Mackerel
Scomber scombrus
Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) is a saltwater fish found in UK waters. Open coastal water in summer, coming close in to piers, rock marks and beaches when chasing bait fish. Whether you can keep one depends on local rules — check before you do.
- Max length
- 60 cm
- Max weight
- 3.4 kg
- Water
- Saltwater
- How often
- Very common
Updated
What it looks like
A beautiful, hydrodynamic fish: steel-blue-green across the back with bold wavy black bars, and brilliant silver-white below. The body is smooth, almost scaleless to the touch, tapering to a narrow wrist and a stiff crescent tail.
Behind the dorsal and anal fins sit small separate finlets — a family trait shared with tuna. Mackerel never stop swimming; they have no swim bladder and must keep moving to breathe.
How to catch one
Bait
Feathers or small shiny lures. Mackerel take almost any flashing metal.
Rig
A string of feathers or daylights below a 2–4 oz lead, retrieved in sharp pulls.
When
Dawn and dusk, and any time a bait shoal is being worked by birds.
Where
Wherever gulls are diving. Mackerel drive bait fish to the surface and the birds give them away.
Season: Roughly June to October around most of the UK coast.
Easy to confuse with
scad
Scad (horse mackerel) have a hard bony ridge along the lateral line and a much larger eye.
Questions anglers ask
- When is mackerel season in the UK?
- Broadly June to October, varying with the coast and the year. They follow the bait fish inshore as the water warms.
- Do I need bait for mackerel?
- No. Feathers or any small bright metal lure will do. That is what makes them the classic first sea fish.
