{{start}}

In summer months when baitfish are prevalent Mackerel won't be far away.

That is certainly the case in Central Queensland with the prevalent Mackerel being Spanish (min catch size75cm), Grey (min catch size 60cm), School and Spotted Mackerel (min catch size 50cm).

These four subspecies, as well as the other sub species of Mackerel that are found in other Australian waters and elsewhere are incredible hunters and have tremendous sensors picking up any noise, vibration or movement that may be bait fish.

PHOTO

Also keep in mind that mackerel are fast and have very long sharp teeth that can shred a bait fish or if your unlucky your finger or hand ... so please be careful when handling them.

I have caught some smaller Mackerel on fly but more recently, given the downturn in our Central Queensland weather, and given that larger Mackerel seem to becoming more prevalent, I have had to accept that more often than not I have to spend more time fishing for Mackerel on the dark side rather than on fly.

I have two ways to fish for Mackerel on the dark side: trolling or casting.

TROLLING FOR MACKEREL

I have the same trolling set up for Mackerel, other pelagics and Coral Trout.
Given that Mackerel are attracted to noises and actions associated with trolling including motor noise, wash and lure noises it's important to make sure that your baits are in those wash and noise zones which are more often than not between 20 to 40 meters behind the boat.

When two or more baits are being trolled its important to make sure they are all are separated from each others swim paths as much as possible and they are all being fished at different distances from they boat. That will increase the hook up rate and reduce tangles when the boat is turning or one of the baits is taken by a Mackerel.

Trolling speed for Mackerel is important and I favour 10 to 12 KPH. For Coral Trout and other scroungers my trolling speed is 8 KPH per hour.

The rod I use when trolling for Mackerel is a 10kg 6 foot 9 inch long Ugly Stick with a Shimano 10,000 Saragosa reel. That's loaded with 40lb braid connected to a 6 meter leader of 50lb Penn super X monofiliment with an FG knot connection to the braid. At the business end of the leader I have a size 4 Mustard Fast Hatch clip to facilitate easy lure changes. To help getting the trolling distance behind the boat right I have wool "uni knot" markers tied into my leader at the 20, 30 and 40 meter marks.

For Mackerel trolling it's worth carrying a range 2.5 to 4 meter diving hard body lures with inbuilt rattles so that you can select a lure that going to swim a meter or two above the bottom. Lures from say 12cm to 18cm in length with solid bibs and hardware are a good starting point.

Location is important and it's worth keeping track where you hook and see fish as they tend to frequent the same areas. My preference is to troll over reef bottoms or along the edge of those areas. When trolling set your sounder on three D or side imaging and mark any accumulations of fish you see so that you can cover that area from a couple of directions.

CASTING FOR MACKEREL

The second Mackerel outfit I carry is a casting outfit and that is based on a 15/50 7 foot Venom spin rod with a Shimano 5,000 Stradic reel. That's loaded with 30lb braid connected to a 7 foot leader of 50lb Penn superX monofiliment with an FG knot. At the business end of the leader I have a size 4 Mustard Fast Hatch clip to facilitate easy lure changes. The lures I use on this rod when casting to Mackerel are mainly metal slices or slugs of various types and weights between 50 and 80 grams.

I use this set up on two different types of situations.

1. When you have two people trolling and one gets connected to a Mackerel there is every chance that other Mackerel turned on by the noise and action around the boat and the action of the hooked mackerel will follow it in. So the second angler should retrieve his/her bait a fast as possible past the hooked mackerel giving another members of the school a change to hook up to that second bait. If that doesn't happen the second angler should swap over to the spin rod and make casts beyond and too the side of the fist Mackerel as it is retrieved, wait a second or two to let the metal slice sink and then wind the metal slice in as fast as possible. Repeatedly doing that as the first fish is landed gives the second angler a good chance of hooking up a second fish.
2. This outfit is also well suited when fishing for Mackerel or other pelagics on channel markers and other structure. In that situation make long casts past the markers or structure and then retrieve the metal slice as fast as possible.

There are many other ways to target Mackerel including;

• Live baits.
• Dead baits rigged under chin weights.
• slower retrieves with additional action being created by moving the rod tip (AKA as "wogging").
• Skirted baits.
• Peter Pacula rigs and boards.
• Rising bait methods which involve letting the bait free fall in deep water whilst slow trolling and then retrieving it at speed and repeating that over and over

A search on Google will come up with plenty of info on setting up to fish those options.

{{end}}