Winter mackerel! The Good ol Days!

[Duffman]

So putting my .2 in.....

Back in the late 70's into the 80's my family would fish Macks for about 6 weeks. As kids we would call (yes, phone calls no text or internet) boats in VA MD and DE to see when they started to see the Macks. Once they hit Cape May we would travel south and fish outta Cape and Wildwood Crest.

When the run moved north we moved onto boats outta Mani and SRI. Never moving more than 2-3 miles off before finding the schools.

Then on to the Palace II from Hoboken and boats outta SHB to end the run,

We literally brought home close to, if not more than, 1,000 Macks in that time.

No light tackle. This was meat fishing. Heavy tackle and 6 teaser rigs. We would wrap 4 fish (uncleaned) in newspaper and freeze em.

NOT A SINGLE FISH WENT TO WASTE .......NOT ONE!!!!

The family had 4 boats at the time out of Little Egg, Mani, Highlands and South Hold NY.

Every fish was eaten (European Parents right off the boat) sliced and salted for fluke bait, chunked for blues, ground for chum and filleted for sharking.

Man I miss those days. damn im old!!!

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Duffman

So putting my .2 in.....

Back in the late 70's into the 80's my family would fish Macks for about 6 weeks. As kids we would call (yes, phone calls no text or internet) boats in VA MD and DE to see when they started to see the Macks. Once they hit Cape May we would travel south and fish outta Cape and Wildwood Crest.

When the run moved north we moved onto boats outta Mani and SRI. Never moving more than 2-3 miles off before finding the schools.

Then on to the Palace II from Hoboken and boats outta SHB to end the run,

We literally brought home close to, if not more than, 1,000 Macks in that time.

No light tackle. This was meat fishing. Heavy tackle and 6 teaser rigs. We would wrap 4 fish (uncleaned) in newspaper and freeze em.

NOT A SINGLE FISH WENT TO WASTE .......NOT ONE!!!!

The family had 4 boats at the time out of Little Egg, Mani, Highlands and South Hold NY.

Every fish was eaten (European Parents right off the boat) sliced and salted for fluke bait, chunked for blues, ground for chum and filleted for sharking.

Man I miss those days. damn im old!!!

yikes, all good on ya, eating all that Mackerel.. I guess if one really knows the ins and outs of how to prepare enjoy them in various ways, the way they do in Greece ,Spain ,and Italy they could be ok, but personally I would OD on them pretty quick.. I kind of liked them in a limited way, but eating that many??.. Not my bag...

anyway, I hope they return one day so younger anglers can enjoy what we did at one time...bob

[Duffman]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

yikes, all good on ya, eating all that Mackerel.. I guess if one really knows the ins and outs of how to prepare enjoy them in various ways, the way they do in Greece ,Spain ,and Italy they could be ok, but personally I would OD on them pretty quick.. I kind of liked them in a limited way, but eating that many??.. Not my bag...

anyway, I hope they return one day so younger anglers can enjoy what we did at one time...bob

read the post again......we didnt eat all of them .....reading comprehension is not your bag

as far as younger anglers? Very few fish or hunt anymore

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Duffman

read the post again......we didnt eat all of them .....reading comprehension is not your bag

as far as younger anglers? Very few fish or hunt anymore

no actually I comprehend quite well.. Even if you processed 2/3 of your catch for bait, according to the 1000 macks + or_ your family caught each year that means you still ate more than 300 Mackerel a year... Still quite a number for most people even those of us that will eat "fishy" tasting fish... Can't speak for NJ, but there are a LOT of young people here in NY state that fish and hunt.. They are everywhere up here, so many that many waters are now under ever increasing bag limits as numbers of white flesh pan fish are diminishing in even these giant lakes.. Perch , Rock Bass, Sunnies statewide are disappearing in places where they were once impossibly abundant,,, LOTS of pressure, and I assure you its not all old timers, depleting the stocks.....

[tautog]

Mackerel are staying north with the whiting. They get them all summer. They were even as far south as Orient Point last year. Only some scattered patches down here this fall and winter.

[jbigtime]

I caught several whiting while sea bass fishing in 2024 which was a nice surprise. Only Chub Macks though, I didn’t hear of or see any Atlantic Mackerel. Did well with Bonito, not so much on Albies…

[jmurr711]

mid 90s fill a cooler with macks than top it off with lings & togs on the k3. used to bring my freshwater rod & them things were so much fun on light tackle ignore the packers jacket it was a gift