mackeral
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Mackeral
Easy fishing (when there around). Not like it used to be (what is) the run usually lasts about 2-3 weeks (depending upon the year). Fish with mackeral tree (sold in most bait and tackle shops)which is a 5 or 6 hook setup with a daimond jig ( 4-6 oz) tied onto the bottom of the rig. Cast it out and let it sink to the proper depth and work it back to the surface. When you hook up let the mackeral swim around a bit as you can usually load up the rig that way. Over the last few years this fishing has become strictly a Party boat/Private boat/or charter fishery, which is ment to mean that we no longer catch them from shore in numbers. As far as location is concerned, Point Lookout/Sheepshead Bay/Freeport all have Party Boats that target them when/if they arrive.
Easy fishing (when there around). Not like it used to be (what is) the run usually lasts about 2-3 weeks (depending upon the year). Fish with mackeral tree (sold in most bait and tackle shops)which is a 5 or 6 hook setup with a daimond jig ( 4-6 oz) tied onto the bottom of the rig. Cast it out and let it sink to the proper depth and work it back to the surface. When you hook up let the mackeral swim around a bit as you can usually load up the rig that way. Over the last few years this fishing has become strictly a Party boat/Private boat/or charter fishery, which is ment to mean that we no longer catch them from shore in numbers. As far as location is concerned, Point Lookout/Sheepshead Bay/Freeport all have Party Boats that target them when/if they arrive.
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The Spring run of Mackerel is very unpredictable. For all intensive purposes, last season they didn't make a showing off the LI waters. A couple years before that you could bail all you wanted in 40' of water. I believe that's what the regulation is by the way,.......... all you want. Hopefully this year they make a good showing.
For rigs most any tackle shop will carry the "standard" Mackerel rig, which consists of about 4 small tubed hooks, all in a row about 1' apart. Just attached a diamond jig, like AVA27, to the bottom, and lower the rig down to the where the schools are on your sounder. Multiple hookups are very common.
A can of Bunker chum in the water is good to help hold the school once you find them.
Keep a lookout on these boards for when the schools arrive, usually anytime from April 15th on.
MakoMatt
For rigs most any tackle shop will carry the "standard" Mackerel rig, which consists of about 4 small tubed hooks, all in a row about 1' apart. Just attached a diamond jig, like AVA27, to the bottom, and lower the rig down to the where the schools are on your sounder. Multiple hookups are very common.
A can of Bunker chum in the water is good to help hold the school once you find them.
Keep a lookout on these boards for when the schools arrive, usually anytime from April 15th on.
MakoMatt
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I've found that #14 sabiki rigs work better than the older style 'christmas tree' rigs. Use a 1/2 oz diamond jig on the bottom snap and use some chum. I have noticed quite a decline in mackerel here in Maine over the past few years. They tend to have population cycles, and I guess they must be on the down side. Five years ago there were more mackerel than you could possibly want. I usually catch as many as possible to use for chum. I grind my own, and can go through quite a bit on an average shark trip.
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definitely a hit or miss in the spring off of Long Island...
last year was a bust, a few years before we got a decent shot but nowhere near what it used to be...you're better off fishing around Christmas for them..that seems to be more reliable now.
Best I ever saw was in the late 80's I think when I worked on the Starstream....we stopped at the JI Bouy and made one long 6 mile drift with a hard NW wind and caught them the whole way, big ones too.....went home @11:30. That doesn't happen in the spring anymore.
last year was a bust, a few years before we got a decent shot but nowhere near what it used to be...you're better off fishing around Christmas for them..that seems to be more reliable now.
Best I ever saw was in the late 80's I think when I worked on the Starstream....we stopped at the JI Bouy and made one long 6 mile drift with a hard NW wind and caught them the whole way, big ones too.....went home @11:30. That doesn't happen in the spring anymore.
its better in the winter now !
ctwhitechin wrote:
definitely a hit or miss in the spring off of Long Island...
last year was a bust, a few years before we got a decent shot but nowhere near what it used to be...you're better off fishing around Christmas for them..that seems to be more reliable now.
Best I ever saw was in the late 80's I think when I worked on the Starstream....we stopped at the JI Bouy and made one long 6 mile drift with a hard NW wind and caught them the whole way, big ones too.....went home @11:30. That doesn't happen in the spring anymore.
In the late 70's, early 80's, The mackeral fishing lasted a month in the sound . I remember fishing Oyster bay and I caught all I wanted . There were so many, you could actually see the mackeral coming, usually you would see a wave /ripple in the water and you knew where they were headed.
The mackeral fishing today is better in the winter.
ctwhitechin wrote:
definitely a hit or miss in the spring off of Long Island...
last year was a bust, a few years before we got a decent shot but nowhere near what it used to be...you're better off fishing around Christmas for them..that seems to be more reliable now.
Best I ever saw was in the late 80's I think when I worked on the Starstream....we stopped at the JI Bouy and made one long 6 mile drift with a hard NW wind and caught them the whole way, big ones too.....went home @11:30. That doesn't happen in the spring anymore.
In the late 70's, early 80's, The mackeral fishing lasted a month in the sound . I remember fishing Oyster bay and I caught all I wanted . There were so many, you could actually see the mackeral coming, usually you would see a wave /ripple in the water and you knew where they were headed.
The mackeral fishing today is better in the winter.
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What year was it???
It had to be mid/late '90s I think. Working for Speedo, first day we went WAY down the Jersey coast. Had a decent croud, and were catching mostly small stuff. One of the customers asked me where we were, I told him, "TFF". We started working our way home, and found them 4 miles outside our own inlet. All that running, and they were right there. I think we got a good 4+ weeks out of that, problem was, we didn't carry for anything.
Jay (if you look at this), you were working with me, what year was that?
It had to be mid/late '90s I think. Working for Speedo, first day we went WAY down the Jersey coast. Had a decent croud, and were catching mostly small stuff. One of the customers asked me where we were, I told him, "TFF". We started working our way home, and found them 4 miles outside our own inlet. All that running, and they were right there. I think we got a good 4+ weeks out of that, problem was, we didn't carry for anything.
Jay (if you look at this), you were working with me, what year was that?
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