![]() This is used by people to justify taking excessive numbers of mackerel from the sea. There is an urban myth that once mackerel have been handled by humans they lose the protective coating on their scales and will be destined to die through disease, even if they initially swim off. Myths and Commercial Value Multiple mackerel caught on a set of daylights. More information is provided on the mackerel as bait page. An additional plus point is that when fishing for mackerel with dayights or feathers anglers may also catch herring or sandeel as well, both of which are also excellent baits. Mackerel which is caught over the summer can be frozen to use as bait later in the year. ![]() Large sections of mackerel, or mackerel heads and entrails are top baits for large species such as bass, skates and rays, conger and tope. It can be used as a bait on its own, or small slices of mackerel can be used to create cocktail baits or tip-off worm baits. Mackerel is a great shore angling bait due to its oily, firm flesh, and almost all fish found around the UK can be caught on a mackerel bait. Download it from the Amazon Kindle Store for only £2.83 by clicking here, or buy a physical copy from Amazon for £5.49 by clicking here. The eBook How to Catch Mackerel contains a huge amount of information on all aspects of mackerel fishing. Many people gain their first experience of angling through mackerel fishing on a summer’s day, instilling a lifelong love of angling that soon extends to fishing for more challenging species, and many experienced anglers enjoy catching mackerel over the summer months and freeze the fish they catch to provide a supply of winter bait. Indeed many summer evening can see shore anglers fishing practically shoulder to shoulder, such is the popularity of mackerel fishing. Fishing for mackerel is extremely popular around the UK, especially around piers, harbours and jetties that provide easy access to deep water and the tidal runs that mackerel favour. Even a small mackerel puts up a great fight once hooked, although mackerel only reach a maximum size of 4 – 5lb, with the overwhelming majority being 1lb or smaller. Mackerel are the fastest swimming fish in UK waters, able to swim around fifty metres in ten seconds. They have no swim bladder which means they can change depth rapidly and must keep moving all of the time. Mackerel are a fast predatory fish, closely related to tuna. A large shoal of mackerel can force smaller fish such as sandeel, herring and sprats to the surface of the sea making it look as if sections of the sea are boiling. When mackerel are present they move in vast shoals, hunting small fish or sandeels. ![]() In some places around the south of the UK mackerel are now only absent during the winter months. ![]() However, mackerel appear to be arriving in UK waters earlier and leaving later every year, possibly as a result of rising sea temperatures. Mackerel are migratory and come to the UK in spring and early summer, when they will feed actively and then migrate to warmer seas in the autumn months to spawn, during which time they will feed little. Mackerel is a very important fish to anglers as both a sport fish and as a bait. A ridge of finlets are present running from the last dorsal fin to the tail. Shiny silver belly and lower flanks, short fins and highly forked tail. Attractive, almost tropical looking marbled blue/green back with around twenty black bars running down the flanks. Description: Slim and streamlined small fish.Feeds on: Small but fast-moving hunter that feeds on small fish and sandeels.Distribution: Common throughout the UK and Ireland in summer months.
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