pacific mackerel. fishing, smoking, and eating.

I love mackerel!  It's strong, oily, and delicious broiled and grilled.  I've tried to smoke them with little success, not nearly as good as salmon.  I like to cook them Saba Shioyaki style like in all the Japanese restaurants. 

In fact, a few buddies of mine and I are going to bring the girl friends and jump on Stagnaro's Mackerel & Sandab trip out of Santa Cruz on March 8th.  Figured the fast fishing action should keep the girl's somewhat interested.  Anyone that's interested should come.  It's only $45 bucks to fish and $25 for just to hang out.  The boat leaves at 7am. 

Oh yeah, they're catching really nice sized Spanish Mackerel out of Monterey Bay according to Chris's Sportfishing out of Monterey.  Now I'm not sure if they are confusing actual spanish mackerel with Jack Mackerel or what, either way it should be fun.  Old reports have shown huge schools of Spanish Mackerel invading monterey bay during the winter months.  Should be interesting.

I heard the spanish mackerel are much easier to eat, being of the jack family (like yellow tail), but often they are small here.

the smoked mackerel I made reminded me of smoked tuna belly.

I'd agree salmon is best, but... there's no salmon other than what I buy from the guy at the farmer's market and that comes from canada.

keep us posted on your trip, sounds fun, but the ocean might not be so calm that day, don't take those girls fishing if it's big, they won't ever go again.

yesterday I tied up some tiny tiny trolling lures, a daisy chain of tiny squid skirts, to try mini-tuna fishing with my boys from the skiffs in santa cruz/capitola this summer.

just like trolling for trout is practice for salmon, trolling for mackerel can be practice for tuna.

I have often got them when moving from one rockfishing spot to another and not bothering to bring my lure in, just trolling it to the next spot. when I'd get there, I'd find a mackerel stuck to a squid bit hanging on a hook. So my plan is to put a little squid on a hook in a 2" hoochie in a tiny daisy chain of them and pull that around with an ultra light. ridiculous? maybe, but one thing I have learned: fun is where you find it.

John

Yeah I completely agree about not dragging the girl's if it's too big out there.  I would never hear the end of it.  My dad and I would often mooch for salmon over in the canyon of Monterey Bay on our bay liner.  Occasionally we would pull up some really large pacific mackerel.  That's when I tried smoking them.  Perhaps I shouldn't have brined their fillets as I did with Salmon (in a brown sugar/salt brine).  It just turned out very sweet, oily, and smoky but not in a good way.  Your idea sounds good to me.  Back in 97 I believe, we took the boat out of Moss Landing and the fish finder went black.  We thought it was as huge school of sardines or anchovies but it was the largest school of Mackerel I've ever seen.  We didn't know you could eat them then, so we just froze a few dozen and used their fillets as Lingcod/Rockcod bait.  Excellent bait by the way.  Take care.

just like trolling for trout is practice for salmon, trolling for mackerel can be practice for tuna.

As a kid I used to have fun catching mackerel down in socal with an ultralight rod, fishing a single small hook with a squid bit on it. A snap swivel would provide just enough weight to slowly pull the bait under the surface (without the swivel the bait would attract seagulls), where I could watch a mack cruise up & swallow it. Kind of like flylining anchovies for albacore, on a smaller scale.
This worked great on days when the macks weren't actively schooling to feed, and kept me catching fish instead of getting in trouble 

just like trolling for trout is practice for salmon, trolling for mackerel can be practice for tuna.

As a kid I used to have fun catching mackerel down in socal with an ultralight rod, fishing a single small hook with a squid bit on it. A snap swivel would provide just enough weight to slowly pull the bait under the surface (without the swivel the bait would attract seagulls), where I could watch a mack cruise up & swallow it. Kind of like flylining anchovies for albacore, on a smaller scale.
This worked great on days when the macks weren't actively schooling to feed, and kept me catching fish instead of getting in trouble 

piscean, thanks for the story! 

yeah, that is basically what I want to do with my boys, I just put 3 swivels in a row with tiny crystal bullet hoochies over them, a little single barbless hook on the last one, and we'll put a bit of squid on the hook.  probably will head it up with a 3/8 to 3/4 oz bullet or egg sinker to keep it down a bit while trolling around behind the kelp. 

hopefully that will be a minimal hassle, fairly safe rig yet still generate enough interest to attract and catch them while we tool around in the skiff looking for them.

if we do find them, we can have a "bait-stop",  .

mackerel seem to find any little bit of squid you leave trailing behind the yak when paddling around, and at any speed including warp 9, so I don't think I need anything with action like a spoon although I'm sure that would work. a little kastmaster with a single barbless hook maybe.

well, we'll see. my plans never unfold quite as I imagine them to, but we seem to have fun and figure it out somehow.

watch the mackerel fishery collapse this summer too... 

as for surffishers smoking attempts, maybe you needed less smoke, less sugar and leave 'em in the smoker a little longer? when I ate it, it was broken up into small pieces on toast, not something you'd eat a lot of at a time.

or maybe your taste buds are just more evolved,  . if you like 'em grilled the japanese way tho, no need to do anything else, I've never even tried that way cause I'm sure I will be not so keen on it. but I should at least try it sometime.



 

I love mackerel fishing off the Santa Cruz Wharf in summer, sabikis under a bobber, reminds me of being a kid. Crowds are the only problem.

FWIW, according to these crowds, the best thing to tip your sabiki with to tempt the mackerel AND a reasonable means of keeping the smelt away is to use…….fresh mackerel. Cut it up into small squares and place it on the hook so that the shiny skin is visible.

Back home (England) they are considered good eating fish, tho’ most of my experience was with them canned in tomato sauce.

Maybe time for a Kayak Mack Derby!

I love mackerel fishing off the Santa Cruz Wharf in summer, sabikis under a bobber, reminds me of being a kid. Crowds are the only problem.

FWIW, according to these crowds, the best thing to tip your sabiki with to tempt the mackerel AND a reasonable means of keeping the smelt away is to use…….fresh mackerel. Cut it up into small squares and place it on the hook so that the shiny skin is visible.

Back home (England) they are considered good eating fish, tho’ most of my experience was with them canned in tomato sauce.

Maybe time for a Kayak Mack Derby!

hmm, then I wonder what strips of fresh smelt do? 

maybe bigger hooks and fresh mackerel strip baits are the best way to go? I did get a smelt on a 5/0 last year tho. it was huge.

those mackerel eaten in england might be a different species? my parents grew up in manchester but I don't know anything about english mackerel.

I'd like to see a Yak Mack Derby but with the restriction of one barbless hook per line to make it a bit more challenging.

Yeah I don't think a bigger hook will deter the smelt, I've caught them on 7/0's with whole squid. I think the mackerel bait may just be more attractive to the mackerel, rather than less attractive to the smelt, if you see what I mean.

English mackerel may well be a different species, but I think the principle is the same. Oily and strong. Either way I'm going to try and catch a bunch of them for the smoker this summer.

Just had a blast on Stagnaro's Velocity for Macs & Dabs though the fishing was slower than I expected.  Bringing the girl friend was a great idea for me but not so good for my buddy.  They were both blowing chunks all throughout the trip (that's why you follow the directions on those sea sickness patches).  The boat was full of newbs and it was killing be.  I spent more time untangling others from my line than fishing  . 

We got some really nice sized pacific and spanish mackerel.  I just had my first plate of Saba Shioyaki (salted and broiled).  Delicious. 

Just had a blast on Stagnaro's Velocity for Macs & Dabs though the fishing was slower than I expected.  Bringing the girl friend was a great idea for me but not so good for my buddy.  They were both blowing chunks all throughout the trip (that's why you follow the directions on those sea sickness patches).  The boat was full of newbs and it was killing be.  I spent more time untangling others from my line than fishing  . 

We got some really nice sized pacific and spanish mackerel.  I just had my first plate of Saba Shioyaki (salted and broiled).  Delicious. 

Thanks for filling us in on how it went! At least your buddy and his girlfriend can share their suffering memories together, 

where did Velocity go for that trip?

The canyon.

Agree w/ surffisher. Saba Shioyaki is awesome!

And J if you want the kids to have fun you can go to that fun spot on the Capitola kelp. Grab an ultralight rod and some white crappie jigs and watch the macks go mad! Took the wife out there a few years ago and she loved it. Non-stop fishing. Then saba shioyaki on the grill on the beach (New Brighton) for dinner...

Z

Agree w/ surffisher. Saba Shioyaki is awesome!

And J if you want the kids to have fun you can go to that fun spot on the Capitola kelp. Grab an ultralight rod and some white crappie jigs and watch the macks go mad! Took the wife out there a few years ago and she loved it. Non-stop fishing. Then saba shioyaki on the grill on the beach (New Brighton) for dinner...

Z

I was wondering if the crappie jigs would work for the macs. Great!

Agree w/ surffisher. Saba Shioyaki is awesome!

And J if you want the kids to have fun you can go to that fun spot on the Capitola kelp. Grab an ultralight rod and some white crappie jigs and watch the macks go mad! Took the wife out there a few years ago and she loved it. Non-stop fishing. Then saba shioyaki on the grill on the beach (New Brighton) for dinner...

Z

I was wondering if the crappie jigs would work for the macs. Great!

Those and small Kastmasters.

Z