Episode 558: Beach Pelagics With Ben Svenson

Top Tips For Catching Pelagic Fish From The Beach

• Pelagic fish species such as Spanish mackerel, tuna, queenfish, trevally and so on are usually considered to be boat-based fishing targets – or at possibly from rocky ledges. Ben consistently finds quality pelagics in relatively shallow, sandy gutters.
• Cutting up a bunch of mulies (pilchards) and chucking them out into the current brings the pelagic fish to you, rather than having to cover lots of beach! Be careful where you use a burley because in some popular spots all you will do is bring in all the sharks!
• Covering ground is important! You’ll never see Ben anchored up in the boat, put in the time and cover the ground and you should find yourself some good fish!
• If you’re not having any luck and you want to increase your chances of tangling with a Spaniard, Ben suggests just sitting for about 10 minutes! Grab a drink of water, reset, and cast again. Usually resetting like this and casting out again will get you some bites!

Tips for catching Spanish Mackerel From The Beach

• Look for the deeper channels in a beach fishing scenario, whether you are casting from the shore or a boat. The deep water with tidal flow is usually best for catching pelagic species.
• Deep water off the coast of WA is not necessarily what you’d call deep water on the east coast! An example of this is at Shark Bay, near the beach there is a channel just behind it which goes from about 2-5 meters deep. This channel is a great spot for several different fish species!
• The Spanish mackerel will often hug the sides of the channel, Ben has even seen them in water only about a meter deep in schools heading to the channel!
• Structure isn’t too important looking for targeting pelagics land based from the beach but you want a lot of current along the beach and channels, this something to look out for.

What Conditions are Good for Fishing Pelagics off the Beach?

• The last 2 hours of incoming and the first 2 hours of outgoing is the prime time to find pelagics within casting distance of the beach.
• It might be just a Western Australia thing but when the wind is howling and its horrible to be out on the water, the pelagics will be on the chew! If the water is calm, you might catch a few but it’s certainly not as ideal as when its rough out there.
• If there’s a big storm front coming through, start heading out a few hours before the storm hits and have a crack! The pelagics tend to be on the bite hard around this time.

Tackle For Shore Based Pelagic Fish Species

• When Ben is on the boat, he will almost always just cast stick baits. The best thing about being out on the boat is if you can find about 25 meters of water out the back of a reef and drift with the current whilst casting stick baits, you’ll encounter some really big schools of fish!
• Ben will run a PE 6 Grappler Type C as his heavier outfit. These things are amazing for casting heavy lures and leaders when coupled with a 14000 Shimano Saragosa reel and 75-pound braid.
• His lighter outfit is a PE4 Grappler 7’10”. He runs this with a 5000 size reel and 20-pound braid. Ben loves using this gear on the flats!

Leader Choices For Beach Based Pelagics

• On the 20-pound outfit a 40-pound fluorocarbon leader is usually adequate unless he’s after Spangled Emperor, when he upgrades it to 60-pound!
• On the heavy outfit an 80–100-pound leader allows the fish up to be beached or brought boat-side for tailing.
• Ben likes to use 80-pound nylon coated wire trace. The big pelagics don’t tend to be too fussy and are not put off by a ire trace!

Best Beach Fishing Lures For Pelagics

• The Shimano SP-Orca 150mm is a great stick bait to use. Bens personal favourite colour is the gold in the low light conditions. The green one is also fantastic in clearer water. The gamechanger for this stick bait is the “flash boost” technology, which makerel can see from a mile away. Although the 150mm is a pretty small lure for such big fish, they are fantastic lures and Ben finds that this lure is so tough you don’t have to swap out any hardware on them, the hooks don’t bend out and the split rings are really heavy. Ben uses this for spangled emperor, but you also have the possibility of catching some massive Spanish mackerel! When Ben is using this lure off the beach or even the tinny, he will cast it out and count to 10 before he starts retrieving.
• The Shimano Head Dip is another great lure to use when you’re after pelagics off the beach! Visually they’re similar to the Orca, but the head dip is bigger and floats on the surface. Ben will use this lure the same way he uses the SP-Orca, just by “walking the dog”. You do need to add trebles to this lure, Ben usually uses the BKK Fangs treble hooks.
• The other lure that Ben might use when out looking for pelagics off the beach is a 85g Surecatch Knight lure. You will need to upgrade the terminal tackle on this one by putting some heavy split rings and a good circle on the back. But if you put these on with a wire trace and cast it into a school of mackerel, you can be confident of getting hit.
• Ben always starts off using the Orca as you can cover more of the water column. When its poor conditions or when you’re fishing in surf, the head dip is a great choice!