# Huge Sea Monsters at the Jetties - Video



## Geordican (Jul 16, 2015)

Fished the jetties Saturday morning with my Brother and a Friend. The storms made it a little difficult, but we managed to keep 2 specs and 8 Spanish Mackerel. The mackerel were hitting everything we threw and would also hit the swivel on our steel leaders and break off. Lost about $50.00 in tackle/spoons/top water/rattle traps/hooks/etc etc...... I would be interested to hear any tips on leader setup for these fish.

We caught - 2 specs, 8 smacks, 2 cow nose rays, 1 rat red, lots of Skip Jacks at Sea Wolf Park.

My brother (Brady Bunch) made a video - here it is.


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## Castaway2 (Aug 8, 2013)

nice


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## mssyoak85 (Jul 29, 2014)

12" to 20" piece of #3-#5 single strand wire leader with a haywire twist to your lure or hook. Then tie an Albright knot to your main line. There's several other ways also, but this is how I choose to rig.


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## mssyoak85 (Jul 29, 2014)

I forgot to mention, if you choose to use wire practice practice practice your haywire twist and don't cut any tag ends. If you cut the tag ends with a wire cutter it creates a very sharp edge and can cut you pretty bad when you grab the leader with a fish on it. (I found that out the hard way) hope this helps and good luck.


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## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

Wire leader long enough to keep from getting tail cut. 3' should do it for smacks. Single hook and good swivel. Slip weight if current is strong.


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## schoalbeast101 (Oct 23, 2014)

Nice video. Boone and Berkley make Short length black leaders with black swivels. They help quite a bit. Rip a 3/4 oz silver spoon on the surface of the water and see what happens. Just experiment until you find the right retrieve speed but many times you can't reel it fast enough.


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## Brady Bunch (Jul 12, 2004)

My Brother was using an Albright knot with a 2' leader and still got bit off. I was using black swivels on all my leaders....all were bitten off. We'll try a haywire twist next time with a longer leader.

I've gotten into the Smacks before and never lost this much tackle. These guys were super hungry and aggressive and all of the fish had empty stomachs.



mssyoak85 said:


> 12" to 20" piece of #3-#5 single strand wire leader with a haywire twist to your lure or hook. Then tie an Albright knot to your main line. There's several other ways also, but this is how I choose to rig.


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## texaswillie7 (Aug 25, 2016)

If you keep getting bit off at the swivel then use a longer leader with no swivel. Also I have these small bucktail jigs that worked the correct way is a mackerel every cast pretty much. Let me know if you need a fishing partner and Ill show you how to catch macks, it was one of my favorite kinds of fishing in miami.


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## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

I've had luck with heavy fluorocarbon leader albrighted to the braid or perfection looped to the fly line. No swivel. You just have to check the leader after each fish. Tie on the lure or fly with a loop knot to help it slide out of the teeth instead of having a knot that forms tightly on the eye of the lure or hook.


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## mertz09 (Nov 15, 2009)

Great video thanks.


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## deckmate (Dec 29, 2009)

Like schoalbeast101 said, use black swivels.


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## Geordican (Jul 16, 2015)

Karstopo- that was my thought. And to make sure the spoon has enough action I was thinking of a swivel/clip at the spoon.


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## BullyARed (Jun 19, 2010)

Smack1: "Hey buddy Joe, where did you get that shiny silver ring on your nose?"
Smack2:"At N. Jetty, Galveston. These guys on a bay boat put it on me. Jimmy got a gold one on his lip too!"
Smack1:"Cool! I need to go get me one. Hey, but wait, where are Freddie and Willy?"


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## denimdeerslayer (Feb 23, 2012)

Man that's some nice ones.


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## jdipper1 (Jul 18, 2007)

Good job guys.
I was in Trinidad for two years 12 years ago and they had LARGE Spanish Macks. We ate what we caught. One day I caught a 17.5 LB smack and ate it. The world record at the time was 13 LB 8 OZ. She was full of eggs and her teeth were dull. 

GOD Bless and help us all,
John


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## Geordican (Jul 16, 2015)

17.5lbs...that would be a fun fight.



jdipper1 said:


> Good job guys.
> I was in Trinidad for two years 12 years ago and they had LARGE Spanish Macks. We ate what we caught. One day I caught a 17.5 LB smack and ate it. The world record at the time was 13 LB 8 OZ. She was full of eggs and her teeth were dull.
> 
> GOD Bless and help us all,
> John


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## rusty2009 (Mar 5, 2010)

Make sure you use black swivels when make your leaders.


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