Simple Spanish

Located on the stunning West Kimberley coast of Western Australia, Broome is probably best known for its abundant sailfish. But it also offers good numbers of cobia, permit and the ever-present narrow-barred Spanish mackerel Scomberomorus commerson, some of which are trophy specimens. These toothy torpedoes will nail a fly without a second glance, if it’s presented in a functional manner, and tear off at a rate that will leave you a wobbling mess before the end of the fight.

Broome’s dramatic 3–9 metre tidal range also ensures that fly fishing can prove quite challenging. The main boat launching facility at Entrance Point is a basic concrete ramp, which dries to a sand base on the lower tides, with a second launch at Gantheaume Point being a beach launch. Both launches are only recommended for 4WD vehicles carrying adequate recovery gear. Caution needs to be taken on the lower tides to avoid highly embarrassing, and potentially expensive, situations.

Of huge benefit to fishing around Broome, especially during ‘the Dry’ (May–September) are the moderate winds blowing in off the Great Sandy Desert in early morning. There is no need to rise at dawn as they generally abate, sometimes to practically oily-calm conditions, allowing almost any sized vessel to head offshore and hunt for a few mackerel.

Local charts or any of the GPS-focused publications will put you over adequate ground for tracking mackerel, and if studied closely will yield enough to bring you back time and time again. A bit of research, some forward planning and a few tips from the local tackle crew make the essential difference between a hit and a miss.

Most of the fish around Broome are in the 6–10 kg range and could quite realistically be tackled on 10-weight rods and lines. However, your best bet for initial success is to fish heavier to avoid getting ‘sharked’ and to maximise your chances should a trophy fish nail your fly.

Shooting-head tapers like Scientific Anglers Tropic Express in 475–550 grain heads are ideal for getting flies down to the fish quickly on 12-weight rods. Rio’s T14 30-foot shooting heads with Rio running line are another fine option, and a little cheaper. Braided loops are essential at all joins to protect line coatings during repeated pressure situations.

Reels need to carry enough backing to handle the first line-baking run. Some I’ve seen are close to 200 metres, and if you’re at anchor the situation intensifies as you may need to pull the anchor to chase them. I fish a Lamson Velocity with close to 400 m capacity, using 50 lb whiplash as backing. Even this has sometimes seen me stitched through putting unnecessary pressure on fish for fear of coming up tight on the arbor knot—I’ve seen it once and it’s not pretty.

I’m looking into upgrading to a reel that can hold 500 metres-plus of backing, with a higher retrieval rate. A good mate of mine landed a 170-cm fish recently using a Terry Hayden reel which has a greater retrieve rate, knocking over the fish quite comfortably in the 10 kg line class.

Standard saltwater leader arrangements will suffice, with the butt matching the breaking strain of your line core, and a short length of your required class tippet joined with a slim Beauty Knot. This avoids snagging when stripped through your runners during the final stages of a fight. Fluorocarbon will help keep your fly reasonably parallel to your fly line when sinking, decreasing the chance of failed hook sets on the take.

Images by Storm Surge Photography

When it comes to flies, use what you’re comfortable tying. I’ve spent aeons trying to perfect flash flies with epoxy coatings. I’m still completely useless at it. They always dip, sway or spin when they should have zigged and zagged, the point being if they don’t look right to you from the surface, then chances are the fish will be able to criticise them up close, especially when retrieved quite slowly.

Standard saltwater flies like Pink Things, Flashy Profiles, Puppy Dogs and countless Deceiver variations will work. However, in the face of adversity one of my mates created the Peanut—so called because to big mackerel it’s like a peanut to a portly gentlemen in an Irish bar. The basic fly is a Deceiver tied on the front hook with a length of single strand wire back to a stinger hook with a marabou Clouser. This allows the tail to wag in the current even when dead drifted. The class of single strand generally depends on the size of the fly—the bigger the tie, the bigger the beast. We’ve been down to 40 lb without too many issues.

More recently we have accepted advice and kept our flies relatively small—between 4 and 10 cm. Any bigger and you risk the fish missing the hooks completely.

It’s a regular occurrence, even on the smaller flies, for a fish to cut the guts out of the middle section and render your fly useless, so tie heaps. If you’re capable, try to ‘match the slash’ with colours that are suggestive of the baitfish in the area. If you want to tie a bunch before heading out, combinations of blue, white, chartreuse, pink and purple are a pretty solid bet.

You may need to add a little extra weight to your flies or tie multiples of colour configurations with weight and without. This will help to cover all bases, from deep-hunting beasts to surface feeders.

The use of stripping buckets, bins or mats is mandatory to maximise casting efficiency and help prevent tangles when casting and setting the hook. One of the most functional and comfortable stripping buckets is the Mangrove Hipshooter. The soft foldable design makes it easy to transport and to store, and the deep bucket will handle full lengths of line easily.

Many of the shallower inshore waters, adjacent to deep water, will hold big fish, especially after May. Ideal tides have high flow with clear water. Any baitfish in the vicinity will tend to hold close to structure due to the increase in flow, and if you find them, it’s likely that big mackerel aren’t far away. Sometimes they have the bait herded up against a structure and can be seen nailing the bait-balls from below, in vertical bursts. Mackerel and prey shoot up to 10 metres above the surface, with a massive hang time. These immense displays of speed and agility send anglers wild with anticipation, and normally a hook-up isn’t far away. You just need to keep your cool and stay focused on the task at hand.

On rare occasions individual mackerel can be sight-cast whilst they smash through schools of bait. However, your chances of coming up tight on one are greatly increased by a slow and steady berley trail—a cube trail is probably the best option, made up of the bait that the mackerel are feeding on. Keep your cubes of flesh within the size range of the flies you’re using. This way the fish can accept the fly as either a piece of fish or a small whole bait.

Should you cast and retrieve, or dead drift? As yet we haven’t found a foolproof method, but casting down-current with single and double hand retrieves, swinging flies down-current with an up-current cast, and just dead-drifting flies with intermittent strips have all proved to be adequate ways to take fish. Swinging the flies from upstream allows the fly to get down deeper to the quarry when the baitfish are nervous on the surface. The cast-and-retrieve and dead-drift techniques are better options when the fish are actively slashing through schools on the surface.

The 170-cm fish I referred to earlier took a Peanut at full cast length on a slow retrieve. The fish then proceeded to shake its head and tear off backing that had never seen the light of day. After dropping the anchor and marking it with the GPS, a 15–minute fight ensued, involving two further runs of diminishing capacity. A fish of world class proportions photographed and returned. Happy angler!

The techniques I’ve described will see you locking horns with some exceptional fish in no time. Remember to fish responsibly and only take what you need. Spanish mackerel are subject to a bag limit of four fish per angler per day, and a two-day bag limit in possession. If returning fish to fight another day, it pays to keep an eye out for sharks, as there’s no point releasing tired fish straight into their jaws. If sharks are present it’s a good idea to up-anchor and move a reasonable distance to release your prize.