Teach me to troll

[charleville]

Have now owned my 15 ft runabout for two years and have never done much trolling. Would like to give the spotted mackeral a go since I have just started 5 weeks holiday and have the time to idle away.

I have the right rods and reels so what do I do, please?

1. what do I troll? lures or pillies or whatever. Which lures for spotties, please?
2. have 4 stroke Merc. How fast do I go?
3. How far behind the boat should I troll, please?

I thought that I might spend many hours on my hols out there somewhere over towards the sand hills. Whaddya reckon, please?

[webby]

Hi Your quickest way to catch a spottie, is jigging the beacons or looking for baitfish boils, which usually attracts birds.
The 4 beacons up to the e1 or the northern beacons from the m4 up the eastern side of bribie.

[webby]

this mite help

[Big_Kev]

Charlie,get a couple of para vanes run about 30ft line from the vane 20lb and hook on halco spoon no3, clear line with no wire,
6 to 8 knots.Bite offs will happen.
Troll Troll Troll.
When you get one work the spot some more.
You will learn what will work and what won't.
The bay is lousy with macks so its the best time to hit it.
Or as Webby says jig the beacons this will work for sure.
Rob mackmauler has the recipe for the slugs. Cheaper bite offs.
Drop down the slug, give some jerks and wind in as fast as you can.
Cheers Kev.

[charleville]

Thanks fellas. Will give it a go.

[jeffo]

if all else fails rig up a pillie or gar nice and straight ad troll him round at idle. up here one of easiest andd most relaxing ways to catch mackeral is to drift around all the bait schools with pillies and when the fish come up fire a slug at them... kill 2 birds with the one stone.

[trollsroyce]

for a hard body lure for spotties try arafura barra in chrome and rapala cd 7 or 9 in blue or green mackeral otherwise troll live yakka's or cast 50g pink laser pro's

[charleville]

I am such a beginner in these matters but today I made some progress.

Trolled with paravane and pillies and slugs, as suggested by Reel Hard, in the deep water near the Sand Hills with little success - well actually no success unless you call catching a grinner on a trolled 40 gram Spanyid lure a success.

Then I went to the four beacons, anchored up and drowned a few pillies with modest success in terms of non-mackeral species.

Then I did what Webby said and did some vertical jigging at one of the beacons with instant success! Scored a 64 cm spotted mackeral. Wow! That was easy - except a bit of discipline will be needed to avoid overwinding the slug thru the top guide of the rod. Could not repeat the experience though and as time was escaping me, came home with just one mackeral.

Now some of you guys will chuckle that I am so delighted to score just one spottie today but that was the first time that I have ever caught anything on a lure (- have not tried before).

It was also the first mackeral caught in my two year old boat. So the boat is now blooded. Especially so since the mackeral went beserk when in the boat and splattered blood all over the place. Made a real mess which I was delighted to clean up at home afterwards.

Gotta go back there tomorra! Thanks fellas for your advice.

[Hutcho]

Good to hear you had some success Charlie. Catchng a fish on a lure (no matter what kind it is) is always a buzz, and a totally different experience than catching a fish on bait. Keep your eyes peeled for sea birds bomb diving the water too as you'll find that they are actually feeding on baitfish that have been schooled up by pelagics under the water. Keep a slug (your metal lure) handy to cast at them. I recomend casting the lures to the sides of the feeding frenzy as if you cast right throught he middle, you've got a good chance of disturbing the fish and scaring them away. Trying to match your lure size to the baitfish is another challenge that you can look into once you've caught a few fish in this manner. But give it a try.

Does anyone know how this weather (eg hot days last week, to cooler/rainy days this week will affect the fish in the bay and eustaries over the next few days?

[Lucky_Phill]

Vertical jigging for Spotties is fun, want un-adulterated Big-Kev's ?

Try throwing slugs at surface feeding Spotties and have 4 or more fight to eat your lure. 1, 2 3 or more hits on the surface and just when you think it's over . BANG, right at the boat. Hear 50 -100 meters of mono scream off your little baitrunner. Praying the Mack doesn't bite you off during the fight.

Good luck with the rest of your , Mack, experiences.

Cheers Phill

[Lucky_Phill]

Forgot to mention the great little mud map there Webby.

Phill

[webby]

HI Charlie, good to see you had some fun, there a real buzz when winding flat out, and your line comes to a abrupt holt and starts heading in the other directions
Persistence mate. Around beacons try small slugs, and yes watch that end guide, as you often get carried away with the retreive (hoping for the unexpected) .
If the beacons are quiet, take a slow cruise from the middle banks n/w of the fours and follow the banks up the inside of the shipping channel, keeping your eyes peeled for any sort of surface disturbances, as there often there with out bird active, they quite often round up bait along this section and use the banks as a wall to help school the bait up.
If you find them, stop, and see which way there moving, usually the feed into the current. Then move ahead of them, shutdown and cast at them or across them.
Give your self a count or 5-8 to let your lure sink, then go for it. Usually this bait is no bigger then 4-5cm so match the slug .
Hope you have fun.
regards