Alex's Column 26 June 2025
- NAFA
- Jun 27
- 4 min read
It appears that, so far this dry season, there hasn’t been the intensity of the strong easterlies that normally stifle opportunities for offshore bluewater fishing?
In fact, there has been an abundance of calm-water days over the last couple of months.
With a couple of brief but notable exceptions, this Dry doesn’t seem quite as cool as one would normally expect, and that too is a reflection of the mild breezes we’ve been experiencing.
This moderate weather is the obvious key to the great bluewater fishing we’ve been able to tap into of late – and there should be more of it this weekend on the bigger tides.
We’ve had a long stretch of neap tides, yielding fantastic water clarity, and these springs don’t have a huge variation from top to bottom, so visibility on those inshore and offshore reefs shouldn’t be too bad at all.
There’ll be a bit of breeze about this weekend, but early and late daytime sessions should see comfortable conditions and, through the day, the winds won’t be too bad for your typical 6m-plus trailer boat.
That means we should be able to have a shot those Spanish mackerel and longtail tuna that are off our coast at the moment.
By all accounts, there are scattered schools of pelagic species from the Peron Islands to the east Melville coast.
There are plenty of ways to access 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 at any of the several ramps 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, and it hasn’t been too bad for sailfish of late either.
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 can expect to find the mackerel so thick that reef fishing may well be out of the question because frenzied macks will most likely eat your baits and your sinkers on the way down.
Although closer to Darwin the macs are not nearly so thick, fish are being caught in the vicinity of Lee Point.
This area is perfect for a half-day trip, and ideal for the smaller boats.
If you miss out on a mackerel, there are other sportfish keen to take a lure close to Darwin
Longtail tuna were in Darwin Harbour during the neaps, so they’re a special to come in on the bigger high tides this weekend.
Apparently, they’ve been quite finicky, sounding after only a minute or two on the surface, so you’ll need to hit them fast and hard.
Charge in with the wind behind you, pulling up about 50m from the school and cutting your engine.
Your outfit should be a threadline reel of about Shimano 4000 size with a 2m-plus rod with plenty of tip flick.
Line should be 10-15kg braid, with a clear 20kg monofilament leader attached.
Your lure should be as small a metal slice as you can cast, or a Marabou jig, or even a small soft plastic on a weighted jighead..
If you want to cheat and cast twice as far as anyone else, hence not needing to get so close to the tuna, slide a 3cm barrel sinker onto your leader, tie a No 2 treble on and scrape the lead sinker with a knife or file to shine it up.
Whatever lure you use, chuck it out as quickly as you can straight over the school, let it sink for three seconds, then, with rod tip down, wind like a maniac.
As far as mackerel are concerned, it’s no secret that they can be caught a number of different ways.
I reckon trolling lures is the most fun, and it gives you a chance to cover a wider area.
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.
The Classic Bluewater is a beautiful lure that is a beauty to use.
One of my favourites is the imposing Bluewater Saury lure which can be trolled at a faster speed than any other mackerel hard-body lure.
When you think about it, mackerel lure fishing can be just like barra: there are so many great choices.
If you can afford one or two of each of the above, then you’ll be able to vary colour, size, depth and action combinations until you find what works on the day.
