Spanish Mackerel

[Michael Mancini]

You guys are mean

Thanks anyway

[Brandon Khoo]

we're not being mean - Kasey is a magnet for these things!!    

[Jaime Chee]

Caught this 28 kg mack on a 125 cubera not so long ago in PNG .

[Scott Williams]

Are any of the cheap stickbaits (R2S / Gillies etc) an option for specifically chasing Spanish? I noticed the earlier pic of the head had a R2S attached I believe?
I would prefer to avoid using wire, and am reluctant to throw around $60 or $70 unnecessarily...

Scott.

[Marko Pekic]

early this yr in the abrolhos i was casting out any jig and winding them in with small jigs and getting smashed and soft plastics also. was running single strand wire and wire assist for the jigs. when they hungry theyl take anything

[John Sykes]

 Rapala XRap Subwalk 09 in Glass Ghost on PE 1-2.  Great fun if the Trevs aren't playing the game.  I also turn some little Pencils that they love to chase down.  They're still vermin though, bloody things eat my Skip baits when I'm chasing Billies it drives me crazy. 

[Dale Ianna]

Hi guys

Just spent a bit of time up of hinchinbrook (i'll write and photo in the next coming weeks) and encountered a few spanish mackrel that weren't very shy to our poppers, alot of which were miss hookups on the poppers as they would leap so high out of the water when they strike and you would miss your hook set.  Scott you asked about good cheap stick baits for this applications, you can't go past a River2Sea Doggies, 166mm long 122grams and the right  price, around $20 AU , cheaper if your in the know. Come Pre-rigged with about 4/0 ST66. I call them disposable lures at this price. Good hard epoxy  finish for toothy critters.




One of the mackrel, you should be able to see the lure in the gt's mouth clearly

[Jay Burgess]

I'm with Karl on this - for some reason, spaniards seem to like nice lures. They are quite partial to Gammas and Sea Frogs too! 

I second this... I lost two Gammas to Spaniards in one day 

[Aaron Concord]

Dale,

You're lucky to get away with catching the spano without wire.

If it had have been a Gamma/Sea Frog/Craftbait GT3 it would have bitten you off for sure..........Spanish love collecting BLING!!!!!!!!

Aaron.
PS.......just ask Jay!!!!!!!!!

[Wan Izhan]

  loss carpenter lures to spaniard 

in Pekan or Rompin, Malaysia, targeting spaniard Jackson Pintail 40g with PE2 or PE3 setup is the best. Even sailfish loves them. Another choice is Tailwalk Sinking lures. Cast far, let is sink ~ 10 seconds and reel in fast.



cheers
izhan

[Luke Anderson]

I had a red hot session on small spannish in the 10-15kg range one morning. 15 in total 12 on cast metal spinning lures 85-125gram on light 4000 size spin outfit. Just belt out a cast let sink 3/4 bottom depth & burn it back flat out.... Certainly worked that day!

[Chris Webster]

Mate anything cheap is my preference.
Those things have a habit of snipping off quality tackle.

You could cast all day with cheap lures and get nothing and just when you think it is safe to deploy a big nambas or gamma they bastards turn up and it ends in tears.

Regards,

Chris

[Michael Mancini]

I had a red hot session on small spannish in the 10-15kg range one morning. 15 in total 12 on cast metal spinning lures 85-125gram on light 4000 size spin outfit. Just belt out a cast let sink 3/4 bottom depth & burn it back flat out.... Certainly worked that day!

Hi Luke,

What lure were you casting?

Thanks

[Peter Heinke]

Cotton Cordell Pencil Popper

[Mark Whitaker]

Spanards  attach their pray differently to GT's.

A GT will come up behind and swallow the bait.

A Spanard or any other type of Mackeral comes up beside the bait and smashes sideways to catch their pray.

I have always found RMG 150 3.5M in triple stripe, Orange head, with Yellow under the head, Purple in the middle and Pink Tail to be the most effective.  I put a Good Treble on the tail, and 2 single Gamakatsu "Live Bait" 8/0 on the front hook eye and leave the middle eye with no hooks.

The singles sit proud of the body unlike trebles that only the bottom hook is proud.  Any Mackeral that swipes at the RMG gets hooked.

I have also had good luck with a Laser Pro 170mm Blue 2M with Blue and tiger stripes on the top, silver on the sides and yellow belly.

When I have both out trolling. the hookup rate is 2 to 1 RMG to Halco Laser Pro.

I had just caught a Mackeral once and the boat was stopped,  I had the RMG floating in the water beside me and I noticed a shadow underneath it.  I kept still and watched a Spanyard float up beside the RMG, swipe sideways at it and had a hook up of a 10kg fish.  It was at Lee Point in Darwin about 6 years ago.

Mark