Hooking spanish mackerel

[reggy]

It amazes me how mackerel can strip a trolled flesh bait with one hit and you hardly see your rod move.
I troll bonito and slimy mac baits at about 4 knots with 6/0 ganged hooks rigged under the belly.
To improve my hookup rate, I tried bending every second hook point the opposite way to the hook next to it
and this has been a real improvement in my hookup success.
Give it a try. It works.spanish rig.jpg

[scottar]

They are the masters of evading hooks. Regulary get both halves of live baits back - just the middle bit gone. I even have a Halco 190 with some great teeth marks inbetween the sets of trebles .........it was being trolled at 8 knots at the time.

[BigE]

It's in the way they slash at a bait when there not actually on the chew.

BigE

[EdBerg]

They have lots of practice, don't forget they do this daily for a living!!