Mackerel the Main Target of Saltwater Sportfishing

Mackerel belong to a large group of saltwater fishes that are not only good to eat but are some of the best game-fish that swims in the world’s oceans. Numbering some 50 species in 15 genera of the Scombridae family which includes tuna they’re also very important commercially.

These oily sea fish are found in most temperate and tropical waters all over the world. They’re highly migratory and swim in large shoals.

Some of the small species are very useful as bait to saltwater and freshwater anglers alike. The larger species are popular game-fish.

Some of the better known and common species are the Atlantic, Spanish, Narrowbarred, Cero, Chub and King.

Atlantic Mackerel

The Atlantic species is small and very a useful bait for anglers. They’re fast swimmers and they appear in large school, sometimes numbering in the thousands. A pelagic species they can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Characteristics

They’ve a streamlined body with deeply forked tail. The top part of the body is bluish-green in color, silvery white on the sides and belly. A row of dark blue zebra-stripes can be seems clearly lining the upper part of the body with a prominent lateral line.

Their average weight is about 1-3 lbs with an average length of 10-20 inches. And their lifespan is roughly 20 years.

They feed on various kinds of small fishes, fry and fish eggs.

Fishing methods for this small species is often done with feather-like jigs in various colors. The feathers or artificial materials are tied with small flat forged hooks of 6 or more to a main line at 1 foot interval.

The technique is simple and often these jigs are fished from boats. Attached on the bottom with a diamond-shaped sinker you just have to lower it to any position between the seabed and the surface. Slowly raise and lower the rod at regular intervals giving the impression of a shoal of small fish. They can also be done through a tide-flow as well as across, whichever way you like will catch them. Light tackle of about 20 lbs class with 10-15 lbs test line will be able to do the job.

Spanish Mackerel

The Spanish species is a very popular gamefish. They’re among the larger species of the members of the Scombridae family. Not only known for their good fighting abilities they’re very good to eat, making them the “darlings” of commercial and sport fishermen.

They can be found in abundant in the Gulf of Mexico and around the waters off Florida.

Characteristics

Like other species they have a slim, slightly compressed body with forked tail. The Spanish mackerel have yellow spots on both sides of the body but without the stripes on the back. The curvy lateral line starts from the gill to the bottom of the tail.

They can grow to a weight of about 15 lbs, but the average is 3-8 lbs. Its lifespan is around 10 years or slightly more. The all-tackle world record is a 13 lbs fish taken off N. Carolina in 1987.

Habitat

Though, they prefer deep open seas but sometimes are found in shallow waters inshore like reefs and estuaries. Highly migratory they prefer swimming in waters with temperatures above 70 degree Fahrenheit and in big moving schools.

Their diet consists of small fish, squids and prawns.

Fishing Methods

This abundant species can be caught from inshore like surf fishing and offshore in a boat. The fishing methods are wide which includes trolling, drifting, casting and jigging. A great variety of artificial lures like poppers, metal jigs, bucktail jigs and spoons can be used effectively to catch them. Live-bait drifting is another effective method. Mackerel are toothy predators so use a short wire leader.

Narrowbarred Mackerel

The Narrowbarred is a large, highly prized gamefish. When hooked it can runs very fast and fight hard with occasional acrobatic jumps.

Distribution

This species can be found in warm temperate and tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They can be found north of China and Japan, south of Australia, Africa and some have even migrated to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal.

Habitat

Drop-offs, shallow coastal waters, reefs, lagoons, estuaries and of course the open seas are their favorite hiding locations. A highly migratory and pelagic species they travel in small schools and the larger specimen are more often travel alone.

They feed on sardines, squids, shrimps, flying fish, anchovies and some other small pelagic schooling species.

They can grow to more than 100 lbs and length of about 8 ft. The all-tackle world record is a giant of 99 lbs taken off Africa in 1982.

Trolling with surface and deep diving artificial lures is the best fishing method for this ferocious and toothy predator. Drifting with live baits around reefs and sharp drop-offs where baitfish is plentiful is also as good. When they are sighted feeding on baitfish on the surface, popping with big poppers can be productive too.

Cero Mackerel

The Cero species is another popular gamefish. An inshore and offshore species they like pristine waters around coral reefs, seamouths and wrecks. Often they’re found traveling alone or in small group.

Found in tropical and subtropical seas in the western Atlantic, they’re a common species off the coasts of Florida, the Caribbean islands, Cuba and Brazil.

Characteristics

They’re bluish-green in color on top and silvery below. They’ve yellowish brown spots and streaks lining across the elongated body with a lateral line dipping down to the base of the tail.

They feed mainly on sardines, herrings, pilchards, squids, prawns, anchovies and some other small schooling fishes.

Most weigh 5-8 lbs and the largest is about 20 lbs. The all-tackle world record is 17 lbs and 2ozs.

Fishing Methods

Casting with poppers, spoons and some other lures on light tackle can be really fun with this species. Trolling which is almost the standard method for most large species is also effective. Wire leader is needed as with most other mackerel fishing to prevent snip-off from their razor-sharp teeth.

Chub Mackerel

The Chub species is also a member of the Scombridae family quite similar to the Atlantic species. They’re not only good eating but they’re one of the anglers’ top bait for catching other large predatory fishes. They can be used as whole, live or dead bait or even cut-bait.

They can be found in warm and temperate waters in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. An inshore and offshore big schooling species moving on the surface, they’re often preys for billfish and other predatory fishes.

Due to their small size, chub mackerel averaging less than 10 inches and much smaller than their Atlantic relative they’re not the main target of sportfishing.

King Mackerel

King mackerel is the giant of all the species in the western Atlantic, which can grow to more than 100 lbs. A highly rated gamefish and also highly prized commercially, this spices is keenly hunted especially off the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. (Click to read more about King Mackerel)

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