mackerel fishing

I say use white feathers! Caught plenty on white feathers but if they're there they'll take anything so maybe Im wrong, I always cut my feathers down to three unless Im deep sea in the boat and the finder says theyre below me. thats the only time for 5 or 6. Or if you're a skilled caster (I am not) and have a huge beach caster.

Had Mackerel for my tea yesterday. Two casts in the rain in Dun Laoighre yesterday, 3 Mackie on each, job done,went home barely even wet! Two in the freezer for bait, Made 4 neat butterly fillets (harder than it looks), put them meat side down on a couple of sheets of kitchen roll, (sometimes after a good rinse too much water gets into the meat and it tastes a bit watery). Put them skin down on the grill, bit of salt.bit more black pepper under the grill about 5 min. On the plate with cider vineger,Amazing! I love them fried whole or fillet but my pan is a sticky and the grill makes the pepper from a lovely light crust on top.

I would never eat defrosted Mackerel but alot of people do,they never smell or taste right.Always gut them before they go in the freezer.Id keep a fresh gutted one in the fridge for 2 days wrapped up and eat it no probs.

Mackerel is without doubt my favourite fish to eat, I just can't get enough of them. I had a friend who worked on mussel rafts out in Kinvara Bay who used to eat mackerel for breakfast, lunch and dinner for weeks on end

Unfortunately I'm yet to catch a mackerel this year Has anyone been catching off the Cork coast yet and if so where? I have tried Roches Point 3 times and Crosshaven once in the past month or so with no joy as of yet.

In late May I was mackerel fishing in Inis Oirr (Co. Galway) and after an hour's fishing gave the rod to a friend while I took a cigarette break, on his 2nd cast he catches 3 mackerel - Hehe sometimes the luck just goes against you.

I generally gut and clean caught mackerel at the fishing spot, within half an hour of landing. My favourite way to eat them then is making a honey & mustard mix which is brushed over the 'meat' side of the mackerel, which is opened to its two 'halves', and then putting it in the grill until cooked through. Then devour with lemon juice.

Recently I've been trying Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's method of preparation which is essentially just pat the fish dry with tea towel, season the fish with salt & pepper, leave aside for a while to take in the seasoning (eg. 15-20 minutes), then massage olive oil in the skin of the fish and barbeque (without filleting/flattening out the fish - it is just gutted with head and tail removed) with plenty of bay leaves tucked into the belly cavity - also delicious! If trying this it is very important that your barbeque's bars are hot before putting the fish on top, and it is essential that you do not move the fish once you have placed it on the grill bars until it is ready to be flipped (3-5 minutes). Massaging the olive oil into the skin of the fish (just a small bit it shouldn't be dripping) is crucial to prevent the fish sticking to the grill bars, when turning take a 'run up' along the bars with a suitable spatula.

Victory!

At last Dalkey rocks yield some Mackerel for me! Using a flimsy Lidl, telescopic Carp rod! My friend using his own (jinxed) spinning rod got none!

Then on the same rod with the Mackerel as bait, I caught a fairly decent doggie, twice as big as Mondays, it was a real wrestle on the carp rod and I thouraghy enjoyed it.Even had to get it away from a hungry seal (which I first thought was shark of some sort, dont laugh) . Was using my home made rigs for the first time too. I was beaming. Had a half past midnight Mackerel grill too, Victory!

Me mate dropped his phone in a rock pool too! ha!

Went fishing out in one of the boats in Dalkey about 3 years ago with my bro. Threw out a big hook with half a mackerel on it just incase anything was interested. Then just used handlines for a few hours, nothing bit on the half mackerel but the we took in about 40 mackerel, great day. Gutted them all that day and we were set up nicely for a few weeks!

Remember another time fishing off the end of the West pier where I brought in about 6 or 7 mackerel, within about 30 seconds of of landing two at once, 4 old women came over, whipped plastic bags out of their handbags and asked if they could have some. Since I'm a nice guy I gave them a few and they were soon on their way.