have a look at what others use. that should help you out. 

not sure on the tides etc but id be grabbing a couple halco 190 2m divers and giving them a cast. 

metal twisties as well

saragosa is fine, just wind the lures in like crazy

Give the halco max lures a go. Cheap and cast a mile.

Being bibless they are easy to use as well

All you need in a reel for casting for Mac's is high speed retrieve and go the best you can afford at the time......... as above the halco Max are good because they cast long distance and are cheap...... Just keep casting!

 I'd be talking to BJ and grabbing a couple of his leadheads, cast miles quick retrieve. 

 Is fine but if you want to save money the shimano sorrocco 6000 or 8000 will do the job just grab a 6000 sorroco sw should be able to find a new one for around $120 then either go j braid 30lb or sunline super pe you can find 300m spools for around 40 bux if you look around with a rod maby a penn prevail or a daiwa sea bass rod or any 7'6 8ft rod rated pe 2 to 4 or pe 3 will be fine then grab a bunch of halco twistys (metals) about 5 bux each and go for it.

I woukd spin early morning or if its a overcast day i would cast from morning all day good luck mate

 One massive tip with mackies.  They love to hunt early morning or late arvo. Dont be scared to cast lures in the morning whilst it is dark even before the first sign of light on the horizon.  When its dark poppers can be good like halco roosters retreived slowly with big bloops.   If the mackies arnt to big then a big setup isnt necessary. A 4000 size reel and 7-8ft  fast action graphite rod should  be all you need.  You dont need to spend a fortune. 30lb braid  and 60lb Short mono leader should be ok wire shouldnt be necessary.  This is going from my experience in exmouth.  1 hour after sunrise you may as well give up casting.  I have caught a few whilst gt popping and its been completely dark.  They also love stickbaits retreived slowly and eratically.

if it were me, I'd be:

*trying to find a mid-light combo (9-11ft rod, 5000-8000 size reel, 20-30lb braid) that casts as far as possible.

*casting as far as possible with metal lures like halco twisties, raiders, etc, with a short length of single strand wire. if there is no sun (overcast), maybe switch to bright coloured lures with a fair bit of weight, like shimano waxwings.

*high speed retrieving

*the last few hours before high tide would be more activity, and also the first few after low tide.

keep an eye on the moon phase ;)

What type of Halco 190 works best? When I search Halco 190 on BCF I get a large variety of products.

Thanks

 You dont need fancy expensive gear, as long as your comfortable using the gear and you have atleast 300m of line and some patience while fighting the fish you'll be ok. The mackies are big but usually do a few smoking runs that'll wear themselves out then fight on their sides till you get em up. Big longtails cruise through there and thats what will really test ya out. Good luck mate you've got some great advice from guys above hopefully we'll see a mackie post from ya soon

Rapala sxr14 great casting lure. I picked up one Spanish a few weeks ago trolling the smaller sxr12 model

 KATO Strada 150, Great colours, great action & cheap. Have worked a treat for me up at Steep Point for the last 3yr. Ive had great success on the 125 for salmon here too. Crank as fast as u can.

 in addition to metals, get a few poppers & sinking stickbaits to rest your arms. Bloop, pause, bloop, pause.

  Constant metal casting will wear you down quickly.

 I would say don't worry about wire, even if you lose your lure, at least you got some actions to keep you motivated.

 There is also a 120.   Their advantage, as i see it,over a big metal slice, is that you can work them at all speeds. Big metal needs a very fit guy to make them work for more than about 10 minutes at a time   I've caught pelagics on them (120 bibless) casting from a mooored boat. Trolling, I've caught everything from Spaniards, thru Wahoo ( between 3.5 and 17 knots), mahi, tuna (all species) , and striped and black marlin to 130kg.  Try Stripey or Sardine. And I wouldn't leave the wire off--you only need 30cm of single strand 70lb, very thin, tie directly onto the lure, and a suitably rated black swivel the other end.just change it every outing if you have caught fish.  I tried going without wire up here last year--didn't last long, had 2 snipped in one session, not sharked. By incredible co-incidence , Tangles picked up one of them on the beach the next day, 100mm of 80lb mono still attached to the lure. 

 Young fella, I’ve got a box full of casting lures you’re welcome to if you want them. You’ll have to spend some money on some new hooks to replace the trebles which are a bit rusty, but the lures I don’t use anymore are all yours (they’re scratched up a bit so don’t get too excited)!.

Don’t let too many people tell you that you can’t cast halco 180s etc. they cast just fine on a 7-9 foot stick as plenty of Mackies landed can attest to, in fact they’re pretty much all we use at steep.

I’ll dig around and I’ll prob find you a couple of old reels in the shed too. I’m sure I’ve got an penn 950 you can have - not a great lure casting reel but will work just fine heavy bait fishing.

im NOR but come down to Subi every week. if you can get to Subi after school one day I can leave with our receptionist for you.

PM me or better still get your folks to and we’ll get some lures sorted for you

Well done Chris. That is what is so good about FW. Helping a young fisho out

 Yeah that’s good stuff. 

Good morning Alex,

The key to getting a metro mack land based is being persistant and putting in the time and effort.

Casting non stop with the right lures also helps (I find bibless minnows best as they are easy to spin with, can be used with a fast retrieve, swim straight and are easy on the arms as they dont have much drag compared to bibbed lures)

Best times are early morning from sunrise until about 10am and also late arvo from about 4pm until sundown, a lot do get caught at night also on live baits.

Set ups wise the Saragosa 8000 will do the job nicely, try to run a good quality braid that is able to get the best cast in around pe3, a rod around 9-10 foot is the most ideal.

For your best chance I would also reccomend trying to get a live scalie out there if you can get one before sun down and once out keep casting lures.

Oh and always use wire, either single or multi strand around 80lb.

Hope this info is helpful.

If you're in need of any other info or gear we can point you in the right direction.

Cheers from James, Oceanside Staff.

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