour we returned to the 'outer beacon'.
Greeted with 2 of the original boats still there and all hooked up.
We anchored up and bait fished again.
Finally hooked up to what felt a lot better than a schoolie only to have it bight through the trace after 30 secs.

Kept trying for about an hour, Son even had a mackerel swim around his bait but not take it.
The others even managed to catch fish from under our boat.
Gave up and went home about 1:00pm leaving the others still catching fish. Grandkids to pick up.

Got a few questions I hope someone can answer.
What the hell were we doing wrong. We tried what looked like the same size sinkers, same trace length, different depths, and all were using pilchards.
The only thing I can think of is trace material. We were using around 60lb trace, not fluorocarbon. Would that have made the difference or should we have gone lighter.
It was so frustrating watching them catch so many without us getting a single legal fish.

Help please someone.


John

[outsiderskip]

i some times i a single 2/0 hook on 27lb single strand wire
trace is only 4inches
or use a double 3/0 ganged with 1/2 a pilly

pete

[Horse]

Have a look at your bait. Does it look natural. If not do as Pete suggested. It works when they are touchy
The others might have been using livies. Schoolies will hit anything from Whiting to Slimies

[hodges4]

The others were using pillies also not live bait. Our problem was we weren't getting the quantity of hookups the others were getting. Wouln't have been so bad if we kept loosing them, we just couldn't get the bites to start with.

What I was wondering about, are schoolies normally found on the bottom. We were having our baits picked to pieced after 5 mins. They weren't, so I assume they were off the bottom.

[BayDog]

60lb is too heavy, 15/20lb is enough. they won't usually hit the leader if you're using gangs. try putting the hooks through the back not the side, the pillies look better inthe water.

[bushweek]

lmonday gone there were plenty of small schoolies at the e3 which is the beacon i believe your talking about, but the one down e5 i think pretty much straight off tanga we pulled 7 schoolies all around 650-700 mark, we found so many little macs at the e3

[Jeremy]

so we anchored up between the other boats and started dropping weighted pillies down while still casting.
John

I bet you made yourself popular doing that he he.

Anyway, my suggestions:
1. you are NOT winding your slugs back fast enough. Reel needs a big spool and at least 6:1 and the handle of the reel should be a blur as you wind. Reels like the stradic 4000 are just not fast enough.
2. Chances are your pillies were not on straight and might have been spinning in the current.

[Horse]

Anyway, my suggestions:
1. you are NOT winding your slugs back fast enough. Reel needs a big spool and at least 6:1 and the handle of the reel should be a blur as you wind. Reels like the stradic 4000 are just not fast enough.
.

I beg to differ. I have used a 4000 Stradic for most of my Mackeral spinning. I have not noticed any change in bite off rates except when throwing 15gm or smaller slugs. The smaller handle can be spun a lot faster than a bigger reel
I have retired my TSS4 as the smaller outfit is easier to use and still handles most Mackys. At full pelt my slugs still leave the water

[Si]

i agree with baydog. i was out there 25th Jan and we lucky enough to get five with about three lost when hooks pulled. no bites offs. I was using twenty lb fluorocarbon leader. 60lb would be too noticeable i reckon unless you really have to use it. i dont normally use wire when using gangs as the extra length of the hooks usually will avoid teeth on the line.
i also used my new 4000 stradic and was intially worried that it wasnt fast enough but it caught one large one on a 'maria' slug so jury still out on that.
most of the fish were caught on pillies though.

boats can be a problem though. too many and the fish will shut down a bit.
cheers.

[Jeremy]

I beg to differ. I have used a 4000 Stradic for most of my Mackeral spinning. I have not noticed any change in bite off rates except when throwing 15gm or smaller slugs. The smaller handle can be spun a lot faster than a bigger reel
I have retired my TSS4 as the smaller outfit is easier to use and still handles most Mackys. At full pelt my slugs still leave the water

Wanna race?

Seriously, technique and the right lures goes a long way and that is probably why you haven't noticed much difference. I agree the new generation reels like the stradic are much lighter and nicer to use, but the bottom line - at least for me - for mackeral and tuna spinning is speed. Speed is based on spool dia and gear ratio and well as user factors, and as I said the stradic 4000 does not have a big spool diameter or a particularly high speed.

The two reels I use for high speed spinning pull 118 cm and 112 cm per turn of the handle. What do you get on your stradic? Still wanna race?

Jeremy

[ddobson]

I don't normally hook up pelagics due to the size of my tinny but i only used my baitcaster with 20 pound leader as it was the only rod with the larger leader and i wound medium to slow as i saw them go under my boat and they were swiming really slow and i hooked up both times with a slow wind with a 25 gram slug and thats all it took. Like i said i don't chase em much but thats all it took for me last week but i have been told many times about 6 to 1 with large spools and 6 to 8 kilo mono with a double to the slug. Mind you the spotty's were full even in there mouths. Cheers boys we all learn from each others info.

[Vic1]

I beg to differ. I have used a 4000 Stradic for most of my Mackeral spinning. I have not noticed any change in bite off rates except when throwing 15gm or smaller slugs. The smaller handle can be spun a lot faster than a bigger reel
I have retired my TSS4 as the smaller outfit is easier to use and still handles most Mackys. At full pelt my slugs still leave the water

The speed required for mackeral fishing is one of the biggest fallacies. Sometimes you may need to have the lure at light speed, but generally just a normal fast retrieve will get them. I have caught them many times with a 2500 reel and trust me even if you are superman, the lure can't go that fast

[LostNearBribie]

Yeah I have caught them with my 2500 also, great fun.
A floating pilly isn't moving to quick either...