Super Spaniards

Me, Jason and my new TLD 25 combo with the mackerel

Two days before heading out, my next door neighbour offered to take my dad and I fishing at Barren Reef for mackerel. With this in mind I packed my Shimano TLD 25 overhead reel on a Shimano Bluewater Series 15-24kg rod as well as my Rovex Aureus Spin Reel on my 2.1m 10-20kg Ugly Stick gold series rod. We packed most of our gear the night before but got up at 3.50am in the morning to be out on the water at 4.45am. we launched the boat from the Yeppoon Marina before heading out past the Keppel islands and out to Barren Reef which is on the North East side of the Island. We started by rigging our 24kg overhead outfits with a trolling sinker above the swivel, then a 45kg mono leader and then an eight hook gang hook to finish it off. On this rig we used a nice sized wolf herring which were caught off Iron Pot rock using metal slugs. Two overhead combos were trolled behind the boat which caused the baits to ripple through the water in a very natural manner. As well as that two spin combos were used to cast metal slugs like taipans and Spanyid raiders. Soon the drags were screaming as we were fighting the huge Spanish mackerel in the 30-40m deep water. It payed off to lighten the pressure of the drag as the fish approached the side of the boat. The definite ‘keeper fish’ were gaffed behind the head but if the slightest suspicion of the fish being to small the gaff was placed under the chin and out the mouth so the fish could be easily released. Three of the five fish from 80-110cm long were caught on trolled wolf herring while I was the only one able to catch them on lures. The two I caught on lures were by using my method of casting a head of the boat so it was deep in the water by the time it was behind us. Then I would briskly reel and jig the lure back to the boat and work it through the water columns in the process. It was the first time I had used my Shimano TLD 25 combo and was very pleased by it’s quality and especially it’s lever drag. It has been one of my most memorable fishing trips but also produced some very nice fish which tasted great.

Rhett Thorne

Dad and Jason with the largest fish measuring 110cm