Round fish · Pier, rock and boat

Garfish

They often arrive just ahead of the mackerel in May. Fish a float shallow, at about a metre.

Garfish
Image: Jonathan Couch, A History of the Fishes of the British Islands (1862–65), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Know it
Long, needle-like beak and a thin green-silver body. Leaps and tail-walks when hooked.
Bait
Thin mackerel strip under a float, small metals
Rigs
Sliding floatController floatCasting metal
Table
Good eating The bones are bright green. That's natural and harmless. Sweet flesh; fry or bake whole.

Season

Typical months on the North West and North East coasts, with this month ringed. Seasons shift a few weeks with water temperature and run differently around the coast: see each region's headline fish below.

Irish Sea
North Sea
PeakPresentRareIrish Sea = North Wales to Cumbria · North Sea = Yorkshire to Northumberland

Legal minimum size

Garfish

Last checked 18 October 2026

Measured from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail (rays: wing tip to wing tip). Each region links to its regulator.

AreaMinimum
North West EnglandNo legal minimum
North WalesNo legal minimum
Yorkshire to the TyneNo legal minimum
NorthumberlandNo legal minimum

No size for this fish is listed in the regional rules we checked for Cardigan Bay and the Llyn, Pembrokeshire, Gower and South Wales, Severn estuary, Somerset and North Devon. That may mean none is set, or that the national rules apply: check locally.

and 11 other regions

Rules change, usually each spring. Check the regulator for the area before you keep a fish.

Tips

Garfish

A thin strip of mackerel belly under a float. If they won't take a still float, cast out and wind it back slowly.

Where to catch it

Regions with marks where garfish is one of the main fish, and how many marks.

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly 5South Devon 5Dorset, Hampshire and the Solent 2Sussex 3

How to cook it

The bones are bright green. That's natural and harmless. Sweet flesh; fry or bake whole. Simple ways to cook it at home. More on bleeding, gutting, filleting and freezing in From sea to plate.

Method 1

Fried in pieces

Gut the fish, cut it into finger-length pieces on the bone, dust in seasoned flour and fry in hot oil for a few minutes until golden. The green bones are natural and lift out easily once cooked.

Method 2

Baked whole

Coil the gutted fish in an oiled dish, season, add a splash of white wine or lemon juice and bake at 200C (fan 180C) for 12 to 15 minutes.