THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

As any mackerel angler will testify, the scales are small, slippery, and easily dislodged. However,
colouration and patterning are the real clues to identification. The underlying colours are metallic green
on the back and upper flanks merging into silvery white ventrally. When fresh, a rainbow sheen showing
hints of purple can reflect from the lower flanks.
Across the back running from the head to the tail are a series of curved black zebra like stripes reaching
down just beyond the lateral line. Viewed from above against a dark sea, or from below against a light
sky, the perfect camouflage.
Most anglers, particularly boat anglers, see mackerel not so much as a fish in the sense that they want
to catch them, but more as a source of bait, and therefore need to catch them. So despite the supposed
lack of interest, it is probably one of the most sought after and regularly caught species on the summer
boat fishing scene.
Less so perhaps from the shore, though shoals can come within reach of rock marks, harbour walls, and
piers in warm settled weather. Sometimes even right up to the beaches, and under those circumstances
they are probably treated with a little more respect.
I personally love the things. If I don't go home with half a dozen feathered up at the very last minute
and popped into my little cool box on summer trips then I'm disappointed, as this is my number one
favourite eating fish.
That said, and possibly contrary to what a lot of anglers might think, though they make excellent bait
for a very wide range of species, they don't feature naturally on the menu of as many species as you
might perhaps think.
For large open water predators willing to feed well up off the bottom such as blue sharks and tuna, they
do play an important role. For the rest, they will at best be an opportunist treat, and at worst, never eaten
at all, unless some angler puts a lump onto a hook and drops it down in front of them.
But when anglers do that, providing the cut is suitably sized and from a freshly caught specimen just
before going on to the cutting board, mackerel is right up there with the finest of baits.
Fished live for larger predators such as tope or bass, at times
there can be nothing better. So as much as knocking out a good
supply may be seen as something of a chore, the time invested
in doing so will usually be more than amply rewarded later.
On that basis then, the quicker you can feather up enough for
your needs, the less 'proper' fishing time you waste, so it pays to
be good at catching them, which not everybody it seems is. For
while they might at times appear stupid bordering on suicidal,
that isn't always the case, and like most regular boat anglers, I
have spent some very frustrating times struggling to get enough.
Essentially, three factors are at play here. First off, conditions
need to be right. Settled weather with not too much colour or
algae in the water not only suits the fish, but also their ability to
see the lures. Poor visibility and heavy weather can play havoc
with the shoals, particularly inshore where they can become
split-up and fragmented. Even out deep it can still scatter them
sending them right down.
Brace of jumbo Mackerel
The second factor is locating them. Even when the previous
conditions are not doing their worst, don't expect to find them
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