Memorable Mackie

The promise of fair conditions from Willyweather (pathological liar) prompted an early morning launch from Woodies with the west end of Rotto in mind. After a very lumpy one-hour trip and with a very grumpy wife we eventually made it to the calmer waters on the west side of Rotto.

We decided to do some drift fishing as the south easterly allowed us to remain in contact with a couple of reef structures for extended periods. Our plan was to start off in 12m and use the wind to push us to about 30m before moving closer to shore and repeating the same method on a different line. It was during our second drift that a humble mullie which was being towed behind the boat was gobbled up by a very hasty and hungry predator. As Gail sunk the hook, this sprinter peeled off about 100m of line within a couple of seconds and thoughts of loosing all the "not so cheap" YGK braid came to mind. My first call was tuna or shark as it remained high in the water column. Sambo, pinkie and YTK tend to look for opportunities to break you off in the bricks below and therefore they were scratched from the mental list of possible culprits. After the initial heart wrenching run, Gail turned the fish and it came in relatively easily until next to the boat, where it spent the last of it's energy trying to escape being captured by the Nikon. When the fish came within view I initially called it a shark, then a YTK and finally realised that it was a decent Spanish Mackerel. Trying to land it with the net proved impossible and I eventually grabbed it by the tail and brought it onto the boat.

Gail and I were both ecstatic and my hands were shaking like a school boy landing their first ever fish. I was also instantly forgiven for bringing her across the "treacherous seas". We quickly removed the hook which was fortunately pinned to the side of the mackie's mouth. As we were not fishing with wire trace Gail was very lucky to land this fish. We had two runs during our first drift with both traces bitten off and although initial thoughts were shark, it could well have been mackies. The fish was placed on the measuring tape and it proved a whopping 134cm. Now that may not seem large to the seasoned boat angler, but for somebody that has no mackie to their name - it is BIG. Incidentally - I have now officially put four anglers onto mackies without landing one myself. We took about 10 minutes trying to revive and release the fish, but unfortunately it's days were numbered. Our first mackie fillits turned out to be yummie!!

For the rest of the morning the only notable fish was a decent snapper which Gail landed before the sharks became too much of a menace.

Once again another fantastic day on our Metro waters!

YouTube video - https://youtu.be/ii0X5KSm2K8

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Fisheagle Ed

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/fisheagleed/videos

Image Upload: 

Cruise Control's picture

Posts: 973

Date Joined: 03/11/10

 That's a great metro Mackie.

Sun, 2017-07-09 12:05

 That's a great metro Mackie. Well done.

Posts: 146

Date Joined: 14/11/10

AWESOME

Sun, 2017-07-09 12:11

 Awesome catch.

Always enjoy your posts mate.

Posts: 812

Date Joined: 09/10/06

 Rippa mackie.

Sun, 2017-07-09 12:27

 Rippa mackie.

Brock O's picture

Posts: 3221

Date Joined: 11/01/08

 Great fish and write..well

Sun, 2017-07-09 12:33

 

Great fish and write up..well done

Hutch's picture

Posts: 2221

Date Joined: 21/04/13

 Very well done, shows there

Sun, 2017-07-09 12:47

 Very well done, shows there are still a few mackies hanging around

tot's picture

Posts: 1159

Date Joined: 31/01/10

Great report and catch

Sun, 2017-07-09 13:52

 Wow super itchy to wet a line now

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Reverse cycle a/c supply and install - Ducted and wall splits

Stevo81's picture

Posts: 1278

Date Joined: 16/04/12

Top fish and pics as usual

Sun, 2017-07-09 13:59

Top fish and pics as usual mate! 

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                                   ••••••••  Electrical Contractor NOR  ••••••••

Posts: 755

Date Joined: 29/03/13

fantastic work

Sun, 2017-07-09 14:43

 go Gail!

the wind mind have helped you land the mackie in order to try something different

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Down the Line

 

Catch the Experience 

JohnF's picture

Posts: 2836

Date Joined: 07/07/10

 Top stuff. Release a

Sun, 2017-07-09 15:28

 Top stuff. Release a maccie......no way, I rate them up with the best table fish. 

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Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.

Ashen's picture

Posts: 1042

Date Joined: 22/03/13

Nice work

Sun, 2017-07-09 16:18

 Fantastic effort. Thanks for sharing!

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A fish in the hand is worth 10 in the water!

Posts: 6265

Date Joined: 26/04/14

 impressive 

Sun, 2017-07-09 16:19

 impressive 

rob90's picture

Posts: 1526

Date Joined: 06/02/13

 Awsome stuff! Think you've

Sun, 2017-07-09 17:20

 Awsome stuff! Think you've stumbled over a valuable area there, winter mackie thats awsome

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 Hi my name is rob............. and I'm a........... fishaholic

sea-kem's picture

Posts: 14957

Date Joined: 30/11/09

 You never fail to impress

Sun, 2017-07-09 17:51

 You never fail to impress Eddy

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Love the West!

Posts: 93

Date Joined: 01/03/14

July Mackie

Sun, 2017-07-09 17:57

Water temps at 17 to 18. Wow!!! That is an amazing July capture off Perth. Hard to believe. Well done.

Fisheagle's picture

Posts: 349

Date Joined: 04/02/12

Water temp

Mon, 2017-07-10 20:31

 Not sure how well callibrated my Raymarine is, but it displayed 20.8 degrees.

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Fisheagle Ed

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/fisheagleed/videos

Darren253's picture

Posts: 570

Date Joined: 23/07/16

 My Simrad was 21deg bang on

Tue, 2017-07-11 07:49

 My Simrad was 21degC dead, off the west end of Rotto on Sunday also. Warmer in the water than in the boat!

Guardy's picture

Posts: 381

Date Joined: 09/08/12

Gail grumpy

Sun, 2017-07-09 18:12

 Never!!!! Especially after landing that winter Mackie. Well done Gail, your turn next Eddie. I thought the waters might have been a bit too cool for them at this time of the year. Surprise surpise. Well done both of you.

joelborg92's picture

Posts: 101

Date Joined: 11/03/12

winter macks! good stuff

Sun, 2017-07-09 18:52

winter macks! good stuff

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www.instagram.com/joelborgers/

Posts: 5981

Date Joined: 17/06/10

Well done Gail

Sun, 2017-07-09 18:57

The smile says it all on the photo of the Mackie and the snapper.

Great write up as per usual, thank you pics and write ups are much appreciated.

Diggedy's picture

Posts: 67

Date Joined: 08/01/17

 Mate that is frikn

Sun, 2017-07-09 20:24

 Mate that is frikn awesome.

Yesterday at the boat ramp some guys were saying they had spotted mackies swimming around with skippy in their burley trail, now I believe them!

Posts: 251

Date Joined: 28/05/11

Great fishI headed out

Sun, 2017-07-09 21:33

Great fish

I headed out Saturday arvo and think passed you in the Sound on your way in, around 1.30pm

Fisheagle's picture

Posts: 349

Date Joined: 04/02/12

About right

Mon, 2017-07-10 20:51

 It was about the time that we were returning.  Wave us down and say hi next time.

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Fisheagle Ed

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/fisheagleed/videos

gruntre69's picture

Posts: 533

Date Joined: 15/10/16

 Great fish, photos and

Mon, 2017-07-10 07:39

 Great fish, photos and video....

 

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 Marine trimmer NOR (available for clears, tops, carpet, upholstery, custom equipment covers)

Simo_'s picture

Posts: 1843

Date Joined: 13/11/06

 Epic capture. Well done.

Mon, 2017-07-10 08:58

 Epic capture. Well done.

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Bring on April

Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 18018

Date Joined: 11/03/08

 well done. gotta be happy

Mon, 2017-07-10 13:14

 well done. gotta be happy with the end result.

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RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

azza1's picture

Posts: 199

Date Joined: 30/04/11

 That's a awesome catch mate.

Mon, 2017-07-10 15:30

 That's a awesome catch mate. Congrats.

Krusty's picture

Posts: 714

Date Joined: 27/11/15

 You two always seem to do

Mon, 2017-07-10 18:17

 You two always seem to do well and that mack is just superb.

Thanks for the write up and as always a quality vid.....well done 

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My fishing spots are so secret........... even the fish don't know where they are !!

Chinbald's picture

Posts: 317

Date Joined: 21/02/09

Double Jackets and Mackies

Mon, 2017-07-10 19:41

 As said before. You get some great fish. And yes the wind on Sunday was cold and created a washing machine. 

Fisheagle's picture

Posts: 349

Date Joined: 04/02/12

Not only double jackets....

Mon, 2017-07-10 20:29

 .....she had the blanket and hot water bottle on board

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Fisheagle Ed

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/fisheagleed/videos

dw72's picture

Posts: 139

Date Joined: 19/02/15

memorable

Tue, 2017-07-11 09:33

for sure wont forget that one for a while!