mackerel help

[pasadenafishin]

I am looking to catch mackerel to catch catfish. I have never fished for mackerel so i need some tips. I looked it up on the search function but no one spells mackEREL correctly so it didnt work. I need all the tips i can get, spots (prefferably neary huntington or manhatten any wear near the LA area. What size sabiki, the small or big ones? what lbs test should i be using? how to fish it..


sorrry for being a newb when it comes to this, THanks, PF

[vanillagurilla]

i use 15lb tst just because you can load up a rig with macs. i try to stay away from sabiki rigs and use lucky joe rigs. there kinda the same but lucky joes use brightly colord yarn or feathers and slightly bigger hooks. sabikis will catch other fish than mac if there around. lucky joes kinda single out the macs and u get bigger ones aswell. u can also tip the rig with peices of squid and that works great. ive also seen guys use a peice of foam just under the top swivel where u tie on so the rig stays vertical off the bottom. as far as areas... id try seal beach and hunington peir. i live in the O.C so i dont know many places in la.

[samgann93]

go to newport or balboa peir with anything from 6-12 lb test and put a size 2 masquito hook on the end and put about 1/4 oz of weight 12inches up the line. use mackerel for bait. it works. good luck

[pasadenafishin]

go to newport or balboa peir with anything from 6-12 lb test and put a size 2 masquito hook on the end and put about 1/4 oz of weight 12inches up the line. use mackerel for bait. it works. good luck

and where would i get the mackerel from? im talking about fishing FOR mackerel haha

[fisherman from long beach]

you can pretty much catch the maks from any pier, see them catch them on redondo beach pier

[Odium]

and where would i get the mackerel from? im talking about fishing FOR mackerel haha

Most of the time someone else on the pier has caught a mack and has chopped it up for some bait. I haven't run into many people who couldn't spare a few strips of mac.

When I hit Balboa pier with my bro. We use giant squid for bait, giant squid basically never gets stripped off the hook. Double dropper loops, size 6 or 8 hooks, and a two ounce pyramid with a good length leader. We usually bait and wait with that setup.



I haven't personally fished Redondo Pier, but its right next to king harbor. Inside king harbor there are some pretty decent sized macs (as opposed to the dinks around balboa). I'd probably use size 4s and 6's if you are gonna fish Redondo.


If you are feeling a bit more adventurous and willing to spend a little cash on chum, go fish off the rocks in King Harbor right by the bait barge. You dont have to go to the breakwall. Just fish the rocks on the backside of the hotel right there. Chum up the waters with tiny bits of squid. Might take a couple of minutes(don't underestimate the amount of chum you will need), but eventually you will bring around a fat school of macks. Once they come around just start jackpoling them out of the water, but dont forget to keep the chumline going.

[victor101]

Mackerel prOdium!

[pasadenafishin]

thanks everyone

[samgann93]

like odium said someone will usually give you a strip to start. or you can find an old piece just sitting around. they eat it all..

[Jimmy310]

Squid work very well in San Pedro.
I have done some Ninja action and it was out of controll :Twisted:

Good luck, once they hit use the 1st one as bait. They go crazy for fresh flesh.

[OMWAA]

Its pretty hard not to catch them off the pier

[megafisher94]

mid depth to surface, squid, any pier