James catching Atlantic mackerel with Penn Fierce IV

[@ianb4801]

So much reel for such a little fish - but that's fishing for you. Which size Fierce IV is that?

[@Birchoakoutdoors]

LOL. There is a lot of fight in that little fish. I believe Jeff's Fiece IV is a 6000, on a 9 ft rod.

[@carlosberrios1021]

What size rod is it?

[@Birchoakoutdoors]

That Penn rod is 9' long.

[@carlosberrios1021]

Thanks i just got the 10 foot​@Birchoakoutdoors

[@Birchoakoutdoors]

@@carlosberrios1021 Your welcome. How do you like it?

[@carlosberrios1021]

@Birchoakoutdoors Is great for surf fishing

[@MV-df8jl]

Such a big pole to catch such tiny fish 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Birchoakoutdoors]

LOL. Here is the thing. You can fish them with a small rod. Some like to do it because of the fight. I did do that a bit last year. There are a couple of problems with that. One is the rock and seaweed. It is easy to get hung up and with a smaller rod, and lower test line, you can break a line trying to retrieve your gear. This leaves some line and gear in the water. I would rather not put more trash in our ocean, and it gets expensive when you leave two or three mackerel set ups behind on each trip. The second issue is there is a size limit for mackerel. So I don't want to play with a fish, our six. I want to get them in quick, toss the small ones back, and collect the legal size ones. When you have 5 on, having the larger rod makes it easy to get them all up away from the waters edge so you can sort through them quick. One other thing is, you can use a little more weight, can cast a farther. The set up works. I use the 8" Ugly Stik Big Water. It gets the job done, and can be used for larger fish like striper and so on. James