Just the one mackerel - but what a cracker !!!

[liltuffy]

Went for a run out the front this morning with mate Ray.

The bar was a bit ordinary with waves breaking a real long way out but basically no wind on it.

Well we couldn't buy a livey in that horrible bottle green water so just had to settle for towing some bonito from a previous trip. We were just about to head for home about 8:30 when the downrigger rod went off. It was the only fish for the morning but at 48 lb it will do ;D ;D

[fishfreak01]

Thats one great fish, if you don't mind, where abouts did you get it.

I have just got a downrigger from the states and I can't wait to use it.

fishfreak

[greenie.77]

Looks like the Gold coast to me.

[liltuffy]

Bit further north guys - North Straddie.

FF01 when the water is dirty from a northerly sometimes it pays to tow down deep as well as just below the surface. The downies are really good sometimes, you just need to experiment with them.

Greenie, sorry mate I wouldn't fish the goldy - too many people and boats for me.

Craig

[TimD]

Nice fish there mate :thumbsup:


I thought the swell was supposed to be 2.5 metres all weekend, looks pretty calm out there


cheers tim :)

[Adam_G]

nice fish liltuffy, looks like you had a better day than me, rebuilding a wall the termites ate.

[liltuffy]

Tim, there was a 2.5m swell, must have taken the photo in a lull. Basically no wind though. There was some big waves cracking through the bar.
Even saw Bill Corten playing around in them as well.

Craig

[Vitamin Sea]

Top fish bloke

He would eat the ones I got whole I recon::)

Well done!

[Ratman]

Thats a cracker of a spanish Craig.

Howdya rig that bonito?

Mick

[BLOOEY]

Cracker spano craig. I can vouch for the swell being biig also tim. It was breaking across the mooloolaba bar this morning also when i went out but as stated no wind whatsoever and bloody hot. One biteoff on a live tuna this moring for us. Ben

[finding_time]

.

sometimes it pays to tow down deep as well as just below the surface.

\



It always always pays to tow one down deep!;) ;)

nice work!

Ian

[liltuffy]

Ratman, 50lb shogun main line to a rolling swivel, from the otherside of the swivel a number 10 hook on 8lb mono, 75 mm long. Tied to the swivel again about 300mm 75lb wire to a 1/0 owner 4x treble.

The wire and 8lb mono tied to the same side of the swivel. The number 10 goes through the lips and the wire runs loose down the bottom of the fish to where one point of the treble is inserted about the anal fin - if you can follow that.

Craig

[Lucky_Phill]

something like this ?

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm246/Lucky_Phill/Livie-rig.jpg


LP.

[liltuffy]

Phil, close, I'm not as good a drawer as you :) . Firstly the tow hook needs to be small (I use a number 10), it's tied to the swivel with light mono (8lb), the tow hook often breaks away upon hookup.

Secondly I use only one treble preferably inserted around the anal fin, this hook is held on with wire, hopefully pic attached explains a bit better.

Best of luck

Craig

[-spiro-]

Good horse and i like the pic's

"Phill are you the puppetier off MR SQUIGGLE"lol

[Ratman]

Craig,

Is there any action in the bonito rigged this way. (dead baits) I see there's no weights required and they still swim upright, I take it, off the release clip.

cheers mate,

Mick

[liltuffy]

Mick, don't think there is much action at all, they just tow along straight and get pulled straight off the release clip.

[business class]

Towing a dead bonito that way would be near impossible to swim upright u would think, u might get a few kicks then it would tumble, but with no weight at tow point it would have to spin. Do u find you line is very twisted on your down rigger once u finish the days fishing? But if that rig works well for u for dead bait then ur a genious;) ;D And nice fish bye the way.....

P.S the Swell was cracking on the weekend with a solid 5 foot on the bar with some awesome sets coming through..... Saturday was the pick of the two as sunday just rained:'( .....

[bushweek]

Ratman, 50lb shogun main line to a rolling swivel, from the otherside of the swivel a number 10 hook on 8lb mono, 75 mm long. Tied to the swivel again about 300mm 75lb wire to a 1/0 owner 4x treble.

The wire and 8lb mono tied to the same side of the swivel. The number 10 goes through the lips and the wire runs loose down the bottom of the fish to where one point of the treble is inserted about the anal fin - if you can follow that.

Craig


why do you have 50lb main line bu tonly 8lb mono connected to your first hook ???

[business class]

why do you have 50lb main line bu tonly 8lb mono connected to your first hook ???

I will clear this up he is using the 8lb mono as a break away hook system which goes from swivel to the nose of the bait, so the nose hook (ie. Kepper Hook) is there only to act for a tow point to keep bait straight, and once the bait gets hammered the small hook either ends up in mouth or on the bottom of the ocean. Hope this clears this up for you;)

[liltuffy]

Towing a dead bonito that way would be near impossible to swim upright u would think, u might get a few kicks then it would tumble, but with no weight at tow point it would have to spin. Do u find you line is very twisted on your down rigger once u finish the days fishing? But if that rig works well for u for dead bait then ur a genious;) ;D And nice fish bye the way.....

P.S the Swell was cracking on the weekend with a solid 5 foot on the bar with some awesome sets coming through..... Saturday was the pick of the two as sunday just rained:'( .....

Thanks mate, it does in fact swim upright but you are correct in saying it does kick just a bit - more correctly it seems to just roll from side to side with the odd spin. The line generally is not twisted up at all, I do take a lot of care in hook position and making sure everything is straight (especially the bait). The rig used is more for live baits and the secret if there is one is to tow as slow your boat will go;) .

Also you are dead right about the "break away" tow hook. I have found the lighter the tow line and smaller the tow hook the better the bait travels through the water.

Craig

[BLOOEY]

Interesting concept with the breakaway lead hook. As B.C. says, on a dead bait i would expect it to spin but a livey would probably go really well on it. I tried to rig up a dead tuna (around 2kg) on the weekend with a chin rig and trebble stinger and found it very difficult to make it not spin even with the weight under it's head. Ben

[BLOOEY]

................Perhaps i'm rigging the baits to my spec's not the spano's?

[business class]

Rigging a bait with a chin guard is very easy what u might have to do with an un fresh tuna is be a doctor and stitch it up.... Belly through to kills and mouth. Break all back bone also or remove it, this will make it swim like a live one.....

Cheers
matty

[business class]

Craig, havE u ever had ur livey loose his nose hook?

Cheers
matty

[Vitamin Sea]

Rigging a bait with a chin guard is very easy what u might have to do with an un fresh tuna is be a doctor and stitch it up.... Belly through to kills and mouth. Break all back bone also or remove it, this will make it swim like a live one.....

Cheers
matty

Hey Matty

Do you use the actual chin guards? I think that they would be just the shot for bigger baits, been looking for them but can't find them down here. Like Craig I've been using dead bonito when I have not been able to get livies, been having trouble getting them to swim properly as well. Also Have trouble breaking the backbone without tearing the flesh, is there a trick to it?

http://www.townsvillegamefishclub.com/download/fishing_rig_pdfs/chin_guards.pdf



Cheers

Bill

[business class]

Hey Matty

Do you use the actual chin guards? I think that they would be just the shot for bigger baits, been looking for them but can't find them down here. Like Craig I've been using dead bonito when I have not been able to get livies, been having trouble getting them to swim properly as well. Also Have trouble breaking the backbone without tearing the flesh, is there a trick to it?

http://www.townsvillegamefishclub.com/download/fishing_rig_pdfs/chin_guards.pdf



Cheers

Bill

If ur breaking the flesh ur either bending it too far when its not defrosted enough or ur bait aint frozen right, or been de frosted and frozen too many times...

No i dont use the chin guards u buy from the shops, however u can buy them down here (gold coast) at most good tackle shops, we have our own set up my old boy made when we do use them, which is similar to the chin guard just more refined though, the trick to making them swim straight is WEIGHT at the tow point.

If u dont have a chin guard u can also use just a bean sinker tied under the chin, this is very affective and its very easy, but remember when towing tuna u need to go a touch quicker then just in gear as if u were towing a gar otherwise it wont swim it will just slowly rock..... u can also remove the back bone buy using a small hollow steel tube, insert it through the mouth and then push it in along the spine then pull out, your bait will then become spin free.

When using chin guards u need to push the keeper needle through the front part of the nose so the bait sits in there nicely, use a rubber band too keep head down on the guard, then insert the hooks into the fish. If u wish to do this set up prior to fishing so u use one rig per bait, rip the guts out remove backbone set it up as usual but insert one hook out the anil and one out the gut cavity and then sow it up.

Also u can run ur thumb down either side of the spine and pinch it as this breaks it aswell. Hope this info helps you.

Cheers
Matty

[liltuffy]

Craig, havE u ever had ur livey loose his nose hook?

Cheers
matty

Matty, very rarely. I do get some issues occasionally but given the increase in hookups associated with absolute minimum hardware, I put up with it. I've found the lighter tow hardware makes a tremendous difference.

Given your input to this thread I can see you have a depth of experience - thanks for your comments.

Craig

[Vitamin Sea]

Thanks Matty

All good info, I think the speed thing is the problem, as they run straight enough ok but do rock, will pick up a knot or 2, think also I'm trying to bend them to much, frozen fresh croyovaced (is that a word:-/) will give it another go.

Thanks

Bill

[Mattg68]

good mack Craig. glad to see you didn't waste time with your avatar either.

appreciate all the pointers on towbaits as well (craig & matty). always good to hear from experienced anglers when it comes to fine tuning these things. i just may put your rig to good use this weekend Craig.

well done again.

matt

[business class]

Matty, very rarely. I do get some issues occasionally but given the increase in hookups associated with absolute minimum hardware, I put up with it. I've found the lighter tow hardware makes a tremendous difference.

Given your input to this thread I can see you have a depth of experience - thanks for your comments.

Craig

Cheers mate, We used to do it quite alot untill we got hooked into game fishing now its all marlin marlin marlin;D and the odd mackrel fish. Another idea for u to try with ur lives is use the same size hook u are useing except get the offset eye as use it as a sliding hook up and down ur main wire instead of a break away..... use a bit of wax threat to make the sliding hook tight to slide up and down main trace, this will allow u to use all size live baits also. doing this way we have found that sometime that little nose hook hooks the blue in the lip and ur main hook swings round and burys into the side of the head of fish....... I honestly have pulled in many of blues that have had the keeper in the lip ( sonetimes straightened off course) and the swinging hook in the side...... Just another idea for ya to give a shot mate;)

[masterbaiter1990]

Mate if that fish is 48lb you must be at least 12 foot tall.

[LostNearBribie]

That is a great fish mate.
Thanks for sharing the rig with us.

[Vitamin Sea]

Mate if that fish is 48lb you must be at least 12 foot tall.

STRETCH isn't quite 12', only about 6'6". Are you trying to imply something:undecided:

[ddobson]

Geez i am glad you drew that as i was wondering what the light leader was for. Good set up. I just got me a 5.4 metre plate console so i will be wanting to try out there soon once i set up with the offshore gear and my new colour sounder. Good fish even if it is the ony one of the day.

[masterbaiter1990]

I'm not implying anything its obvious that fish is not 48lb. Are you really going to try and say it is 48lb?

[Vitamin Sea]

There's always one:rolleyes:

I don't need to back up stretch, he's certainly big enough to look after himself, but the reality is he's probably caught more fish than most of the blokes on this forum put together, give or take a few noteables.

He has no need to bullsh%t, and it's people like yourself who stop a lot of blokes from reporting on what they have caught, which Craig rarely does.

Pull your head in.

VS

[liltuffy]

There's always one:rolleyes:

I don't need to back up stretch, he's certainly big enough to look after himself, but the reality is he's probably caught more fish than most of the blokes on this forum put together, give or take a few noteables.

He has no need to bullsh%t, and it's people like yourself who stop a lot of blokes from reporting on what they have caught, which Craig rarely does.

Pull your head in.

VS

Cheers Bill, I think his handle says it all just quietly.:grin:

Our scribe obviously has a vast amount of experience in the capture and size of broad barred mackerel. Perhaps we should also compare my catch records with his for spanish mackerel with my records only dating back to 1996 and field his comments and valuable input on the matter.

Perhaps Blooey's, Skipalong's, Business Class' and a host of other experienced mackerel fisho's records could also provide some valuable insight on the appearance of fish in photographs as disputed by Masturbater

[masterbaiter1990]

I find it interesting that you think you have more experience than me when you have no clue who i am.
But ill add one of the better Mackeral i have caught which in my opinion is slightly closer to a 50 pounder than yours would be.

[masterbaiter1990]

I'll add a few more pics just in case you doubt my experience.

[masterbaiter1990]

Hows about a few more just to be sure.
Don't tell me to pull my head because im not the one on here telling lies about the size of the fish i caught. He is the one who should pull his head in, and you should for backing him up he has even provided photographic evidence that that spanish is not 48lb.
I also find the name drop hilarious because mine is a play on words, however i would expect "liltuffy" to be the name of a 10 year old boy on here.

[BLOOEY]

Oh dear:rolleyes: .

[Ratman]

:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

Now thats funny.

[Vitamin Sea]

:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

Now thats funny.

Onya Mick, not wrong, not worth further comment

How's that 560 going?

Cheers

Bill

[Ratman]

Gee..you've got as good memory.

Excellent Bill, thanks for asking mate. :smiley:

Mick

[masterbaiter1990]

Hahahahaha whats the matter Vitamin Sea? Cat got your tongue?
It's silly backing up a ridiculous claim cause at the end of the day, people are just going to look at you and see you clearly have no clue whats going on either.