Techniques for Morton Bay Pelagics ??

[Abalone_4.9]

Hi Guys, Offshore and I went out into the northern bay on Thursday and mangaged to only get 2 Spotties. We must have run into about 50 schools of varies fish. We had a fairly poor hook up rate and with this in mind I just have a few questions.
1. What slugs/lures have been working best in the Bay at the moment.
2. How should we approach and work a boiling school so as not to scare them.
3. And i've heard lots about jigging around pylons, what are the best jigs and how should we use them.
Thanks for this guys, this is our first summer on the bay so it's all new
Cheers
Lee

[sidewayz]

Lee

The technique i usually use when is see a school of macs or tuna, is to have a look at them for a while to see what direction they're heading, and then position the boat in front of them (turning the motor off is they are spooked easily) and let the fish come to you rather than chasing after them all the time. This usually allows you to get a couple of good casts away into the school. Casting to the edges of the school and bringing the slug along the schools rather than casting right into the middle of the boil usually produces more fish as the fish sees the lure (baitfish) by itself out in the open away from the safety in numbers of the ball of bait. I don't fish the bay for macs, but have had a fair bit of success up around noosa with 20 - 40 gram raiders, the rios slugs and also the laser lures of the same size. Pretty much try to match the size of the slug to the size of the baitfish they are feeding on.

Hope this haas been of some help.

Sidewayz

[Abalone_4.9]

Hey Sidewayz,
Thanks for this mate. Excellent info.
Will give the new Penn 8500ss a workout this weekend using these tips. I hope lol
Cheers buddy.
Lee

[Sportfish_5]

Lee,

If there is one thing I know about chasin Tuna is that what works one day may not work the next.

At present the bait they are chewin on is pretty small (15gm slug size) so you need to get close to get a cast on them or use a black marker or black tape to reduce the profile size of your slug. I usually leave the engine running as they move that fast they are gone by the time you pick the rod up > and I approach them with the wind behind me (some approach other way for stealth but I dont tend to worry too much about that) and try to throw into the school by trying to predict their movement but I dont think it matters that much as long as you are near.
I take the same tact as Sidewayz for Spotties and throw to the sides of the boiling school as I think the bigger ones tend to hang back a bit and let the young-uns do the work and less chance of being bitten off by another spottie once hooked. For Tuna and doggies I just tie the slug straight to the main line but do use about a metre of mono leader for spotties. Speed is the key for macks so you need to wind in as fast as possible with a high speed reel 6:1 etc.

Jiggin the markers should improve over the next month or so. Usually you will get hit on the way down. I usually just use any 30-40 gram chrome slug and cast it around the marker and let it drop for about 10/15 seconds and then retrieve as fast as possible.

Where did you get the Spotties and u sure they were spotties ???

Cheers

Greg

[Mick]

Lee, when the spotties were around up here, they seemed to be taking something different every week end. We got our bag limits on three occasions. The first week end we got them on floating pilchards while anchored. The next time we got them on Raiders about 7cm-10cm long, drifting and casting at em, and on the third occasion we could only get them trolling spoons.

If you can find bait balls on the surface, drive the boat up to them, cutting the engine before hitting the bait. The bait will sometimes surround the boat as a refuge, especially if they are being chewed on. Drift with them and float pilchards. Most will ignore the unusual looking pilchard amoung the smaller bait fish, but we found there was always a few crazy spotties that couldn't refuse the easy feed.

[Abalone_4.9]

Thanks again to everyone, Sportsfish we went out from in between Tangalooma and curtain about 2k's. Not sure of the exact spot. Just headed to the beacon.
I think they where spotties, when Offshore 4.9 gets off his ass and post the pic's u can see what the really are..lol
Awesome advice here from everyone Sidewayz,Mick and Sportfish.
Really is a big help, especially for those of us who are new to this game so big thanks from Greg and I. Oh and all the others who have viewed this...
Were heading out this Saturday, Gentlemen hours....6.30 to 7.00 to try out the advice.
Look out for the 2 blokes in the little Abalone with the massive Honda 4 :-)
Cheers
Lee and Greg

[dfox]

Seems like a lot of people get mixed up with the difference between spotties and school (dogy) mackeral. Its important you learn to distingish between the two as bag and size limits very! Your only aloud 5 spotties each compared to 30 dogies.Spotties are to be above 60cm compared to dogies 50cm. Spotties are the better table fish and are a more prized catch.

[sharkbait]

Spottties better hmmmmm.... close call

Love eating doggies, yum!

Kris

[Aaron_Fogarty]

How do you cook/ eat them? THey are realy nice raw(sushimi) in thin strips dipped in soy bith a touch of wasabi.
Aaron

[dfox]

Youve been in japan to long Aaron
Back in aus. we cook them with chips mate!!

[Abalone_4.9]

We just had crumbed Mack fillets on the weekend, cooked on the BBQ with a few amber ales.
Ahhhhhh the good life..

[bigal]

i have a tip for ya. dont ask me i have never caught a mack period!

[Sportfish_5]

Al - Where do you fish ? The mackies were goin off at Palm Beach right up until around late April this year. If ya get out there this year I reckon youll be a good chance to break that duck

Greg

[craigie]

Yes Greg, and how good was the quality of those late season Spotties. 5kg + was a commonly captured size from Palmy .

CHEERS
Craig

[damons33]

1.dont use fluro coloured lines!
2.approach them fast and be quick to shut down the motor and deploy lure.turn broad side at the end of your run in to the feeding school, yes the fish will sound but you should be on by the time they do! this is the only way to catch longtail nowdays because of ringnet fishing of the longeys in morton bay- dont see the schools i use to! now they are in packs of half a dozen instead of schools of 50.(answer bann ringnetters totally!).

3.30g to 15g crome slug in a slender profile-you need a rod which is good to cast these light slugs at lest 50meters. using say 3kg in mono or 14lb in fireline/spiderwire
4. approach them bow on to the heads of the fish! so your lures will be "running away" from the tuna in line with the fleeing bait. a tss3 and a 7'6' to 8'6 4kg graphite rod(shimano taipan or daiwa in that lenght) for a cheap out fit or as i use a shimano sustain 4000 and a custom made rod from "eagle ray rods". your 8500spinfisher is not really suited as its heavy and slow, but on days of sloppy weather you might get close enough for a cast to them. they(the tuna) tend to muster the bait into the tide or into the wind as to use the elements to help trap the baitfish, days with wind over 15knts are usually more successfull, as the fish cant see as far thru the surface of the water!

this is my longtail approach and i believe its the fact that the fish can see you, that they "sound"(go deep and stop the attack). i have a 4stroke but i dont think noise is the largest factor to spooking the fish.
also the macktuna off caloundra seem to be less flighty then in the bay. most of the feed tuna in the bay are 1.macktuna 2. watsons leaping bonito/frigate mackerel 3.spotties/doggies 4.longtail in that order of regularity.
sometimes i use a bronze treble to decrease my lure profile as in its appearance to the fish. weekends are alot harder to get hookups and sometimes its better to let the lure sink down a little or try different speeds and actions- but flat chat seems the most productive to me!
with the reel you have if your after a longtail i thing that livebait would be a surer bet, either pitched to feeding schools or set in the channels around areas of tuna traffic as you do pick them up when they aren't chasing bait schools on the surface'
spinning the surface feeding longtail tuna is in my opinion one of the most exciting forms of fishing.
damon