Fishing Australia

OUTFITS AND LEADERS

Before rigging up the first thing you have to know is roughly what size mackerel are prevalent in the area.

You should also try and find out if the areas you are fishing are sharky which means you will need land your macks quickly before they get bitten in half.

If the mackerel are the standard 5 to 10 kilo school size and the sharks are not thick then 6 kilo tackle is fine and lots of fun to boot.

Indeed I often use one of my own Fishing Australia 701 SWM rods which comes spooled with 6 kg mono. At not much over $100 these are ideal for the task and a typical fight on a schoolie lasts around 3 minutes. Fun but not exhausting!

If the average mackerel is 10 to 15 kg, or if am using lures, or there’s a few sharks about then I re spool the same outfit with 10 kg braid which has much more grunt.

If the mackerel are 15 to 20 kg then I use a Silstar CB 601 JSH Crystal Blue Power Tip Rod, and my 80 size Okuma V System reel spooled with 24 kg braid. This is one of my sweetest and most versatile spin sticks that always gets packed first.

Occasionally I go right up to a heavier spin or overhead outfit loaded up with 36 kg braid if the sharks are thick and you need to land the mackerel quickly.

There are a couple of other cases where the heavy outfit is handy.

While Mackerel are very fair fighters and usually stay high in the water column away from the snags; if you are land based fishing or anchored near a reef you don’t want them to speed around a corned and cut you off. If I need to keep a mackerels run shorts I bring out the 36 kg braid outfits.

ONE FOR THE TABLE

On the first mackerel I usually use a heavier outfit if I am going to keep it for the table. This is so I can get the mackerel in very quickly, dispatch it and get it straight on ice. The shorter fight reduces the amount of lactic acid build up in the flesh and vasty improves their already high eating qualities.

One word of warning while on this topic, larger mackerel in some areas can present the risk of ciguatera poisoning. Anything above 15 kg is risky, and in some areas 10 kg is considered risky.

Experienced locals will know which reefs are affected most, but if in doubt there is a product around called cigua test which as the name suggests is used to check the flesh for ciguatera.

TRACE SIZE

Again this comes down to the size of mackerel and where you are catching them.

You can get away with 100 pound mono or fluro carbon straight to the X Raps on the school sized fish, and on heavy fished schools this works a treat because wire does spook these sharp eyed fish. However if the lure gets swallowed by a bigger mackerel you can quickly kiss your $30 or so bucks good bye.

To protect against this around 30 kg pound single strand wire is ideal for trolling up macks in the 10 to 15 kg class.

If there are some stonkers sized macks around and you are racing the sharks in with heavy drag I have seen 60 kg single strand get cut on the strike quite a few times now!

In the Kimberley where locals regularly use 89 kg single strand I have still been bitten off at times. A 40 kg mackerel has a pretty big mouth and can sometimes swallow your average lure or bait in one bite, and all you will get is a savage ratchet burst and then a limp line!

Try 100 kg wire or heavier if you are chasing XL Mackerel in places where you need heavier tackle and tight drags. On lighter drags you can easily land a massive macky on 80kg single strand wire.

MACK TIME

A change of tide can bring the macks on the chew, but no matter where you fish even more important is the time of day.

Mackerel just love coming out to feed at sunrise and sunset and the biggest and most mackerel of the day are usually caught at this time regardless of the technique.

While there is certainly much more to know and learn about these wonderful fish, I hope I have given you a good start. Enjoy the rest of the journey and I will pen a more advanced article on the topic a little down the track.

See you on the water.

Rob Paxevanos.