Spanish, spotted and schoolies * from P36
Despite this, mackerel are still available, with a mix of spanish, spotted and school (or doggy). And school mackerel will become even more prevalent during May. Mostly doggy mackerel are confused with the spotted variety because schoolies present with spots on their flanks most of the time – check out the picture of Gary holding a small doggy. They can however disguise themselves as small spaniards, with bars down their sides like their typically larger cousins. For positive identification, lift the dorsal fin up. Doggy mackerel have a black leading edge followed by a large oval-shaped white section and lastly, some more black. They are fairly easy to distinguish from a spotty once you get used to looking at them, but the spanish colour phase can throw you, which can lead to problems because of size limits on the different species. Look for the white in between black on
the dorsal and, if it has this colouration, you can be certain you’re holding a school mackerel. May is always an interesting month because the offshore current usually starts to wane, meaning you can mackerel fish in the morning and head out wide later in the day to do some deep dropping. This month is when pro fishos enjoy the shelf, with blue-eye trevalla coming into shallower water. By shallower, I mean they come up the ledge to between 370-400m deep. Yes, it’s still a long way down, but this is about as shallow as a blue-eye gets… in this area at least. Thirty years ago, the shelf was the domain for larger recreational boats and commercial fishers only. These days however, trailer boats line the shelf, so if you’re confident in your vessel and your skills, get yourself an electric reel and have a crack. If the deep is calling you, now is the time to be looking at the weather patterns and current charts.
Reduced visibility targets
H
ELLO all, by the time this edition hits, I’m hopeful we haven’t had too much follow-up rain since the recent deluge. The water level at Lismore was slightly under minor flood height, and we have seen plenty of discoloured water pouring from the mouth of the river. As you would expect, there was a heap of debris, both natural and man-made, making its way downstream. As per usual, I would expect it to take a couple of weeks before it begins to push some clearer water in at the mouth – during the next fullmoon phase of tides. While all of this may seem a little doom and gloom, there were a few silver linings in the dark clouds that may have been overhead. At the time of writing, the river water was very discoloured, however we’ve had reasonable numbers of bream holding hard to structure such as walls, jetties and bridges from the ferry to the mouth. This was obviously for safety due to the re-
Ballina Bait & Tackle by BRETT HYDE
duced visibility, so most anglers were fishing very close to the structure with oily bait such as mullet, pilchard, mullet gut and bonito. These will help fish to find them in the murky conditions, but make sure you have plenty of gear with you because structure can account for loads of lost tackle. One of the downsides to discoloured water can be the fork-tail catfish (or dogfish) that turn up.
They have a great ability of finding bait when visibility is reduced and they possess some very nasty spines – if stung, the pain can be excruciating for hours. The only relief is to immerse the affected area in very hot water. If you do catch one, I suggest using a set of long pliers to take the hooks out and, at all costs, try to keep your hands away from them. * continued P38
BALLINA
BAIT & TACKLE
Still a few late season bass about even with the discoloured water.
Ballina West Shopping Centre Pacific Hwy, Ballina NSW A westerly wind and flat bar crossings are signals that it’s time to start on jewfish. www.bnbfishing.com.au
02 6686 2527 Bush ’n Beach Fishing, May 2024 – Page 37
