Re: Winter mackerel! The Good ol Days!
 

yeah, a few guys did that, but in my day most everyone wanted to "load up".. Load up for what I don't know, but I guess guys that did a lot crabbing, or fishing where chunk bait is used could certainly take a few dozen to freeze.. I thought they were ok to eat, kind of a strong oily fish that worked well when prepared in certain ways, but personally after one or two meals, I was done with them.. Always preferred Whiting and Ling in those days...

Re: Winter mackerel! The Good ol Days!
 

Used to go once a year early season. .
Belly was cut into pendants and salted for fluke .
Back loins were used for bluefish chunk baits .

Was a fun trip , where you could stockpile a lot of bait cheap .

And was an extra day on the water .
.

Re: Winter mackerel! The Good ol Days!
 

If they return one day, they might have bag limits imposed, like everything else ...It would really help the head boat captains having them back, giving fares another species to fish for.

Re: Winter mackerel! The Good ol Days!
 

Long string of mutliple hooks on a rig... Drop it down, jig and wait till you felt it get really heavy, reel up and all your hooks were full...

Re: Winter mackerel! The Good ol Days!
 

Think we'll ever see them in numbers again?.. I know they are very popular as sushi in Japan, and thats usually the kiss of death,, Same as eels.. once they became the rage in Asia served at ultra high priced sushi/sashimi restaurants, they were suddenly missing from places where they were ridiculously abundant....

Re: Winter mackerel! The Good ol Days!
 

I never really considered macks a "winter" fish, although I do remember a brief run in maybe december, but nothing like we saw in the spring in april into may.. When the Blues showed up, mackerel were gone with the wind almost instantly.. bob

Re: Winter mackerel! The Good ol Days!
 

Very true. I remember that also. I wonder if the lack of macks has anything to do with the lack of blues these days?

Re: Winter mackerel! The Good ol Days!
 

I think more likely the resurgence of Giant bluefins .

Re: Winter mackerel! The Good ol Days!
 

Disagree.. Years ago in the 60's-70's-80's there were Bluefins around, a lot more than today-yet the mackerel were always there dependably, every year, year after year.. Same as Blues.. Nowadays, Blues are netted, and sold as food, just like Macks... I see Blues up here all the time, year round,on ice, in large supermarkets, selling for ridiculous prices, yet they are always there so someone is buying and eating them.. Years ago Blues were eaten mostly by the guys that caught them.. Today, they are a market fish, and people that don't fish are eating them.. If people will et them, people will go catch and sell them.. Its only my uneducated opinion of course, but i feel the reason we don't see near as many blues these days is not a natural or environmental issue. Its because there is money to be made by catching them in nets and selling them.. Yes, Bluefins eat blues, but they always ate hem, and they were both plentiful. When salt water fish species disappear, in most cases its because someone somewhere likes to eat them and will pay for the privilege . bob

Re: Winter mackerel! The Good ol Days!
 

Bob you honestly have NO IDEA what’s going on here with our fisheries currently .
Everytime you post many of us laugh , as we are on the water daily , and you haven’t fished here in what decades ?
The amount of giants staying in our waters for approximately 9 months out of the year hasn’t happened before .
Sure there were bluefin here , but not GIANTS in the sheer numbers being seen .

Just like your blackfish posts , about no way the bite would improve in colder water .
Yet if you actually followed the reports here (because you definitely were not fishing for them ) you would have seen when the water hit 50 the blackfish were chewing their heads off .

What happened here in the 80’s isn’t what’s going on here 45 years later .
Lots of guys here who are actually fishing ALOT, and see daily what’s going on .