One of the gamest fish in the sea, mackerel can be caught on a variety of tackles, including spinning, float-fishing, legering and fly-fishing. They can also be caught on feathers but this is not a method that we consider to be sporting so, as a club, we do not accept any mackerel for weighing in that has been caught on feathers. Sorry about that!
Legering may seem a bit unusual for mackerel but, actually, you can often sort out the biggest specimens that way.
Legering may seem a bit unusual for mackerel but, actually, you can often sort out the biggest specimens that way.
All you do is to mount a rotating boom on a piece of tubing and glue a small float on that same piece of tubing. Put a bead and a stop on your leader and then slide on the boom and tubing. Tie on your weight at the end of your leader and cast out.
You could, of course, just put an avis boom above a float but, if you are using mackerel strip, you will find that the short trace kinks very quickly and becomes unusable. Any sliding boom with a swivel at its end will do a much better job.
It may not be the most sporting method but, if the mackerel are a long way out, it will enable you to catch them when they are out of range of float tackles and spinners.
As for spinners, I am not going to spend a lot of time describing them. Just look for models like the ABU Toby, a cebar lure or a dexter and cast them out with no other weight on the line. (I use the word like in its most liberal sense since there are dozens of lures on the market that have been 'cloned' from these originals. )Fish the Toby or the Cebar with a darting retrieve and action and fish the Dexter like a mini pirk, letting it drop back, bringing it up and then dropping it back again. These are, however, just some of the successful lures since mackerel like a wide variety of shiny lures.
You could, of course, just put an avis boom above a float but, if you are using mackerel strip, you will find that the short trace kinks very quickly and becomes unusable. Any sliding boom with a swivel at its end will do a much better job.
It may not be the most sporting method but, if the mackerel are a long way out, it will enable you to catch them when they are out of range of float tackles and spinners.
As for spinners, I am not going to spend a lot of time describing them. Just look for models like the ABU Toby, a cebar lure or a dexter and cast them out with no other weight on the line. (I use the word like in its most liberal sense since there are dozens of lures on the market that have been 'cloned' from these originals. )Fish the Toby or the Cebar with a darting retrieve and action and fish the Dexter like a mini pirk, letting it drop back, bringing it up and then dropping it back again. These are, however, just some of the successful lures since mackerel like a wide variety of shiny lures.
Mackerel
Some people turn their noses up at mackerel but the truth is that if they grew to ten pounds plus in weight then people would, in the summer, rarely fish for anything else! They fight hard and take a variety of baits, lures and flies with great enthusiasm, providing wonderful sport for both experienced and novice anglers alike.