- Vic Fisher's sea angling journal - http://www.vicfisher.co.uk -

Mackerel Mayhem

Picture of feeding mackerelHaving been given an order for some mackerel by the guys at work, I took the opportunity of a break in the weather to head off to Brighton Marina nice and early on Wednesday morning to bag a few. I arrived on the east arm at about 6.30 am just before high water, to find it nice and calm and the sun shining and as I walked along the top deck, I could hear the promising sound of mackerel boiling on the surface somewhere below.

I plonked down in about bay 18, I think it was, set up the feathering rod and began working the lures close in. Now the water was murky but mackerel were feeding – just not in the bit I was in! In fact it wasn’t until gone 7am and the top of the tide before they came in strong and then it was non-stop, they were everywhere, patches appearing all along the wall and further out too. Bloody gulls didn’t know which way to turn, flitting between the different shoals.

Picture of feeding mackerel shoalI took a bit of a break to try and get some photos but as is always – turn the camera one way and they show in the opposite direction. Anyway, I managed a few shots and a bit of video (Excuse the quality – haven’t done this for a while). If you enlarge the first picture (click on it), you can clearly see individual fish withing the shoal.

Picture of feeding mackerelBack to the rod but this time the light one and float gear; had some great fun hoiking them out one at a time instead of strings. Wasn’t long before I had a bucket full and plenty for the guys, the in-laws, friends and ourselves. If I was of a mind, I could easily have stayed and filled more buckets but just can’t see the point – having said that, I need to get down again soon and get some for the bait freezer which is empty!

Even as I left at about 10am, they were still shoaling in patches all along the wall, a great site to see. The thing that did surprise me was that apart from a couple of blokes fishing further round the bend, I was the only one there enjoying the sun and fish.

Looks like weather is breaking soon, so hopefully back to the beach during the evenings for some action.