Catching fish in the Solent?

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kcrane

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Can the experienced fishermen give me a guide to how to catch mackerel from the boat in the Solent? What gear do I need, when are the best times, where is a good location, what's the most effective technique? You can safely assume very little knowledge or skill on my part!
 
I think mackerel are around most of the year on the south coast, unlike up here where they appear from Mid june to end Sept.

I'd certainly say from April onwards you'd be fine

Gear is ultra simple - main line - snap swivel - a string of mackerel feathers - lead weight

Lower down, retrieve up - repeat. if there are fish around they'll take

I find that most shop bought mackerel feather strings have 5-6 hooks on - if you get into a shoal, it's not uncommon to have a fish on every hook - sounds great but it is not so much fun in reality as trying to unhook 6 maddly flapping fish, on a rolling boat, without getting yourself hooked up is not easy - even worse if you have other people in the cockpit pulling up the same number. You can, within minutes have dozens of fish on deck - don't forget that mackerel does not keep that well and is best eaten absolutley fresh that evening.

So my 2 top tips
1. Snip off 2/3rds of the metal hook on all the hooks on the string bar 2 - leave the feathers on as attractors. You get a managable amount of fish at any one time and it spreads the fun out longer.
2. With a pair of pliars, crimp the barb's on the 2 remaining hooks - you do not need barbs. Crimping the barb does 2 things - (a) it's dead easy to unhook the fish and (b) if you have tiddler or have enough for your needs and want to put any back, just grab the hook between thumb and forefinger, tilt upside down and the fish slides off back into the sea - thus negating the need to handle the fish.

There is a school of thought that says once a mackerel has been handled it will probably not survive - you only have to look at the number of scales on your hand after you have held one for a few seconds.
 
You need a 6' boat rod (20-30 lb action), a multiplier reel, some feathers (a line with a few hooks and some tinsel or feathers), a swivel, and a large weight.

Fit the reel to the rod and thread the line through the rings. Attach the swivel to the end of the line, then the feathers, and then the weight on the very end.

Run the boat very slow, 2-3 knots, which unfortunately probably means in and out of gear on your Princess, although you might just be OK on idle on one engine. Release the clutch on the reel, and keep your thumb on the spool to stop overrun (this is very important or the line will turn into a birds nest and can be impossible to untangle). Let out maybe 30-50m of line to start with, and just cruise around your chosen area until you hit a shoal of mackerel, where loads of them will jump on the hooks and you'll be bringing them up 2,3 or 4 at a time. Season for Mackerel is April/May to October-ish. You will catch them in the Solent, but i've always found it better just outside. Past the Needles, then head south until you're in 20m of water has always worked for us, but you can catch them virtually anywhere.
 
So the feathers attach to the swivel, and the weight also attaches to the swivel, so the feathers 'stream' out from the line held taught by the weight?

We've collected bait fish in Miami before game fishing, it sounds similar, see picture.

Will give it a go in a month or two, see how we get on.
 
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Loads of useful info here

You will prob soon get bored with just catching mackerel as they're basically suicidal once you find a shoal. Chasing Bass and Black Bream is far more rewarding!
 
Last time I went mackerel fishing we were sailing from Yarmouth to Dartmouth. Across Lyme Bay traveling at around 5/6 knots we caught around 50 with one line..... Yes ideally travel at 2/3 knots, but once you have established they are around it can be surprising how they manage to either keep up or yawn just as you go past...
 
Nick_H said:
You need a 6' boat rod (20-30 lb action), a multiplier reel, some feathers (a line with a few hooks and some tinsel or feathers), a swivel, and a large weight.

Fit the reel to the rod and thread the line through the rings. Attach the swivel to the end of the line, then the feathers, and then the weight on the very end. .
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Or better still, tow a spinner or feathers behind a paravane, this will dive and take the lure down to a reasonable depth where you will find larger fish as soon as a fish is hooked Its difficult when towing a weight only to get the lure down, at any speed it justs comes to the surface.
Paravanes are about a fiver each or make your own out of plywood. Agree that anywhere in deep water off the needles is perfect for catching mackerel
 
**** totally inadequate rod and line from Lidl, £2 feathers from any fish shop and bung it in anywhere, Ive never had a problem.Problem has always been getting the wriggly suckers off the line quick enough.Its toooooo easy.......what a laugh.
You would be surprised what else comes up as well, garfish and alsorts.

We join the crowd off hengistbury head and always fill the bucket.Stopped hear and there and always catch something.
 
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Now you know how from the replies.Where is the next Question? one good spot is No Mans Land Fort just stop your engines up tide away, and drift down past and close to the fort as possible, run back up and do it all again
 
Most will agree catching Mackerel is pretty easy in the Solent area. We usually stop and drop a string of feathers. Drop wieght feathers to the bottom and pump the rod a few times. wind up a few turns and pump again, repeat the process until you either catch Mackers or the hooks are back to the surface. This way you find out at what depth they are.

If you're new to it don't cut hooks and snoods and compress barbs, there's nothing more frustrating than pulling them up, getting them clear of the water and they get away. The easiest way to remove the hook is to hold the fish in one hand and work the hook out. But with 5 mins practice, even better, is to hold the shaft of the hook and turn it upwards. Mackerel are very wriggly and will soon jump off into your bucket.

When the weather's nice, it's also very pleasant to troll for them off the back of your dinghy with a spinner or feathers, it's much easier to control the speed at 2-3 knots and good fun to go off and return with lunch, they're absolutely great straight from the deck BBQ.
 
You'll be wasting your time in the Solent until the water starts to get considerably warmer - for Mackerel, more likely May/June time before they show in any numbers.

Others have given the technique, the main thing is to find the depth the shoal is at and keep going back to them - if your feathers are 10 foot above or below them, you won't bring any up.

Early season a mile or two south of the Needles or out the between Bembridge and theNab in the deeper water, in season around the forts to the east or between Sconce and Hurst narrows to the West.

Years ago when there were plenty of sand eels about, in the really hot weather I remember seeing them shoaling just off the beaches, you could spot them by the breaking water and the seagulls swooping to catch the sand eels that broke the surface trying to escape the Mackerel. Mind you, there used to be porpoises chasing the Mackerel then as well.
 
RogerRat said:
If you're new to it don't cut hooks and snoods and compress barbs, there's nothing more frustrating than pulling them up, getting them clear of the water and they get away. The easiest way to remove the hook is to hold the fish in one hand and work the hook out. But with 5 mins practice, even better, is to hold the shaft of the hook and turn it upwards. Mackerel are very wriggly and will soon jump off into your bucket.
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The way I remove/separate fish from hook, especially the ones with spikes or sharp protrusions, is;

start with a length of 4mm heavy wire 500mm long. Bend/shape 100mm of one end back over 180 degrees to fashion/shape a handle.

On the other end, bend 10mm back 180 degrees to shape a small hook.

When the fish is wound up and poised over the bucket, run one hand down the line until it is say 300mm from the fishs' mouth.
The other hand has your new 'de-hooker' in it.

Run the small 10mm hook end, down the remaining line, then down the shank of the hook (into the fishs' mouth), to the bottom of the U. At this point you must have the line firmly tensioned between the 'de-hooker' handle and the fishing line held by the other hand.

You can then either 1) lift the de-hooker handle straight up and shake the fish off, or 2) pull the line extra tight and 'roll and flick' the fish into the bucket.
Personally I use the second method, but takes a little practice.

Our fish varieties, more often than not, have nasty, sharp surprises, so I prefer to keep as far away as possible while they are alive and kicking. ;)
 
AndieMac said:
Our fish varieties, more often than not, have nasty, sharp surprises, so I prefer to keep as far away as possible while they are alive and kicking. ;)
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In the case of Mackeral, they wriggle a lot but they have no teeth to or spikey bits to worry about, they just a bit slimey and most people don't like touching them as it makes your hands slippery going back to the rod handle.

Bass are a bit dodgy though, good dorsal spines and very sharp flanges around the gills. We have to take a bit of care with those.

I liked your dehooking description but have to admit, I didn't understand it. Any chance you can re explain with some pics when you have time.

Kevin,
No problem showing you but as mentioned above, you need the warmer water, May onwards off Chichester.
 
Roger...

The bottom one is the home made version(:-)), works really well.
Just wrap the handle end up in thick tape.
When they are thrashing around, and you run the small hook end down the line to their mouth, it stops them tangling up the line as well, when you pull the line tight.
IMG_0199.jpg
 
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