Round fish · Pier, rock and boat

Mackerel

Shoals push in on warm, calm summer evenings. Take only what you will eat or freeze for bait.

Mackerel
Image: Jonathan Couch, A History of the Fishes of the British Islands (1862–65), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Know it
Green-blue back with dark wavy bars, silver belly, small finlets before the tail.
Bait
Feathers, small metals, float with strip
Rigs
FeathersCasting metalSliding float
Table
Excellent eating Kill, bleed and ice at once, and eat the same day. Warm mackerel can make you ill (scombroid poisoning). Superb grilled or hot-smoked.

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

Mackerel

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 England20cm
North Wales20cm
Yorkshire to the Tyne30cm
Northumberland30cm
Cardigan Bay and the Llyn20cm
Suffolk, Norfolk and the Wash30cm
Lincolnshire and the Humber30cm

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

and 8 other regions

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

A headline fish in

June to September

Scottish Borders to Aberdeen

Stonehaven, Gourdon and Eyemouth harbours. Feathers or small spinners at high water.

Where to catch it

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

Cardigan Bay and the Llyn 3Pembrokeshire, Gower and South Wales 2Severn estuary, Somerset and North Devon 1Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly 10South Devon 10Dorset, Hampshire and the Solent 5Sussex 6Kent, the Thames and Essex 1Suffolk, Norfolk and the Wash 2Yorkshire coast to the Tyne 4Northumberland 3Scottish Borders to Aberdeen 5Moray Firth, Caithness, Orkney and Shetland 9West Highlands, Argyll, Clyde and the islands 8Ayrshire, Galloway and the Scottish Solway 7North West England 1North Wales coast 3

How to cook it

Kill, bleed and ice at once, and eat the same day. Warm mackerel can make you ill (scombroid poisoning). Superb grilled or hot-smoked. Simple ways to cook it at home. More on bleeding, gutting, filleting and freezing in From sea to plate.

Method 1

Grilled whole

Gut and rinse the fish, slash the skin 3 or 4 times on each side, brush with oil and season. Grill under a high heat or on a barbecue for 4 to 5 minutes a side until the skin blisters and the flesh comes away from the bone. Serve with lemon.

Method 2

Pan-fried fillets

Season fillets and fry skin side down in a hot, dry-ish pan for 2 to 3 minutes until crisp, then turn for 30 seconds. Remember to ice mackerel at once and eat it the same day.