I was once asked “if I could only catch one species of fish for the rest of my life, what would it be?” I took a few days to ponder the question, and eventually landed on my answer, the Spanish Mackerel.

Mackerel are, in many ways, one of the ultimate sports fish. Fast, powerful and aggressive, these fish are known to terrorise baitfish and lures a like. It’s not uncommon in a hot mackerel bite to have fish launch 20 feet in the air in pursuit of a popper or stick bait. Now that’s what I call fun.

Another reason Spanish Mackerel are such a well-rounded sports fish is because there’s so many ways you can target them, and in the Halco range, we have a product for just about every mackerel fishing situation.

Where to find Spanish Mackerel

Mackerel are widely distributed around northern and coastal Australia, being commonly caught as far south as Perth on the Western coast, all the way up around the top of WA, all through the NT and QLD, and down the East coast of New South Wales.

Mackerel prefer warm, clean, offshore and coastal waters where there is an abundance of baitfish. This generally ends up around reefs, headlands and islands. “Spaniards” can be found in deeper water, with some spots being as deep as 40-50m, and in as shallow as shorelines, but the sweet spot for mackerel fishing is in that 15-20m range. 

Methods of Targeting Spanish Mackerel

Trolling

Trolling hardbody lures is by far the most common way to target Spanish Mackerel. Trolling involves setting a spread (combination) of different lures out the back of your boa, and driving the boat around at a speed of generally 5-10 knots, dragging the lures behind your boat. Your drags are set so that when a fish strikes, you will hear the clicker screaming, and be able to stop the boat, clear the spread, and wind your fish in.

Trolling is sort of our thing. The Laser Pro 190 is world renowned as one of the best bluewater trolling lures ever made. The LP190 is available in multiple depths so you can cover a larger section of the water column, and also in a heap of different colours, so no matter where you are, you can match the hatch.

Other things you will need to start trolling is some wire traces. We make multiple different tyles of wire trace, and they all work. Personally my favourite is the 2cm 58lb single strand wire trace for Spanish Mackerel. Spaniards have razor sharp teeth, and if you don’t use wire, you risk losing a lot of lures.

Lastly you will need some rods and reels to troll with. This isn’t super critical, and most boat rods and reels are suitable to trolling. If you want to make sure you have the ideal set up, then a 15-24kg overhead rod that is no longer than 6 foot long, paired with a size 8,10,12, or 16 size overhead reel and spooled with between 15 and 24kg line will be perfect. You can use our 60 or 80lb wind on leaders for your shock leader, and tie these to the single strand wire trace. Clip your lure on and you’re ready to go.

We recommend having multiple different depths and colours out at one time. For example, if you have room in your boat to troll three rods, have one shallow lure, one deep diver and one crazy deep diver, to cover more of the water column We also recommend using three different colours. Different colours work on different days, so mixing it up and finding out what’s working is always the best method.

Other trolling lures for Spanish Mackerel:

• Laser Pro 210

• Laser Pro 160

• Laser Pro 140

• Max 190

• Max 130

• Barra Spoon

• Kimberley Spoon

Casting

Some of the best fun you can half standing up is casting topwater lures at fired up Spanish Mackerel. There are two main options when it comes to topwater lures, and they are poppers and stick baits.

Poppers float on the surface and have a large open cup face. This cup face splashes water and makes a loud “blooping” sound when worked across the surface that imitates a sick or injured baitfish. Our Roosta Popper range is the perfect popper to throw at species like Spanish mackerel. The 135, 160 or 195KO, depending on the size of the fish, are all great options. 

The other option for topwater lures is the Slidog stickbait range. A stick bait is a bibles minnow that snakes across the surface. The Slidog range sinks slowly so you can let it sink to your desired depth and then work it back to the shore or boat. 

Both the Roosta popper and the Slidog will get Spanish Mackerel proper fired up.

In terms of tackle for casting lures like this, a 7 to 7 foot 4 casting rod is ideal and anywhere from 15-24kg with 30, 40 or 50lb braid and a reel to match the rod size.