Mackerel Fishing: When, Where and How to Catch Them

By Alex Clayton · Updated 23 October 2026

Mackerel fishing in the UK is a summer job. Shoals move inshore from late spring and stay into autumn, reaching the south coast first and the far north last. From a pier, harbour wall or deep-water beach, you catch them on a string of feathers, a small metal spinner or a thin strip of mackerel under a float.

Most blank sessions come down to the wrong month, the wrong mark or the wrong depth, not the wrong tackle.

The seven steps below follow the order you would plan a trip: season, mark, tackle, the three methods, then looking after the catch and staying legal. For the wider picture, see our sea fishing techniques.

Step 1: Time Your Trip with the Mackerel Season by Region

A south coast pier can be full of mackerel in May while a Scottish harbour stays empty until July. The reason is migration.

Mackerel move inshore in spring and early summer to feed on bait fish, then head out to warmer, deeper water in autumn. Around the south they spend the winter offshore and work inshore and north as the sea warms, so the season reaches each coast at a different time.

Sea Angler gives May to September as the main feathering season, with the far north fishing best in mid to late summer. By coast, the typical windows look like this.

Region	Typical inshore window	Notes
South and south-west England	From late April or May	Usually the first coast to see shoals
East coast of England	Around June to July	Later and patchier
Wales and north-west England	From about June	Builds through midsummer
Scotland and the far north	Roughly July to August	Mid to late summer is the main window
All coasts	Most fish offshore by late October or November	A few linger in mild years

These are typical windows reported by angling sources, not an official calendar, and they shift each year with water temperature and bait fish.

British Sea Fishing reports fish arriving earlier and leaving later in recent years, possibly because of warming seas. That is reported rather than proven, but it justifies trying a week or two either side of the usual dates.

The mackerel season in the UK is patchiest at either end, when shoals come and go. Ask at the local tackle shop or check harbour noticeboards before you set off.

If you are on the south coast, start looking from late April. Further north, wait for midsummer.

Step 2: Choose a Mark, Tide and Time Where Shoals Feed

You spend an evening on a quiet beach with nothing to show for it, while the pier down the road is shoulder to shoulder with anglers swinging in fish. That gap is about water, not luck.

The best shore marks are piers, harbour walls, breakwaters, rock marks and steep beaches that drop quickly into deep, clear water. Calm, clear conditions suit mackerel fishing best, and coloured, silty estuaries are a poor bet. Our guide to pier fishing covers the platform side in more detail.

High tide is usually the best state from the shore, because it brings deeper water and bait fish within casting range. Dawn and dusk are commonly productive too, so plan around a high tide that falls at first or last light. Our guide to tides for sea fishing explains how to read the tide table.

Watch the water as well as your rod tip. Signs of a feeding shoal include:

gulls and terns diving or wheeling over one patch of sea
nervous, dimpling water, as if light rain is falling on one area
small bait fish spraying out of the surface
anglers further along the wall suddenly bending into fish

Popular marks get packed on summer evenings and weekends. Give people space, cast straight out in front of you, never across your neighbours, and keep walkways clear. Some piers and harbours charge for fishing or restrict it, so check before you go.

From a boat, drifting a short way offshore lets you follow the shoals rather than wait for them. See our boat fishing guide for that side of things.

Best bet: a pier end into deep water around high tide. Skip: shallow estuary mouths after heavy rain.

Step 3: Set Up Simple Mackerel Tackle

You do not need specialist kit. One light to medium outfit covers all three methods below. Treat the numbers as starting points, not rules.

Rod and reel: a light to medium sea spinning rod, or a light bass or beach rod of roughly 9 to 11ft for piers and walls, with a fixed-spool reel.
Line: 12 to 20lb mono mainline for feathering, with a shock leader if you power cast. Lighter line suits spinning.
Leads: match the weight to the method and your rod’s casting rating. Sea Angler mentions 5oz to 6oz leads for power-cast beach feathering and warns that the cast can overload the rig, so check knots, line and clips every session. Dropping straight down off a pier needs far less.

Method	Rod	Line	Terminal tackle
Feathers	Light beach or medium spinning, 9 to 11ft	12 to 20lb mono	3 to 6 hook string, lead or small pirk
Spinning	Light sea spinning rod	Lighter mono, or braid with a mono leader	5 to 10g metal spinner or spoon
Float	Light to medium spinning rod	Lighter mono	Sliding float, stop knot, short trace

Also pack a bucket or cool box with ice, pliers or a disgorger, a priest, a knife and a rubbish bag. Our mackerel species guide covers identification, and our sea fishing for beginners guide has a full first-kit list.

Spend your money on decent rigs and leads, not an expensive rod.

Step 4: Fish a String of Feathers with Sink-and-Draw

One cast into a busy shoal can put a fish on every hook. That is exactly why feathers tangle, strain light rods and take more fish than one angler needs.

Feathering is still the quickest way to find the depth a shoal is holding at, and a measured sink-and-draw lets you control that depth cast after cast.

Rig up. Clip a 3 to 6 hook string of feathers or a sabiki-style rig to your mainline, with a lead or small pirk on the bottom clip.
Cast and count. Cast out, or drop straight down off a pier wall, and count the rig down as it sinks.
Sink and draw. Lift the rod slowly, then let the rig flutter back down as you wind in the slack. Repeat all the way back. Sea Angler’s advice is to work faster when fish are near the surface and, when they are not showing, to let the rig reach the bottom and fish it slower.
Note the count. At the first bite, remember the count and send the next cast to the same depth.
Bring them in steadily. With fish on, wind smoothly without heavy pumping, which can pull hooks from soft mouths. On a crowded pier, swing them in with care.

Use fewer hooks, three is plenty, on a light rod or when the wall is busy. If the mackerel ignore feathers, Sea Angler’s Alan Yates suggests a small bar spinner or a fly instead.

Feathers make over-catching easy, so stop once you have what you need (more on that in Step 7). For rig choice, see our guide to the best mackerel feathers.

Feathers find the fish and fill a bait bag. A spinner gives better sport one fish at a time, which is where Step 5 comes in.

Step 5: Spin for Mackerel with Small Metals

A small metal on a light rod lets you cover plenty of water and feel every fish. On a scattered shoal or a crowded wall, it is often the better method.

Choose small metal spinners, spoons or slim casting metals. Around 5 to 10g is typical on light tackle, with heavier metals to reach shoals feeding further out. Silver and other bright finishes imitate the whitebait and sandeels mackerel are chasing.

Spinning for mackerel uses the same depth logic as feathering in Step 4:

Cast out and count the lure down.
Start the retrieve and vary the speed.
When fish are showing at the surface, wind faster and keep the lure high.
When they are not, let it sink deeper and slow down.
Once you find the taking depth and speed, repeat it.

Mackerel have soft mouths, so a steady retrieve and a smoothly set drag lose fewer fish than hard strikes and a locked clutch.

Spinning suits fish that are spread out or shy, walls too busy for a string of feathers, and bright, calm days. It loses out when a thick shoal is under your feet and you want bait for the freezer, because one fish at a time is slow going.

Best for: light-tackle sport and crowded marks. Skip if: you need a batch of bait quickly.

Step 6: Float Fish a Mackerel Strip at the Right Depth

Why fish one hook under a float when everyone around you is winding in a full string? Because a float holds a bait at one chosen depth as it drifts and fishes quietly alongside busy anglers.

Build a sliding float rig like this:

Tie a sliding stop knot on the mainline, then thread on a bead and a sliding cigar-shaped sea float.
Add enough weight below the float to cock it, then a swivel and a short trace with one or two hooks. Around size 2 to 4 is a typical starting point.
Bait with a thin strip of mackerel or a sandeel. A slim strip flutters in the tide, while a thick chunk spins and tangles.
Set the depth by sliding the stop knot. Start a few feet down and move it up or down until you find fish.
Let the float drift away with the tide, clear of anglers feathering or fishing on the bottom.

If the float lies flat, add weight until it sits upright. When it dips or slides away, wind down and lift into the fish rather than striking hard, for the same soft-mouth reason as in Step 5.

Float fishing for mackerel often brings garfish too. If bites dry up, move the stop knot before you change bait, because shoals often shift depth.

If the pier is crowded and you want sport rather than numbers, float fish.

Step 7: Keep Only What You Need, Check the Rules and Look After the Catch

A bucket of warm mackerel at the end of a hot evening is wasted fish, so decide what you need before you start.

What the rules say

Minimum size: GOV.UK lists a minimum conservation reference size for mackerel of 20cm in UK waters, or 30cm in the North Sea. The page does not say whether it applies to recreational anglers, so check with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and your local Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA). Treat it as the minimum worth keeping either way (see our sea fish minimum sizes guide).
Bag limit: we found no official recreational bag limit for mackerel in England. A 2023 Kent and Essex IFCA report noted that no quota for anglers was in place and that taking more than a handful was frowned upon. That is one local, dated view, so check with the MMO and your IFCA, or the equivalent authority in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Licence: according to the Angling Trust, you do not need a licence for recreational sea fishing. The rod licence covers salmon, trout, freshwater fish, smelt and eel in England and Wales, according to GOV.UK, so you need one if you could catch sea trout or eel in an estuary. See our sea fishing licence guide. Private piers and harbours may charge or set their own rules.

Looking after the catch

Return small or unwanted fish quickly, with wet hands and minimal handling. Dispatch the fish you keep straight away with a sharp blow to the back of the head, then gut them, get them on ice and eat them within a day or two.

Surplus fish freeze well as winter bait for bass, rays, conger and tope, according to British Sea Fishing. Even so, a freezer full of bait is no excuse to keep every fish the feathers bring up.

Keep a few for the table, a few for bait, and let the rest go.

Frequently asked questions

When is mackerel season in the UK?

Mackerel season in the UK typically runs from late April or May to September or October. The south and south-west see shoals first, while Scotland and the far north fish best in mid to late summer, roughly July to August. Dates shift each year, so see Step 1 for the regional breakdown.

Do you need a licence to fish for mackerel?

No. According to the Angling Trust, you do not need a licence for recreational sea fishing in the UK. GOV.UK says the rod licence covers salmon, trout, freshwater fish, smelt and eel in England and Wales. Private piers and harbours may charge a fee or set their own rules. See our fishing licence guide for more.

Is there a limit on how many mackerel you can keep?

We found no official recreational bag limit for mackerel in England. GOV.UK lists a minimum size of 20cm, or 30cm in the North Sea, but does not say whether it applies to anglers. Check with the MMO and your local IFCA, and keep only what you need (Step 7).

What is the best bait or lure for mackerel?

Feathers catch the most fish and are best for filling a bait bag. Small silver metals of around 5 to 10g give better sport on light tackle. Under a float, a thin strip of mackerel or a sandeel works well. Steps 4 to 6 cover each method in detail.

How big do mackerel get?

Mackerel reach a maximum of around 4 to 5lb (about 1.8 to 2.3kg), according to British Sea Fishing. Most caught around the UK weigh 1lb (0.45kg) or less.