Mackerel - a sign of summer?

As cold and miserable as it's been this spring the mackerel are not too worried about it. As long as the conditions are right for them then they will come inshore to feed. We need clear, settled conditions and a good degree of clarity for the water to make this happen.

Beautiful sunset over Brighton, what an evening!

A couple of weeks back we did have some settled conditions and the mackerel have been around. I had been informed that they were showing locally at first and last light so made a trip down to the West Arm of Brighton Marina after dinner one evening on a bait and food gathering misssion. Nothing fancy, just a pier rod and a couple of sets of fathers to be cast as the sun went down. It was a beautiful calm evening and it wasn't even that busy on the pier. There were the odd mackerel coming up every now and then as I set up which was a good sign.

I set up a string of 5 feathers and got to work, it took me an hour to get a couple and then had a full string followed by a few more as the sun went down - that was enough for me. With 25 fish in the bag that was plenty for a nice supper the next day and a load of bait for the freezer. Job done - and what a night for it too.

Dinner for the following night - lovely and fresh!