Rapala X Raps are my mackie lure of choice

these seem to be the best ive used for metro spaniards, last year i caught 8 out of a total of 13 for the day on a classic bluewater f18 in gold 120mm size  and the redheaded xrap 20 did well too, halco scorpion and laser pros in deep and xxdeep work well also but for light gear the classic f18 in 120mm is the go for me .   cheers

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lure question seems to be answered, dont know if anyone is using yozuri's im about to order and try some at $12 each why not, as for 2 rods i probably wouldnt, may increase your chances but when you get a double hookup (not if... when) you'll probably wish you had the one rod out. maybe tow a teaser on a heavy handline close to ya ski, easy to get in and out the way instead of the second rod.

Rapala X-Rap 30 in Blue pilchard and green mackerel is a must lure for me!

Last season I caught more Metro Mackerel on the Halco 190XDD. They do need to be tuned out of the box sometimes and also after a macky hit. Doing that they will swim straight at speed but they work so well I'll always use them. Colour preference is pilchard, green/gold and redneck!

Two rods would be better if ya can!

All the best!

If it was me id move heaven and earth to get a sounder and gps combo mate.

macks mostly like to follow contour lines , to ambush the bait and fish that move around these areas with the tides.

15 years ago , we were catching macks quite regularly at 2 rocks , with no gps , and a lcd , amazingly low pixel count sounder.

hit 20 or so metres move in slightly , hit 13 metres move out.

On certain years bait schools are the key, cheap sounder again will be the only tool u need.

lures, when you find a school on the chew, that you have teased up with your flashers/doctor, maybe are less

important than you may think.

In the metro area we have taken them on halco 190, 160 shallow, halco super deep 160, colours chrome pink,mulie, purple, redhead.

xraps , green , blue.     yo-suri, deep divers 180-200mm  and even trolled gardies and ballyhoos ( plastic gardies) and a personal

favorite the old bibless lures like the mal florence casta blastas and master blastas in the fluro green ( sounds like mad maxs lures eh?)

with these we had the most auresome hookups at  anything up to 12 knots, which we tryed if 6 knots and the halcos didnt work.

good luck.

Halco chrome pink or mackie mauler in the green/yellow/red

Cheers guys thats heaps of info for lures :) I am looking at a sounder just in the meantime whilst im saving i thought its worth a shot since they seem to be more profilic at the moment. past 2 weeks ive actually seen them free jumping out of two rocks in the 40m depths hence why i figured if i travelled a little more north id be in with a better shot despite no sounder. 

I do have another question however. I only have braid on my rods, i know i need to run wire but would you guys use braid/mono/wire or just braid straight to wire? And trolling speeds of 10-20kmh? (ski has either km/h or miles?)

Pretty excited to try, i have my gopro mount to hopefully get some action too

great thanks for the info 

As for adding a longer leader to get some stretch we'll you'll get bugger all so not required!
 

Just back off the drag a bit with braid as that compensates for a macky fast strike!
 

I gave it a go last year on the three mile Sha, its bloody hard work, especially when they forecast 5knt easterlies and it howls at least 15knts the whole time you're out there, we got hammered. We only saw one get landed and the boat was only 30m away from us when they hooked up so we were pretty close! Our biggest problem was our gear was too light and the rod wasnt heavy enough to absorb the strain from the rapala magnums. I've got some promising ground in 13m closer to home this year with bait schools already on it and we spotted a mackie ploughing through them just last week. Plan of attack will be more live baiting under a balloon than trolling this season so hopefully it works, will let you know how it goes

 You can see the rod tip pulsating more with braid. Good for seeing if there's weed on your lure. 

 Im still rockin the Rap cd18's for macks most of the time and master blasters for high speed work....call me old fashioned, but they still work

i had a cd18 once.  brand new out the box, to utterly destroyed, in one hit , by a salmon off west end.

wasn't very impressed.   how long do they last in the jaws of a mack?

 Send a pm to glastronomic, he's been slaying them.

guys quick question. how do you tune the halcos back to true?

that had caught upwards of 50 macks and still going before loosing em for different reasons. In the end one of em looked like a tooth pick with hooks and with a bit of tuning still swam and still caught fish

simple question turned into a debate for champions, you tune halco's by tweeking the towing eye, if it swims left tweek it right... bblah... correct me if im wrong.... as for braid/shock leaders... had 3 good experiences using a long wind on/shock leader to improved albright... after having a mate lose his strike/fish and one of my prized chrome red head crazy deep halco due to an over excited almost pulled over board experience im going back to 6 ft mono shock/30cm wire. if u want an upto date response, tuna hooked in lasdt 5 days, xrap 20 blue sardine, halco pink chrome 120 1m, halco 190 crazy deep chrome/red head, think they where special editions, and i fkn hate losing em only about 8 left now.

but the initial ask was for some help with mac lures. and blokes have given there opinion on deserved lures, until it got hijacked on rigging and tuning. but thanks for the tips on rigging and tuning!!

righteo cheers

see ya

if you are going to run two rods off a jet ski (will there be two people on board?) I would run one deep diving lure 7.5 metres and a mid depth or shallow lure 1 - 2.5 metres, to avoid tangles.  the reason i ask how many on the ski - who will retrieve the second line when you get a strike? and who's going to hold the fish while head back to shore!  That I'd like to see!  Sharp mackie teeth snapping at you toes! lol

 HALCO in gold with red head alllll the wayyy

I have a large collection of X-Rap's and fish for Mackies all the time, I always run a Witch Doctor Teaser with two rods on my own, One X-Rap 20 just behind the Prop Wash and teaser and another 20 meters further back. If you stop as soon as you get a hit then most of the time you won't end up with a double hook up but if you continue to troll for another 20 - 30 seconds then chances are you will. I have had plenty of Deckies swear by different lures but none of them match the X-Raps. As far as how tuff are they I spent a day at Trail Rocks of the Montebello Islands using the same X-Rap 20 Red head and landed 20 + fish and the lure still catches fish, While my old man went through almost every lure in his box for 1/3 of the fish. In the end my arms were to sore to pull in any more fish so I let Dad use it and he hooked up 4 times in 20 minutes.

I have a large collection of X-Rap's and fish for Mackies all the time, I always run a Witch Doctor Teaser with two rods on my own, One X-Rap 20 just behind the Prop Wash and teaser and another 20 meters further back. If you stop as soon as you get a hit then most of the time you won't end up with a double hook up but if you continue to troll for another 20 - 30 seconds then chances are you will. I have had plenty of Deckies swear by different lures but none of them match the X-Raps. As far as how tuff are they I spent a day at Trail Rocks of the Montebello Islands using the same X-Rap 20 Red head and landed 20 + fish and the lure still catches fish, While my old man went through almost every lure in his box for 1/3 of the fish. In the end my arms were to sore to pull in any more fish so I let Dad use it and he hooked up 4 times in 20 minutes.