Trolling for Macks

[jimbamb]

Gday fellas,
I'm going fishing for macks as soon as the weather allows in the Noosa area.
A bit of advise would be appreciated please.
1.. wat are a good lure? to start with
2 wat do you think of trolling pilly/gar with a skirt ,Wat distance behind boat? wat depth etc
3 wat do you reccomend to throw at feeding fish schools ( besides the skippa)
4 any othe suggestions
Thanks!!!!!
PS Ive already been told to go and getWell and truly #####d

[mackmauler]

Jim, whats the ps about?

[jeffo]

hey mate, best lures to troll for mackeral... anything that can be trolled fast! mackeral like a bit of speed. mac baits, rapala and halco laser pros are a good starting point. i sujest that you only troll those lures until you find where the fish are holding then bring out the baits. there is far worse thing you could do than troll a pillie around the place, but gar, tailor and bonito are the pick! rig them nice and straight on a set of 7766 gangs and your in with a good chance. from noosa i would have a look around the national park area and if there is nothing there head south to sunshine reef and even coolum. if you find spotties feeding on the surface they are suckers for a slug worked at very high speeds! my favorite slugs would have to be halco twistys and just plain silver slugs. the mackeral around here have been a bit on the slow side at the moment, heres hoping though!
good luck. jeff

[whiteman]

I troll with 2 rods, both have Halco lures, one at 2m+ and one at 5m+. Any colour lure seems to work. Speed is 10-12kph and the lures are about 50m behind the boat. Never tried pillies as there is enough mess on board when you get the fish over the side AND if you're chasing schools you'll be launching and retrieving the lures often so a hard body will more managable.

[JB]

Hey jimbamb, I'm yet to do a lot of trolling for mackerel, however i have heard great reports of trolling pink skirted gar, particulary two on the outside then either a bibbed minnow down the middle like a rapala cd series. (anything nice and shiny will do). That would be a good setup for slow trolling, for faster trolling maybe try the mack bait(made by lively lures) and a couple of small hex heads. The real important part of it all is trolling where the fish are, dont just troll round the place and hope, what u want is to be doing big ovals or figure eights round reefs, or trolling through or near bird / surface activity. However if i found surface activity i would get the raiders out they are much more fun than trolling.

Good luck mate

JB

[damons33]

as a "search" pattern for trolling i would use this! 4 lures two uzi's(light yakka and blue hawaii-colours) rigged on fine wire and swivelled where the wire meets the lure as to allow greater action and also stop the lure sliding down the trace once hooked up so as not to get done by another striking the lure up on the trace to snap connection as it gets towed by the hooked fish!
down below i would use a pair of lively lure juniors(for schoolies and spots!- large deeps for spanyids' again on wire traces) one in green one in blue and would run the lot about 30m back staggered as not to tangle through turns- a daisy chain is a good idea but i does get expensive lossing stuff to hits on the chain(use it if there not alot about!). after finding the macks work the area untill you had enought!
i would work in say 10 to 30 meters of water and around any bottom feature(sunshine reef) also always keeping a watch for surface feeding and also sub-surface bait schools.
close in bait in large shoals usually spells- mackerel!
# #if you are lucky enought to find surface feeding macks use 30g to 60g crome slugs, as a member of bsfc. i use ct lures as i get them for $2 each unrigged and i find them to work as well as any other slug- the reason most sluggs aren't working is the retrieve speed is either too slow or its not travelling in the direction of fleeing baitfish or its not "matching the hatch" so to speak! size wize- remember fish are where you find them!
# damon ps. now go and get f@#$%^! and catch some fish! as i think the weather will come good this weekend!

[jimbamb]

Gday again
Hey thanks for all the advise I will sort thru it at liesure and definately be trying hard.
I am really gratefull for all advise given.
As for my original PS...I was at Yamba one day trying to catch blackfish.As I had never done it before i wasn't doin any good .The bloke in the boat next to me was catchin heaps so I asked for some help.His Reply was "Get F******d. It took me 30 years to learn so you find out for yourself"" So i said thanks and went on not catchin any!!!!!
Ill post a report after the next trip.

[jeffo]

i woulda given hima broken nose for his efforts

[Hutcho]

What a butthead.
Don't think there are to may chaps like that on this website. One of the great things about Ausfish is the amount of info sharing and good nature people have towards each other. Glad to hear you're still out there throwing a line in and trying new things Jim.

[Kerry]

Good lure GAR, at what distance? at whatever distance the fish are biting and at whatever depth they are biting.

If things aren't working then keep changing things, the distance, the depth, the speed, the time of day, .....

Cheers, Kerry.

[jimbamb]

Gday again
Had the family with me so i let it ride... i recon he'd get his one day
Hope to go out tomorrow will definately give everything a go.
THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!!!! [smiley=laola.gif] [smiley=laola.gif]

[Lucky_Phill]

On the sunnie coast of Qld, the pro's like to troll slow, I mean 4-6knots.

They use pillies, Gar and an array of other ' things '.

for me, in my report on Hervey Bay, I used a ' pillie Troller ".

I'll try to find one here in Brisvegas and post it up.

Phill

[jimbamb]

Thanx Phil
I need all the help i can get

[rainbear]

If you don't have much success with the longer lures the fellas have suggested, try something about 3 inches, minnow that is, that goes down about 6 feet and slow the trolling speed down. I know they like the faster speeds but it's amazing how many mackerel we got off of Yeppoon trolling dead slow on Ken Richardson's lures. Have fun.

[Lucky_Phill]

this is a small troller ( 4 gang 4/0 hooks ) see lead head and feathers, with copperwire at the first hook.