Trolling Live macks or drifting?

[shaunp1280]

Im going out to the bank on sunday and im hopefully gunaa get some macks for the live well. Do you guys troll or drift. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated!

[Old Glory]

Where are you finding Macks in Gloucester?

[Lidenco]

The first thing that comes to mind is:
Where are you getting mackerel this time of year, and, how do you avoid bites from bass/bluefish?
In Maine we cannot escape the dogs, and I assume, same in Mass. Possibly a run and gun fishery, which would lend itself to live baiting macks on balloons. When you spot surface feeders, run to them and start drifting macks????

[bankrat]

I dont know what others do, but I will run till I see fish or a fishy area and then drift or troll in that area.

if I see fish and they are up long enough to be targetable using spinning gear we will approach and try that first, if not, we deploy the baits and drift.

I tend to drift with a 1 or 2 out and jig or blind cast poppers etc while we wait for a live bait reel to start screaming. once that happens, 1 person is designated to put their rod in a holder and deal with the hooked fish, and another is designated to get not only their line in but also the line the angler now fighting the fish had out. every one else gets their line in and sets about performing their predesignated task, manning the helm if the capt (me) is hooked up, getting the harness, gaff etc.

this same system if used if the fish is hooked by someone jigging/casting. the man who was gong to fight a live bait gets his line and the live bait line in, everything else proceedes as described above.

I think this system lets us really optimize our chances for hooking up, as it allows us to fish live bait and artificials at many different depths. I have a regular set of guys for my crew and we are a pretty well oiled machine out there. doing this without a clear understanding of who does what when a hook up occurs can lead to a cluster of epic proportions

some folks use balloons. I dont see the need for it unless you had multiple baits out, I dont use them b/c I only usually have 2 at most out and you can see where baits are generally.

if you dont see fish, but find an area that looks like it has all the ingredients to hold tuna, putting a live bait out will tell you pretty quickly if there are fish around.

but make sure you are using tackle that can handle a true giant, as fishing with live bait like macs or pogies you will have a decent chance of hooking a very big fish.

I'd say 50's minimum.

good luck, hope this helps

[rarhomes]

I want to see your live well.

capt rick

[cold waters]

here is the short version... we are picking up macs at the IOS and running south till we find something we like... drop macs down on a 10' leader under a balloon... sometimes we drift sometimes we troll at .9 kts with the valves... we fish three to four lines...