Hairtail as Spanish Mackerel bait

[Skiman]

Caught a Hairtail last night at Roslyn Bay, and was wondering if anyone has used them as a trolled bait for spanish mackerel? I would assume they'd go all right, as they are similar to a ribbon fish.
I kept it for this purpose, so does anyone have any rigging suggestions? I've never trolled baits before, only lures.

Cheers.

[Lucky_Phill]

Yes, the Hairtail or Wolf Herring make an excellent trolling bait for Spanish. ( comment from a pro mack mate of mine )

How to rig them...... good question !!

I would probably suggest a gang of large hooks near the head ( 7 - 9/0's ) and maybe a stinger rig trailing from that to as far back as possible... maybe with a couple of trebles in the stinger rig ? Last treble in or near the anal vent of the Hairtail. Also using single strand wire for this... suggest around the 40 - 60lb.

Good luck.


cheers Phill

[caravellerob]

mate have a look on youtube, rigging wolf herring, I think its under. I use 6 x 10 hooks on 80lb single strand wire and run them under the body or on the side with rubber bands.

[Dogtoooth]

Caught a Hairtail last night at Roslyn Bay, and was wondering if anyone has used them as a trolled bait for spanish mackerel? I would assume they'd go all right, as they are similar to a ribbon fish.
I kept it for this purpose, so does anyone have any rigging suggestions? I've never trolled baits before, only lures.

Cheers.

Rig them up so you can troll the hair tail, rig them like a wolf herring. The KEY is troll them as SLOW as you can just in gear, just enough for the bait to swim good luck!

[fishychrissy]

One of those chin weights would probably be the go too, would get them swimming better I'd imagine.
Cheers

[Skiman]

Thanks for the replies, a few good idea there, I'll see how I go. If I do any good, I'll post it here.