respect for the mackerel.

[hembo]

being a regular fisherman on the chesil it amazes me the lack of respect that is given to the mackerel . it is a superb fighting fish that when caught on the right gear gives a tremendous fight for its size , not only do people catch them on gear disproportinate to size ; they also seem to keep them irrespective of size.. having filled in the govt questionare on the future of fishing ; do you think its about time we had some sort of voluntary code for catch qoutas from the shore . after all they are not an endless commodity . if this was bass being caught like this there would be uproar. i realise people will say that trawlers etc take more than there fair share but it still doesnt explain why us rod n line anglers cant set an example .

[fisherman]

Could not agree more.

Mackerel caught on a carp rod and a single spinner will give one hell of an acount of themselves.

Pound for pound they are a great fighting fish.

 

Dave

[Leon Roskilly]

The pity is that mackerel can never be a catch and return species.

 

The minutest damage to their skin leads to it progressively breaking down, and the fish dying within 36 hours.

 

Just handling it with bare hands will seal it's fate, something to do with the oil/heat from your hands.

 

If only anglers would stop fishing when they have enough to fill the freezer (winter pike/and or whiting baits), but a madness seems to take over.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[*Ant*]

I didn't know this Leon, is this always the case? I've always put all fish back including mackeral, a bit ****** with myself now.

[Orca]

Yep aanthony it is always the case, the minute our skin touches the mackerel it removes the oil from the mackerels skin (leaving it open to, and causing infection)if you were able to see it in the water afterwards whilst still alive you would see the imprint of fingers still on it, the mackerel never recover the oils to the "contaminated" area. When catching them for bait we take what we need but when returning any smaller ones that we don't this is done without touching the mackerel, only the hook is held and the mackerel tends to "shake" itself off the only problem with this is that the fingers get in a bit of a state from the hooks there are many anglers out there that didn't realise this but you find that when one more angler finds out you can be assured that he will tell any person he ever see's touching a mackerel what damage is being done. So don't beat yourself up because now you will be doing your bit for mackerel by passing the information on. :cool:

 

[ 13. August 2003, 01:32 AM: Message edited by: Orca ]

[*Ant*]

Cheers Orca.

 

Is there another way of handling them, say with a latex glove or something, that will help preserve the mackerel I catch?

[hembo]

plus using wet hands will that minimise damage i also use barbless hooks and try to unhook them at the waters edge ? is there also some sort of primitive instinct where people do seem to go into mackerel frenzy when they just cant seem to catch enough even though they have caught loads .

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

Even with gloves, the mackerel tend to get burned though not as bad as with bare hands. The best and safest method is grab the shank of the hook and shake the mackerel off at the side of the boat.

[Muddy]

When I was there last week the amount of unwanted fish just dumped around the bins (and back at the camp site)or just left on the beach after people had fished for "pleasure" was very annoying if not upsetting. About every other shop in Weymouth sold small kiddies rods and hand lines most supplied with "mackeral" feathers. The Harbour was running alive with small crabs after being caught(and with no chance of getting back to the water,(people scared to touch them...SO WHY DO IT?) And what happens to the fish that are caught on the "mackeral fishing" boat trips that run out from harbours, I'm sure that 99% of the fish taken away do not even make it to the car let alone to the cooker.

My young daughters had "a go" from the beach but we all packed up when we had caught about a dozen Mackeral (enough to use for bait the following day and BBQ that night) and even they understand the reasons for stopping when we did (we could have carried on for hours).

Not to mention the "Mullet fishers" fishing from 20 feet up the wall.......

Sorry for sounding like an Anti but it is very annoying that people have no respect to sea life.

PS. I totally agree the Mackeral comes into its own when caught on a single hook and carp rod.

[hembo]

you are most definetly not an anti ; i go fishing with my nephews and the first thing i instill in them is respect for what you catch . it is really depressing to hear of people who openly brag about how many they caught and unless they have access to a freezer they must chuck out loads that go soft after freezing . could the manufactuers limit the amount of hooks they put on feathers ? . .