The dry season winds have been quite varied over the last month, but the good news for Darwin anglers is that fairly light winds and calm seas are predicted for most of this weekend.
There are a couple of low pressure systems moving across the bottom end of the country and the Great Australian Bight and winds will be abating over the weekend.
There’ll still be some easterly breeze, but it should be okay offshore.
With the tides moving quickly from the springs to the neaps, conditions on the blue water will be improving for a shot at the Spanish mackerel schools that are off our coast at the moment.
By all accounts, there are mackerel to be caught from about Bass Reef and west across to the Peron Islands and Bateman Shoals.
There are plenty of ways to access these mackerel.
Obviously, you can head straight out of Darwin, round Charles Point and across to Bass Reef, but only anglers in bigger trailer boats should do that.
Launching in Bynoe Harbour will give you an easier run via Quail Island and straight out to Bass Reef or down a bit to Loee Patches.
Dundee Beach is a good mac-attack option because you can head either way to find fish.
To the north-east, there’s Loee Patches, past the corner of Roche Reefs, which itself is worth a shot.
To the north-west is Blaze Reef, wide of Point Blaze and one of the best Spanish mackerel spots along this part of the Top End.
If the weather is really good, then I’d be heading all the way down to the Perons and over to Bateman Shoals.
There you might find mackerel so thick that reef fishing will be out of the question because frenzied macs will most likely eat your baits and your sinkers on the way down and, if they miss, they’ll bite in half any reefies you hook and try to bring up to the boat.
Although closer to Darwin the macs are not nearly so thick, fish are being caught around Lee Point and out from there on the Bottlewasher artificial reef.
This area is perfect for a half-day trip, and ideal for the smaller boats.
You can catch mackerel a number of different ways.
I reckon trolling lures is the simplest, and it gives you a chance to cover a wider area.
However, jigging with metal lures can be deadly when you find a school of macs.
There are several proven mackerel trolling lures on the market.
The Classic 160 in just about any of the Bobby Dazzler colour combinations is a big lure which mackerel climb all over.
I also like the Classic Bluewater which comes in two sizes and two depths.
Reidy’s Big Boss is a beaut mackerel enticer in the two-hook version, especially in the Qantas colour but also the orange and yellow.
If you want to save fuel and bring the macs to you rather than chase them, spot-locking with an electric outboard and berleying with the current generally produces the goods.
Use crushed pilchards in a bucket with water as the berley, but keep the particles fine and the trail constant.
Float a ganged pillie out the back in the berley trail and the macs will find it.
Blake Knaggs caught this whale of a 104cm barra on the Daly River fishing with Shannon Latham of Mousie’s Barra and Bluewater Fishing Charters.
Craig Norton also fished with Shannon Latham and scored a super-solid 99.5cm barra.
