Holy Mackerel

 Of all my posts, this one easily has the cheesiest and laziest title but low hanging fruit is the easiest to reach. So no apology from me at this time.

   Today I went to the Cape Cod Canal and caught my first ever mackerel. While it would be considered "spot burning" to say that I caught them at the canal, there are like four people that I know that have the surf rods heavy enough to actually fish there or they wouldn't drive there anyway.. They all live in Rhode Island or western Mass so it is safe to say that I will not be adding to the crowds at the Sandwich Marina. The fishing reports from tackle shops have already reported where the mackerel are. If you are randomly reading this on the internet and your goal in life has always been to catch a mackerel, you are welcome!

   Actually, catching a mackerel was one of my goals. I had never caught any. I'd seen them swim by and be chased by stripers in the summer but never targeted them. Yesterday I went but I failed. I had hoped to catch them on light tackle so I brought my trout rod and some small Kastmaters.  Unfortunately, the macs were way out of range of my small rod.  I did bring an eight food surf rod but I did not think things through. I brought my rod with my bairunner and twenty pound mono. This had half the casting distance of braid. Add to that that I only brought some egg sinkers and tied a small Kastmaster to my line, I must have looked like a googan (idiot)

   When I got done fishing yesterday, I went home and got more appropriate equipment. I got my Mojo rod with a reel full of braided line. I picked up my one Sabiki rig and some bank sinkers. The weather forecast said I had a few hours in the morning before a huge rainstorm. I planned on going fishing at 7-8 am but I didn't fall asleep until 5 am so I got up at 9 am.

   

It's a shame mackerel are just considered 
baitfish because the colors are incredible

   I caught three mackerel today. Since I had never caught any, I would have been very happy with one. I  caught two on one of my casts and an hour later caught the third. However, if I would have been in a competition or a tournament, I would have gotten my ass kicked. I saw so many mackerel caught. One guy reeled in five at a time so often I lost count. Many other guys caught a dozen or more. 

  I tried to figure out what I was doing wrong. My casts were about as far as those guys and I was letting my rig sink like they were. I think they had better Sabiki rigs than me. While I had a rig with five tubes that were grey and red the other people were using a different Sabiki. It seems like they were nailing fish on white teasers or shiny silver teasers. The white fly and the flashy stuff far outfished my rig. 

I learned a lot today by not catching. It made me pay attention to those that were. I probably won't spend a lot of time chasing mackerel anyway. The crowded conditions really aren't my style. On a personal note, the mackerel were my fiftieth species I've caught fishing AND I saw a guy catch a fish called a Longhorn Sculpin. I had no chance of catching one of those, they only eat bait off of the bottom and I was fishing with lures. Still, I saw a lifer. 

Longhorn Sculpin