Comments (4)

By Vic, 23 May, 2010 16:30

I had an early session down at Brighton Marina this morning, arriving on the east arm at about 4.30am in order to catch first light and with the intention of getting a few mackerel on feathers and then float fishing fish strip for garfish and anything else that happened to be around.

Two things struck me arrival, the first was the amount of noise coming from what appeared to a rave over on the beach at Ovingdean Gap. I may be getting on a bit and my hearing isn’t what it used to be but bloody hell, I’m surprised my ears didn’t bleed from the ‘musical’ onslaught that was drifting in my direction. Don’t get me wrong, I love loud music but this was, well, to put it bluntly – crap, truly crap.

The second thing that got me was still the amount of May rot in the water, it was as thick as soup close in to the wall and still cloudy at about fifty yards out. with only small patches of clear water. It didn’t look good for anything to be honest and I was quite prepared for a fishless session.

Anyway, not to be beaten, I set up a float outfit and had that ready and waiting should I get anything on the feathers that could be used for bait (I hadn’t brought any with me). After a number of casts, I was feeling more and more like packing in and saving my energy but things perked up a bit when a guy further along brought in a solitary mackerel. It wasn’t until about 6am that I had my first hit and one mackerel in the bucket and then a short while later hit another two and then a single. Mission accomplished – bait and lunch.

Swapping over to float gear, I baited the hook with a piece of belly strip and cast out into some relatively clear patches and  then again and again. This went on for several hours with not a single hint of anything remotely fishy taking the bait. As high tide came and went, the ebb dropping away, it became apparent that there was going to be no action in these conditions. I eventually packed up content to take three fish home for lunch but a tad disappointed that nothing showed up. As I left, the ‘rave’ was still in full swing; I expect there will be an upsurge in alcohol/drug related injuries and deafness at A&E today – best of luck.

Once I got home, the mackerel were prepared and bunged in the fish smoker and not long later – voilà – lovely smoked mackerel with Bill’s wonderful ‘chewy’ bread. This time we added some Bay leaves and dried Taragon to the wood dust and the result was marvellous, a really rich smokey and arromatic taste to the fish.

Comments (3)

By Vic, 16 May, 2010 16:43

After a few years of never getting around to it, I finally bought a Fladen fish and meat smoker so I could experiment with fish and other smokable stuff.

First to be tried was the humble mackerel that I went out and caught first thing this morning down at Brighton Marina. Now I’m new to this so wasn’t sure whether the fish needed proper brining or not, so I took the gamble and didn’t; I just gutted, cleaned and thoroughly dried the fish before applying a liberal sprinkling of salt.

I set up the smoker as per the instructions and within minutes, the fish were on and left to get on with it. After the allotted time, which in this case was about 30 minutes, I removed the ‘box’ from the burners and opened it up. The mackerel were a lovely golden colour and were cooked right through to the point of being overdone (will reduce cooking time by about 10 minutes next time). They tasted wonderful with that appealing smoky twang, although for my taste, they could have done with more salt, so perhaps brining would be a better option. This may also help to make the fish a bit drier, as I found these ones to be a bit wet, almost as if they had been smoked/steamed.

Anyway, for a first attempt, we were pretty pleased with the result and can’t wait to experiment with various wood chip and seasoning combinations to obtain different flavours. Next on the list will be smoked chicken, so watch this space.

Comments (0)

By Vic, 10 May, 2010 12:32

Recently, while cleaning and filleting some mackerel I’d caught, Anna thought it would be a good idea to do a short article on the subject for her cookery blog for people who want to do this themselves. Now, the purists and commercial fishing community may frown on my efforts but I find it’s an easy way and does away with having to find and remove any remaining pin bones with tweezers or pliers.

Article is here : How to fillet a mackerel