Trolling & Floating Baits for SPANISH MACKEREL! - (Good luck turns BAD!)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ม.ค. 2023
- Spanish mackerel are one of the most popular species to target in Australian waters, and other places around the world. They are also known as King mackerel or Kingfish in the USA.
In this session we are fishing off the Gold Coast in South East Queensland, targeting these amazing fish by trolling dead baits, lures, and floatlining baits as well. Palm Beach reef and Diamond reef on the 24 fathoms were the two spots that we fished. I also run you through the rigs we are using to catch these fish.
Mackerel produce a very fun fight so I hope you enjoy the footage, and I also give plenty of tips and show you how to catch mackerel on the techniques we used throughout the video.
We have some awesome luck to start off the trip, but end with some terrible luck!
Stay tuned until next video! Thanks so much for watching.
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WATCH ANOTHER EPIC MACKEREL SESSION HERE! - • RED HOT Spanish Macker...
Good job guys.
Thanks so much! 😁👍🎣
W❤️W! That’s Incredibly Awesome! Cheers!🥂❤️✨
Thank you!! 🙌🎣
Very nice Mackerel
Thanks heaps Mr Cods! We were definitely happy to see them hit the deck 😁👍🎣
Nice bro awes watch.guttered couldn’t get out today. Looked the conditions
Hey mate, thanks for the comment! 👍🎣
This was filmed around Christmas but there have been a few little weather windows lately. Hopefully you can get out soon and have a crack at them
Good info, thanks.
Seems it definitely pays to have wire when aiming for Spanish.
Thanks for the comment Lisa!! Yes it’s definitely ideal and gives you some extra security and a bit less stress during the fight!
In saying this, we had a session a year ago and landed 5 Spanish with no wire, and didn’t get bitten off once. I think we must have just been super lucky that day 😅😅
I use at least 44lb Mason single strand wire
Tight lines! 🎣
I always use wire for Spanish Mackerel lost to many without it
Hey mate, yes for sure, we hate getting bitten off! We find that when trolling dead baits or using live baits it’s fine to use wire, but sometimes when using dead baits the wire can spook them (especially spotties). We’ve had some success without wire on some trips, landing 5 Spanish and only being bitten off once, however other trips we lose a lot 😅
Thanks for the comment, tight lines 👌🎣
Couple of nice Spaniards mate 🤙
Thank you mate! Yes definitely not complaining 😁👍🎣
You been catching heaps, nice one bro!
Thanks heaps mate! Yeah we’ve been getting out when we can and luckily doing okay most trips! 😁👍 good to see your channel doing well too man, cheers 🎣
@@willkitching thanks bro you too..
Good job
Thank you mate! I appreciate it
Will that was not what you would expect to happen on either of the outings. Best of luck with your future outings out side on the boat.
Will I was watching one of you TH-cam video you spoke about the Weather Apps that you use could you kindly tell me more about this please I believe I could have this one, I live on the mid north coast of NSW.
Thank you kindly for your understanding about my question please John.
G’day John, thanks so much for the kind words mate!
The first weather app we keep our eye on is Seabreeze. It’s good to get a general idea of what the swell and wind are doing, and also shows moon phase, tides, and live wind reports.
If the weather is looking good on Seabreeze, we will then check the bureau of meteorology website and look at their marine wind maps just to double check. These are usually very accurate, but sometimes we will also check WillyWeather. I prefer the first two though.
Tight lines John and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask mate! 👍🎣
Great video mate - that’s fishing some days… nice fish!
Thanks so much Karl! You’re not wrong, as the saying goes - it’s called fishing not catching for a reason 😂👍
Mad vid Will , good to see you got a couple of Spanish on board , very informative vid nice work mate 👍
Thanks heaps Louis! It was definitely a good feeling to get a couple of Spanish on the deck, we had some for dinner tonight actually!
Good to see you’re getting out there too mate, I’ll be catching up on your videos this week! 👌🎣
Just subscribed to your channel great vids. Where did you get the out rigger rod holders
Thanks so much Peter, I really do appreciate that mate!! Hopefully my videos can be helpful for you 🙌 We got the rod holders from Whitworths, but there are a few different types/brands out there to have a look at. Tight lines! 🎣👍
For someone hoping to relocate to GC soon this is awesome stuff. Getting me pumped! Cheers
Hey mate, awesome to hear! 😁 The fishing is great up here with so many different species and so many options. Hopefully my videos and other TH-cam channels will help you get a good headstart for when you move up here.
Cheers mate and tight lines! 🎣
Love it Will. But jeez impressive skills at 1:24, you must be getting hand/eye coordination drills from Zayne! Nice Makerel mate and good to see Matt too.
Thanks heaps for the support mate, I really do appreciate it!
Hahaha I’ve definitely been getting some hand eye coordination from Zayne… I grabbed that rod as quick as he’d grab a beer! 😂👍
It’s awesome spending time on the water with Matt and Dad mate, as you’d understand having kids yourself. I hope you and the family are doing well Lliam, I’ll catch up with you sometime soon around the football fields! ⚽️⚽️
Great Video Will. Shame you lost so many. I lost a good Spanish out at Murphy's reef a couple of weeks ago. I got it to less than 10 metres from the boat and "snip"... gone.
Thanks so much for the comment and kind words! 😁 I always appreciate your support on my videos.
That’s so frustrating that you lost a good mackerel, they’re so good at escaping with those sharp teeth and screaming runs. It’s good to hear that they are around the reefs on the Sunshine Coast though, hopefully you’ll get another chance and land a tasty feed of Spanish soon! 👍🎣 tight lines and I’m keen to hear about your next fishing adventure!
When I use to fish out of a boat the same thing happened to me once where the rod holder broke, in the same spot aswell but it wasn't a Mackerel on the other end, ow no! It was the prop🥴 Couple of decent Spano's there mate. Did you launch the boat from the Goldie or drive to Palmbeach Will?
Hahahah they fight hard those props! 😂😂 I’ve still never landed one, they keep busting me off! 😉
Definitely happy with a couple of Spanish, they are and awesome fish. We lunch from the Goldy and head down from the Seaway. Tallebudgera and Currumbin are a bit too shallow and gnarly for us to navigate! I’ve seen jetskis and smaller boats do it though.
Tight lines Flippa, hope you’re doing well mate!
Any reason you troll weighted pillies rather than lures? Better hookup rate? Thanks, enjoyed your video!
G’day Chris, thanks for the comment mate! We slow troll the weighted pilchards for a couple of reasons. We first saw the rigs when watching the kayak fishos around South East Queensland paddling along and slaying mackerel, so thought “they seem to work well!”.
The first reason we like them is because you can run wire on them and the mackerel don’t mind, whereas if you use wire and just float out a dead bait the mackerel can sometimes become very fussy and won’t hit it.
Secondly, it just seems to work really well! The mackerel really love it. Yes lures work, but sometimes they aren’t in the mood to hit lures or something that’s moving faster like that. The dead baits are something you can troll nice and slowly (with your motor JUST in gear) and they seem to respond well to this on days when they aren’t really biting hard. There have been days where other boats aren’t catching a thing, but we tie these rigs on and get a few fish by slow trolling dead baits. Also, you can target both spotties and Spanish with the same rig, whereas with lures spotties won’t hit the bigger ones most of the time.
The hookup rate of this rig in particular is really good too, we don’t seem to ever pull hooks on fish once they’re hooked on this rig, and we don’t miss many hits at all. Having the stinger treble at the back is awesome because they come through and nip the tail of the bait off first. There are other dead bait trolling rigs with gang hooks that go up into the stomach of the dead bait, but we’ve used these in the past and the hookup rate isn’t as good.
We might set out in the morning to troll dead baits, and if it’s not working you can always switch over to a different technique. Or vice versa, it’s just a good trick to have up your sleeve if the mackerel aren’t hitting your baits when you’re just anchored or drifting. You can also just put them out and go for a few laps of the reef and see if they get hit when other techniques aren’t working. It’s also handy to help you find some bait or good shows of fish while you’re driving around that you can come back to and fish later anyway.
The one thing I will say is this technique is best in depths up to around 30 metres from what I’ve found. Out on the 24 fathoms in deeper water of around 40 metres, we use hardbodies that dive to 6 metres plus, or just float baits down with a small sinker.
I hope this helps and makes sense mate! 😁
@@willkitching Thanks for such a detailed reply, very much appreciated the explanation!!! Your a gentleman.
Hello WILL from texas.fixen to get a bay boat with option of Mercury 115 or 150. What’s the slowest the 115 can troll? THANK YOU
G’day mate! Thanks for the comment all the way from Texas. I’m not sure of the exact speed - but with the 115 we can click the throttle so the boat is only just in gear, and then the gauge has plus and minus buttons. If you press these, it will increase or decrease your idle speed. We use this when trolling, if we need to go slower we hit the minus button and it slows us down.
Hope this helps mate! Get out there and enjoy your time on the water 👍🎣
Hi Will, what trolling speed do you recommend for dead baits?
Hi Richard! I’m not sure of the exact speed sorry, but we have the motor so it’s only just knocked in gear, and stay at that speed. I’d estimate it at somewhere around 2-4 knots. The main thing is to make sure your baits are swimming straight and not spinning though! Some of the kayak fishos that troll baits use different rigs and get them swimming really nicely, and can therefore paddle a bit faster.
I hope this helps mate, there are good videos on Doug Burt’s channel going through this technique too. Tight lines! 👍🎣
30cm of Mason 86lb single strand wire, black crane swivel and 3x 6/0 Gangs.😉
G’day Dan, thanks for watching and commenting mate! I appreciate the support 😁👍 that’s definitely another great option, we have used that same rig down here but with slightly lighter Mason single strand and caught fish. The problem is, they start to get very cautious of single strand down here and some days you will not get a touch unless you run baits without wire. It’s painful losing fish though!
I sorted out a rig with wire that lets the bait waft a lot more naturally and it has been working well though thankfully! 🙌
I hope you’re doing well mate 🎣
@@willkitching thanks for the detailed reply Will. Doing well! I used to do a fair bit of mackerel fishing off cairns in the 2000’s. We started off with 69lb single strand but it cost us some larger fish because the wire would twist during the fight. Eventually we switched over to 89lb and it negated most problems however the occasional fish was also lost even on that breaking strain when the wire twisted. If we went up to 100lb the results would definitely get impacted. Some of my mates risk it with mono to the bait and do okay. Interestingly with trolling lures like hardbodies it doesn’t seem to be a problem, maybe only 10% loss due to bite offs. I guess everywhere has peculiarities, down in seq things might be different.
Do you have a video on how to read the weather? Every time I go out it is $_it house....swell..height..wind..Willys weather etc it would be a good video to cover...I think I'm reading it wrong
Hi mate, I don’t have one but I’m definitely going to make one ASAP! I’ve had this question a few times so stay tuned for the video, hopefully it will be helpful.
Basically I look for light winds (up to around 6 or 7 knots is usually what I’d consider calm) and small swell of up to 1.2 metres. Anything over that starts to get a bit messy and uncomfortable to fish in anyway.
We’re in a 5 metre boat though, what size boat do you go out in mate?
Yeah I look at the weather and looks good... everything is low swell height (I Thaught) was good ..wave gap looks good...then I go out in my 5.2 and can barely go offshore have to turn around trying not to sink it... beautiful blue sky...and I'm just left Think "I don't understand it looked so good it said wind and swell etc was low ...then I try again another day...same thing...I just want go hook the bastards haha
Nice fish and hard luck on the biteoffs! Fwiw, if you're not at anchor it helps heaps to avoid losing fish to biteoffs if you keep the boat idling forward ahead of the fish. If ya drag them along using the boat, it's way harder for them to kick/turn and get their business end chomping on your line instead of your gang.
Thanks for the comment Owen! Yeah that’s a great tip mate, I’ve been wondering if we need to start doing that when not using wire. I see other guys do it especially when trolling, but I’ve just been worried about pulling hooks with that tiny bit more pressure from the boat idling along but I’ll definitely be trying it from now on! 👌
Hope you’re doing well and bending some rods lately mate! 🎣
@@willkitching Any toime mate!!!
Very fair call with being concerned about the extra pressure it puts on. I've certainly found that with a bit of driving practice, a correctly set drag and keeping the fish on a good angle (usually out the back on about 45 degrees) while reacting to how it fights can be a fairly failsafe way of converting a hookup into fillets so long as the initial hookset isn't horrendously unlucky! The level of control you can get over fish that can swim rather quickly is definitely one of my favourite parts about jumping on mates' boats- on a paddly thing it's a matter of wire up, wind fast and hope for the best 🤣
And cheers mate, same to you!!! Haven't had much offshore luck on the yak since getting back from WA but have been well and truly occupied with some maintenance and moving. Maybe 5 paddles in a row have turned out in donuts or sharks but that's alright!!! Just about settled into straddie and have the flathead wired enough to not starve or get bored at least hahahaha. Very very much looking forward to this weather settling down a bit and hopefully making those ratchets sing. If you're ever around amity definitely feel free to hit me up and come for a flick!
Where do you get those outrigger rod holders mate?
G’day Casey, we got these ones from Whitworths but there are a few different types that I’ve seen other people using which you could look at too. Have a shop around a bit and see what you can find. 😁👍 tight lines mate!
Bunnings have some
Bunnings?
hello good afternoon sir Spectacular fishing 👍🙏🇮🇩
Thanks so much mate! I appreciate the comment 😁👍🎣
Hey mate, Glad you at least got a feed before you had a bad couple days of bust offs! I've used the same rigs and even lowered the pillie down on the gang to the last two hooks. Now i just use wire to save my pain😁 gotta love mackerel season!!
Hey mate, thanks for the comment! Yeah we were glad to at least have a couple in the esky before all that happened 🤣 we’ve tried that too, but I figure if there is a whole hook sitting in front of it we may as well just use wire, so that’s what we ended up doing and thankfully it worked 👍
I can’t wait to get back out and chase some! How are you doing mate, getting out a little bit to chase the Macks? 🎣
@@willkitching have only managed 2 trips so far. Did okay first trip then a donut last week. It's killing me going to work early and seeing cracking conditions mid week then cuts up rough on the weekends. Hopefully will get out a few more times before the shut down. Seeing yourself and the local blokes putting up vids and catching fish makes me happy though. It's a marathon, not a sprint.... so I'm told😉
Awesome trip good tips to mate 👍👍👍👍 I always never used wire I tried circle hooks with no greater success 👍👍👍👍👍 got to find my wire go look for some bully pups in next few days 😁
Thanks so much Cam! Its funny, we’ve caught them accidentally with single hooks without wire, but then get bitten off with gang hooks 😂
Good luck with those Bullsharks mate! They would be good fun! Let me know how you go 👍🎣
@@willkitching only got 1 yesterday going again on Sunday arvo for another go with better tide
@@CamBill_ROBLOX That’s alright then mate! At least you got to feel something pull back 😂👍🎣
Some great tip's there, mate. Wondering if that rig will work on our southern bluefin that i can't catch. Hopefully, you replaced all your rod holders. I will have to do mine soon. Well done mate. I have a bit off catching up to do. 🎣👌
Thanks mate! Yeah we get the longtail/bluefin tuna species up here on them as by-catch when chasing the mackerel. I’m sure it would work down there too with dead troll baits!
It’s good because you troll slowly and put the boat just in gear, so when they aren’t in the mood to eat something going fast it might be enough to tempt them! Would definitely be worth a crack 😁👍🎣
@@willkitching Thanks. I will definitely give it a go. If i manage to get out again before they move on.
What day was that?
G’day mate, this was actually back just before Christmas sometime! I only just got around to editing and posting it. I hope you’ve been getting out and having a crack at them 😁👍🎣
@@willkitching .
You are honest Will .wish you best fishing dude
Thanks so much mate! I appreciate the support. I hope you're doing well and getting out fishing yourself!
Awesome vid mate. What bar do you cross to get out and any details on the boat and motor?
G’day mate, thanks heaps for the comment!
We cross the Seaway and then head down to Palmy or Mermaid or Gravel Patch. The seaway has always been safer and deeper than Tallebudgera and Currumbin bars for us. Even though it is getting shallower at the moment it’s still absolutely fine on a day with good weather.
The boat is a Haines Hunter V17C, with a brand new Mercury 115 fourstroke CT motor on the back (we haven’t even had that for a year yet).
I’ll put the link to two videos at the end of this comment, one is a video walking through the boat (with the old motor on it) and the second one is looking at the new motor. Hopefully this helps mate! Tight lines 😁👍
BOAT - th-cam.com/video/l0kWsBcD9rk/w-d-xo.html
MOTOR - th-cam.com/video/EQz49gknYu0/w-d-xo.html
1:24 im just sitting in my chair and that still scared the crap out of me haha
Hahahahaha that’s gold 😂 I think I stopped breathing for a while after I turned around and saw the rod dangling over the side, just being held on by that strap 🤣
Thanks for watching and commenting mate 👍🎣