Spanish Mackerel
DESCRIPTION
Spanish mackerel is on one of Australia’s most sought after pelagic species as both a sport and table fish. They are a highly prized eating fish that are targeted by recreational and commercial sectors as the flesh is firm, white and delicious.
They have long, narrow bodies, with dark blue colour running along the top of their body, becoming silver towards the centre and underneath. They have a banded pattern of narrow dark blue or black bands running vertically along their body.
They’re an offshore, pelagic (surface-dwelling) fish which lives around offshore and coastal reefs.
SIZE AND WEIGHT
Spanish mackerel are commonly caught weighing between 2 – 15kg and 55 – 125cm long. However, they can grow up to 40kg in weight and over 200cm long.
Local fishing authorities heavily regulate Spanish mackerel in both commercial and regulation fisheries. This species is under significant Government assessment and regulation reform that will see commercial quotas and recreational bag limits decrease to protect the species for the future.
It’s important for all fish species that you check with your local fishing authority for size and bag limits, and any other regulations as they change from state to state.
The current IGFA All Tackle world record belongs to Michael Wilkinson, who caught a 44.91kg (99lb) Spanish mackerel on 14 March 1982 in Scottburgh, Natal, South Africa.
WHEN AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Spanish mackerel migrate along the Australian coastline following the warm waters of the East Australian Current south during summer and autumn in search of baitfish. They then return north as the waters cool before winter.
Spanish mackerel can be found in a range of habitats along the majority of Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland and northern New South Wales coastlines. Rock fisherman, kayaks, small trailer boats and large game fishing vessels can all target Spanish mackerel.
Spanish mackerel will be found anywhere you find bait throughout their distribution, from coastal waters just offshore out to the continental shelf. Depending on conditions they can be targeted with a range of techniques and will respond to a variety of fishing methods including trolling and casting lures, towing dead and live baits, anchored floating live and dead baits or casting from rocky headlands.
The medium sized fish up to 8kg will school up in the hundreds whilst larger fish form small packs or can be solitary. Spanish mackerel favour areas with structure and current that holds baitfish school around coral reef edges, reef bomboras, wrecks, rocky headlands and large drop offs.
Using your sounder can be very effective when fishing for Spanish mackerel as they mark up very distinctly on the screen allowing you to locate and mark these schools, then target the area using your preferred plan of attack.
HANDLING
Spanish mackerel have extremely large sharp teeth that will cut through an unsuspecting fisherman’s flesh like butter. Anglers who don’t know how to handle them correctly have been left with fingers cut to the bone, thighs sliced open and feet in a bloody mess.
The best method for landing a Spanish mackerel that is destined for the table is to gaff it in the head and then use a wooden bat to subdue the fish. You can then brain spike your fish and bleed it boat side before being placed immediately into an ice slurry to set the flesh. If the fish is left in the sun or on the deck the flesh will quickly deteriorate and become soft.
Releasing Spanish mackerel is certainly possible but best done beside the boat without handling the fish. A long armed hook remover is ideal to get the hooks out and keeps your fingers out of harm’s way. As the fish are hard to control, bringing one onto the boat alive will result in the fish kicking and slashing with its teeth which is likely to inflict damage on any body parts that get in the way, but it also removes the fish’s slime and scales reducing its survivability rate.
In areas where Spanish mackerel are abundant, they’re a staple food source for sharks which will hang off the edges of schooling fish. Each season many fish are eaten by sharks and they have worked out to follow the sound of the motors trolling around and wait for the Spanish mackerel to hook up before striking and taking their share of the catch.
COOKING YOUR CATCH
Spanish mackerel are an excellent eating fish, and the flesh freezes well. The only issue with this species is a chance of ciguatera poisoning accumulating in larger fish that are captured in tropical waters. There is a theory that due the ciguatera being a neurotoxin higher concentration are found in the spine and if you fillet the fish and remove any of the dark meat you can also reduce the risk of consuming the toxin.
Leigh says that the best eating fish are in the 8-12kg range and he releases any larger specimens to avoid the risk. This also helps to protect the species and allow the large females to reproduce large numbers of offspring.
Shallow fried in breadcrumbs, simply coated in flour with salt and pepper, or cooked up in taco seasoning, Spanish mackerel are a tasty treat that is worth the effort of preparing for the plate.
HOW TO FISH
A medium to heavy spin outfit will have you catching Spanish mackerel with ease.
Queensland angler and Black Magic Brand Ambassador, Leigh Holtsbaum, prefers to use a mid-range spin set up spooled with either 30 or 50lb Hyperglide® 13x Braid depending on the size of the reel.
If you’re trolling lures or bait, a medium sized overhead setup with 15kg monofilament line is more than sufficient. If you’re trolling live baits or straylining, you’ll be better off with a medium/heavy sized spin setup (similar to what you would use casting lures).
When bait fishing, you can use 40lb Tough Trace as your leader material tied with an FG knot to your braid, however when using lures Leigh increases to 60 or 80lb Tough Trace.
“Using a high performance casting braid like Hyperglide® 13x offers you an advantage particularly when trolling live baits as you can see every movement the bait makes and just before every bite you see the bait getting agitated and then whack”, says Leigh.
FISHING WITH LURES
Spanish mackerel are visual hunters and respond well to a wide variety of artificial lures. Using lures also has the added benefit of requiring much less preparation but can be rather expensive when multiple bite offs occur during a session.
High speed metal jigging, soft plastics and vibes all work when deployed around schooling fish. A fast retrieve with the occasional twitch will get the attention of your target.
The “go to” for sports fishermen who crave the explosive nature of surface strikes, is fishing with poppers or stick baits on the surface. Casting lures to surface feeding fish and watching a big Spanish mackerel take flight as they spear out of the water chasing the lure, is truly a sight to behold.
Trolling lures work well and the variety that can be used are only limited to the angler’s imagination. However, shallow running lures (15-25cm) that work well at speeds of 6-8knots are effective particularly in pilchard, gold or red head colours.
In recent seasons the development of deep diving lures that go below 10m and can troll at the same speeds as shallow running lures have proven deadly on Spanish mackerel. Pink, purple and orange colours have been highly successful particularly when fish are holding in waters 30-50m deep.
TROLLING
TROLLING DEAD BAITS
Trolling dead baits can be extremely effective, and when live bait is hard to find a well-stocked freezer can get you out trouble. Leigh always has a good supply of slimy mackerel, garfish, tailor, school mackerel and bonito baits in the freezer during mackerel season as these can all be rigged to swim very seductively.
A carefully rigged bait with a weighted chin that is trolled at 4-5 knots will entice Spanish mackerel to bite and will often out fish other methods on a given day. The good thing about trolling dead baits is that bigger bait often results in a bigger fish.
“I have used a dead bonito bait up to 2kg, and 60cm school mackerel dead bait to land some of my largest Spanish mackerels”, says Leigh.
For smaller baits like slimy mackerel and garfish, Leigh likes to make his own rigs, here is a step by step guide to making a dead bait trolling rig.
Step 1: Attach a 1 oz jig head with a 7/0 extra strong hook to a 30cm length of 60lb single strand wire trace using a haywire twist. This will be hooked in the midsection of the bait so that the jig head sits under the chin of the bait.
Step 2: Attach a small rolling swivel to the other of the trace with a haywire twist.
Step 3: Add a small 4cm piece of 90lb single strand wire to the hook eye using a small haywire twist. This is used to pin through the head of the bait and to wind on a bait spring .
Step 4: Attach a 10cm length of 60lb single strand wire attached to the hook shaft of the jig head by wrapping the wire around twice and tightening using a haywire twist.
Step 5: Attach a No.2 treble hook to the end of 10cm wire using a haywire twist. The treble sits in the tail of the bait.
Step 6: A bait spring is added above the jig head on the trace. This is used to wind down over the head of the bait and secure it in place.
Step 7: A coloured squid skirt can be added above the spring for additional attraction.
TROLLING LIVE BAITS
A highly effective way to target Spanish mackerel is slow trolling at 1 – 2 knots, with live baits such as slimy mackerel or yellowtail scad. Running a surface bait on one side of the boat and a deep bait on the other side enables you to cover all areas of the water column. A deep bait can be deployed either on a down rigger or by simply weighting down the bait with a 6-8oz sinker about 20m up the mainline with a rubber band that can be removed easily during the fight. Fishing with a deep bait allows you to move the bait up and down depending on where the fish are holding.
With a deep bait and surface bait working together it also helps you to slowly troll around the areas that are holding bait or where fish are marking on the sounder by reducing the risk of tangling the two baits. Leigh uses this technique in waters from 20-50m over reef areas that hold bait. It’s important to keep your eye on the rod tip as you will notice the live bait starting to move erratically as Spanish mackerel approaches and then loads up as the fish strikes.
The rig used for trolling live baits is called a stinger rig and consists of a small rolling swivel crimped to 30cm of 40lb black coated multi strand wire, which is then crimped to a 2/0 DX Point® hook, with a second smaller 15cm section of wire crimped to a No.2 treble hook.
The DX Point® hooks are small but very strong and sharp, and the hooks allow the bait to swim naturally. This enables you to troll the live bait very straight as it reduces the bait spinning.
Alternatively, you can use single strand wire, however, this tends to only last a single strike and needs to be replaced each time. When fishing this way, it pays to prepare at home and have several rigs made up and ready to go as you don’t want to be wasting time when the bite is on.
If you are using large live baits use bigger size hooks to accommodate the bait size and don’t be afraid to add a second or third treble hook with larger baits.
STRAYLINING OR FLOATLINING
Straylining is an effective way of targeting Spanish mackerel. Leigh recommends anchoring over a patch of reef and using a cube trail of cut pilchards which will attract the fish. It’s important to use the lightest wire possible – 20-30lb – for this method of fishing.
The rig is simple – a short length of multi-strand wire crimped to a small rolling swivel at one end and a 2/0 – 5/0 DX Point® hook on the other end.
