Coastline Jetties can often be baitfish magnets, providing food, shelter and safety for smaller fish species. These baitfish then provide a food source for bigger fish species turning the jetty into something like a seafood buffet. Going after the pelagic species that are attracted by the baitfish gathering nearby jetties can be a thrilling way to fish.
In Queensland there are many jetties that are famous for attracting pelagics, and the die hard local fishos are often targeting these fish. Some of these jetties include Urgangan Jetty (Hervey Bay), Picnic Bay Jetty (Townsville), and Palm Cove Jetty (Cairns).
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| A selection of metal lures from my collection. The 50 and 65 gram sizes have been most successful for doggie mackerel. |
Today I will share a technique for using metals which many people up in Cairns use for catching doggie mackerel at Palm Cove Jetty.
It can often be a bit overwhelming for an inexperienced angler to fish a jetty surrounded by locals who have been tuning their art for years and know every trick in the book. Some techniques however can be universally applied to any location and are simple to learn. One of the most successful and adrenalin pumping of these is high speed spinning using metal lures. Land based high speed spinning (or HSS) is a concept that came from more southern regions of Australia but many people in Queensland have discovered that it works just fine anywhere.
Because jetties are usually quite a way above the water many lures will fail to dive given the angle of your retrieve. This makes metal lures the perfect choice for this type of fishing as they are not designed as 'diving' lures and rely purely on their weight and the speed of the retrieve to gain depth. Being weighted with a small surface area means you will be able to gain a lot greater distance in your cast as well as cover many water depths if you fish them correctly. Many anglers using metal lures will simply cast them out and proceed to wind with the lure continually skipping along the surface. This is a great technique if you can see schools of fish feeding on the surface however sometimes the fish are skittish or holding further down in the water column. The technique I'm about to illustrate will allow you to cover a lot more depth and as you will not always know how deep the fish are holding at it is import to cover as much as you can.
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| An average sized doggie mackerel caught high speed spinning off Palm Cove Jetty. |
The fist step is the cast. You want to cast as far as you can to allow you to cover the maximum amount of water with each cast. Having said this however, don't overlook structure such as rocks, pylons or pontoons that may be within casting distance and also attracting fish. Try to spread your casts out in a fan like shape instead of always casting to the same place to cover more water, however if you hook up or get a strike it's a good idea to cast to the same spot again as this may be where the school is holding.
Once your lure hits the water, leave the bail on your reel open so the lure can take more line and allow it to sink straight to the bottom where it hits the water. You will know when it has reached the bottom as link will stop coming off the spool.
The next step is your retrieve. What you want to do is wind your lure as fast as possible, this will cause the lure to more up through the water as it comes towards you, covering the whole depth. You should be able to see the lure when it reaches the surface as it skips along on top of the water or tell by the angle of your line. Once this has happened stop winding, open your bail arm again (or press the freespool button on your overhead) and allow your lure to sink back to the bottom.
Repeat the high speed retrieve once again pulling your lure towards you and up to the surface through the water column. Often it will be the second section of the retrieval that will entice the fish to take the lure as it may just follow it during the first retrieve. Ideally using the technique you will get a strike and hook up in mid water but obviously this step is a little out of your control.
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| The steps I recommend following when high speed luring for mackerel of jetties. |
This technique will work on many species of fish and in any area. It can also pay off to vary the speed of your retrieves until you find what is working on the fish that particular day.
By Bad_Bubby
Visit Bad_Bubby's website at:
http://www.freewebs.com/badbubby/index.htm
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