Targeting Spotted & School Mackerals

[castlemaine]

Hi All

I got all the gear and am hoping to do something I've never done before, target spotties or schoolies this summer, in the southern Moreton Bay. Wish I had't given away my old B&B magazines away.

But I was hoping some of you more experienced could give me advise.

1) Do you wait for the school up/down wind or up/down current?
2) If you see someone already throwing slugs at them do you stay away or what's the best way to join them without spooking the school?
3) Anything else I should be aware of?

Cheers, Castlemaine

[oddbudman]

1) The general rule seems to be that the fish chase the bait into the wind - but this rule does not always hold true. The current and water depths is also likely to dictate the way the fish move. Generally when i'm out i try and position myself upwind of the feeding fish.
2) Approach slowly and stay clear from the other boats - try and watch the school and anticipate what its doing before making chase. It really gets you mad when some boat comes up and drives straight over the school.
3) If you annoy another boat off watch out for flying slugs. There is always an ongoing joke on my boat about throwing slugs at people that fish too close - the joke must have its roots in some truth.
3b) Use light slugs in the bay , try and match the hatch. Anything over 40grams is likely to be too big. If casting at schools 20gram-30grams is a good place to start.
3c) Make sure the gear you are using can wind the slug in fast - the macks tend to like fast moving slugs.

good luck,
oddbudman

[Jeremy87]

Everything oddbudman has said i agree with. if another boat is on a school and there are others around then find another one. If is the only school then its ok provided you give way the the first boat. It reminds me of one day off peel last summer there was only 2 massive schools that were feeding hard but being slug shy with about 30 boats casting slugs at them, but there was fish to be caught and everyone was being friendly and having a good time yelling out to each other having a joke untangleing slugs holding up fish to show off, so just be curtious to other boaties and don't take it to seriously and you'll be fine. we ended up moving on and found another school were we caught more fish in 30 minutes than everyone did at the mega school all day so it does pay to find your own school. When you come up to spotties you want to have stopped 40-50metres away from them its no good coming off the plane 50 metres out cause you'll end up going straight through them. If you can cast futher and the fish are being shy hang back more. You want to get to them so don't fart ass around between schools but don't hold high reves the whole way either. its a balance you will learn with practice. cast around the edges of the school, if you go straight over the top and hook one at the back then nasty stuff can happen, you can send the rest of the school down or his mate might bite through your line in the boil up. They do not have to be boiling to hit slugs, sometimes sinking you lures and cranking them straight up will catch fish when other techniques aren't working but this tends to lead to more bite offs.

[Jono_SS]

there's some great advice in the posts above, particularly for chasing surface schools of spotties.

if you are also keen for a breather after zooming around throwing slugs at spotties, try trolling pillies for schoolies (and spotties). it's easy to do, and is just the way to get your breath back. it's also a good way to scope an area when there's nothing happening on the surface and the birds are hanging around but scattered. try trolling around banks/dropoffs, and anywhere you see patches of bait on your sounder. the rous channel is always a good bet down around the middle of the bay.

i can't wait to hear the sound of mackerels this summer.

[Pretzil]

I have always been told that mackeral feed in to the wind, yet in my experience they do just as often as they feed with the wind and across it. I just watch them and try to get in the best position

[gunna]

if you are also keen for a breather after zooming around throwing slugs at spotties, try trolling pillies for schoolies (and spotties). it's easy to do, and is just the way to get your breath back..

Jonno - how do you usually rig pillies for trolling ???

[Jono_SS]

I use gangs with a small weight (e.g. a net lead or modified sinker) on the shank of the top hook. you can buy commercially made ones, or make your own for a fraction of the cost. it is also sometimes good to have a squid skirt above the hooks.

place the gang in the back of the pillie, keeping as close to dead centre as possible (this is very important). the top hook helps to pin the mouth closed.

test the pillie beside the boat before deploying. it trolls up-side-down, but this does not worry the fish. it also won't flap like a livie or well rigged dead slimie/gar fish etc, but again this doesn't worry macs. however, if it spins, then a) you have not got the hooks straight down the centre line, and b) you are no chance of converting the pillie to a mac.

troll as slow as you can go e.g. less than 2 and a half knots.

finally, very important to keep your tongue in the correct position while awaiting a bite

[Jono_SS]

by the way, we also caught a 15kg Spaniard doing exactly as described above last December off Mooloolaba (as you can see, we weren't targeting Spaniards, rather their smaller cousins!).

[wags on the water]

finally, very important to keep your tongue in the correct position while awaiting a bite

I knew I was doing something wrong.

[Jeremy87]

I have always been told that mackeral feed in to the wind, yet in my experience they do just as often as they feed with the wind and across it. I just watch them and try to get in the best position

Understanding how spotties feed will make them easier to locate. Yes they will feed into the wind, they will also feed accross it and they will also feed into the current. they do this because it makes the bait eaiser to ball up. It's easier to tire small bait fish by pushing them into the current then having the chase them with it. they also use shallow water as a tool to do this aswell, nice deep blue water is great for holding bait but difficult for predators to hunt in, so again by pushing them up onto sand banks it is easier to concentrate the bait, plus the water tends to run harder around the edges. So in response to the feeding into the wind, it pays to sit back and wacth what they're doing for a while, as they may be feeding into the wind, current or along a channel or sand bar, but if you can work out a pattern it will make it easier to get into a good casting position.

Hot tip for locating birds aswell, you can only spot an actual bird profile 400-500metres away, this doesn't give you much scope when cruising along. Instead look for flashes. when birds circle on the spot sunlight will reflect of there wings creating a glittering effect just above the horizon. You can spot birds working from well over a kilometre away doing this, bronze poleriod sunglasses will filter out this glittering making birds harder to spot. Using a blue or black poleriod is better but it can pay to loose the sunnies when scanning sometimes.

[Jeremy87]

oh and just as an additive to Jono's post about trolling, yes trolling can be productive and jono has summed up well the circumstances in which it is best to troll, but when they are boiling on the surface then they are only eating small bait and you can't pull your spread through them without disturbing them. If i have one more bloke put my school down this summer by trolling straight through the middle of the school i might do something a little bit crazy.

[Jono_SS]

very good point Jeremy.

there are some places and situations where trolling is not very considerate, irrespective of whether it will be productive.

for example, I wouldn't suggest trolling through the middle of 100 anchored boats all floating pillies and livies. and as Jeremy has indicated, trolling through a school of spotties busting up on the surface infront of a boat or 2 casting slugs would be very rude (and a waste of time).