Catching mackerel - again

[Mirelle]

To be honest, I have never caught many.

My late father, a lifelong messer-about-in-small-sailing-boats and a career marine biologist, was the world's leading authority on why one did not catch them - boat sailing too fast/slow sun out/not, water too murky, tide ebbing/flooding - you get the picture!

The Gabbard here we come! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[ChrisE]

I have a been an angler for 50 years and a sailor for 12. My wife would recognise your father's argument except that I apply it to our sailing speed relative to other boats - not enough wind for our boat, other boat lighter, more sail area, etc - all of which is an excuse for me to put the donk on and go fishing!

You've probably already have worked out that I meant the Outer Gabbard Banks.

 

[bobgosling]

I have been told that below the shoal of Mackeral there are usually several large Bass. The trouble is that I have never found anything which will sink through the Mackeral without being eaten by them ...

Any ideas ?

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

You need to borrow my fishing gear.... I can guarantee its ability to be completely ignored by Mackerel

 

[aitchw]

I have to take the head off as well otherwise SWMBO objects because it looks too much as if it was alive once.

 

[Danny Jo]

The Clyde was alive with them in the latter half of August. We streamed a line astern with a smallish lead weight and three cheap lures (99p). So long as we were doing no more than about 5 knots we rarely sailed for more than a couple of hours without catching some.

Tying up in East Loch Tarbet, we saw a shoal of mackeral beside the pontoon, so muggins swings the lead to hit the water 20 ft away, hauls in and finds three fish hooked, one of which escapes. Smug now, he throws again, and snags a hook on his thumb. Trouble is, momentum of lead weight carries hook right through base of thumbnail. No way it'll come back out through the entry point, so cut the shank with wirecutters and try and force the hook further on its way through the thumb. Bloody crew no help, even the vet is going pale, saying "Yuk, Dad, I'm not touching that!"

Many thanks to the staff of Tarbet surgery, who sorted me out with a little lignocaine and quite a bit of grunting.

Two fish between three wasn't quite enough, so had it with smoked bacon - delicious.

On the gutting front, I was shown a neat technique which produces boneless fillets without opening the abdominal cavity at all - simply cut down from the back either side of the dorsal fin and allow the knife to skate over the "rib cage" or whatever you call the bones around the abdominal cavity. Strip off the skin, add a bit of soy sauce, and consume raw.

 

[Guest]

N.Sea Mackerel .....

On the ships when at anchor at Maas Centre ...... app's to Europoort / Rotterdam - we'd bash 'em in all day long ..... couldn't fail.

Another place (not N.Sea though) was inside Cork Harbour .......

 

[ChrisE]

You're right there usually are a few bass below the shoal.

The problem is that they are quite difficult to catch unless you are specifically fishing for them. You might try a pirk (a heavy fish like lure) that catches the odd one or two otherwise try using the pirk as weight for the feathers.

Best of luck.