SC Wharf Macks

After seeing three of my friends catching a total of 500 mackerel last weekend from a boat, I had to try it for myself. My good friend Thuy took me and my cousin out on his 15 foot aluminum boat out of SC. The bite was pretty consistent from 630-1000 am from right outside of the harbor to the pier. Per Thuy, mackerel were not stacked like last weekend and they were scattered. We were constantly on the move and got most of the fish by trolling. In total, three of us caught 268 jack mackerel and 6 pacific mackerel.

Thats a lot of processing. Im also jelly.

Thanks for the report.

Alex

Congrats on the bounty everyone and good luck to the Sunday senders. Get em! Weather seems mild from soquel.
Curious what’s everyone’s preference of preparing and serving mackerel?

Salt, Pepper and fresh garlic-BBQ-Serve with lemon
OR
I use my jerky marinade and cook slowly
ENJOY!!

Dang, that looks pretty good!  Trolling for them eh?  That gives me an idea... 

Nice johnnyab! Looks great, thanks for sharing your recipe 

Salt, Pepper and fresh garlic-BBQ-Serve with lemon
OR
I use my jerky marinade and cook slowly
ENJOY!!

Wow. That looks delsih Johnny. I never really seen any mackerel cooked that made love to my eyes like this smoked mackerel.  Definitely give it a try.

Alex

In total, three of us caught 268 jack mackerel and 6 pacific mackerel.

Wow that's weird. We caught mostly pacific macks at Capitola.

Dang, that looks pretty good!  Trolling for them eh?  That gives me an idea... 

I caught 2 on a swimbait on a 1.5 oz jighead. That was a surprise.

After seeing three of my friends catching a total of 500 mackerel last weekend from a boat, I had to try it for myself. My good friend Thuy took me and my cousin out on his 15 foot aluminum boat out of SC. The bite was pretty consistent from 630-1000 am from right outside of the harbor to the pier. Per Thuy, mackerel were not stacked like last weekend and they were scattered. We were constantly on the move and got most of the fish by trolling. In total, three of us caught 268 jack mackerel and 6 pacific mackerel.

Nice haul. What is the preferred method of trolling? I have thought about attaching a 1 pound weight and a flasher to a sand dab rig (12 hooks!), but kind of a moot point since I haven’t gotten to fish areas with them this year.

After seeing three of my friends catching a total of 500 mackerel last weekend from a boat, I had to try it for myself. My good friend Thuy took me and my cousin out on his 15 foot aluminum boat out of SC. The bite was pretty consistent from 630-1000 am from right outside of the harbor to the pier. Per Thuy, mackerel were not stacked like last weekend and they were scattered. We were constantly on the move and got most of the fish by trolling. In total, three of us caught 268 jack mackerel and 6 pacific mackerel.

Nice haul. What is the preferred method of trolling? I have thought about attaching a 1 pound weight and a flasher to a sand dab rig (12 hooks!), but kind of a moot point since I haven’t gotten to fish areas with them this year.

imagine hooking 12 feisty macks on a sanddab rig....that sounds like a complete pain in the ass 

After seeing three of my friends catching a total of 500 mackerel last weekend from a boat, I had to try it for myself. My good friend Thuy took me and my cousin out on his 15 foot aluminum boat out of SC. The bite was pretty consistent from 630-1000 am from right outside of the harbor to the pier. Per Thuy, mackerel were not stacked like last weekend and they were scattered. We were constantly on the move and got most of the fish by trolling. In total, three of us caught 268 jack mackerel and 6 pacific mackerel.

Nice haul. What is the preferred method of trolling? I have thought about attaching a 1 pound weight and a flasher to a sand dab rig (12 hooks!), but kind of a moot point since I haven’t gotten to fish areas with them this year.

imagine hooking 12 feisty macks on a sanddab rig....that sounds like a complete pain in the ass 

At La Jolla, a couple of those beefy 12"+ greenbacks will tangle the crap out of your sabiki in 1 drop.   

imagine hooking 12 feisty macks on a sanddab rig....that sounds like a complete pain in the ass 

Hah, yeah that would be a heck of a hookup.  With four hitting my line on the wharf, I almost lost my rod   

Thanks Johnny that was cool.

imagine hooking 12 feisty macks on a sanddab rig....that sounds like a complete pain in the ass 

Yeah, what could go wrong trying to deal with that on a kayak? I have found that a large enough weight will keep everything vertical and avoid tangles. Hopefully I’ll get to test this theory on the mackerel someday.

Oh ! I got some stories on Mack fishing.

Be out there tomorrow hopefully on a boat . 

Alex

Got 73 on Sat.  It is much harder fishing mac from kayak.  Spend too much time trying to untangle the sabiki mess.  Here is my favorite way to prep the fish: soak them in salty water for 1 hour.  Hang dry overnight and then vacuum pack.  Pan fry as its (no more salt).  Sprinkle some lemon juice after is done.  Sooooo good!