Mackerel, summer's glittering prize

Whether caught from boat, beach or pier with a simple lure, these pelagic beauties are part of the fun – and flavour – of the British coastline

- ADRIAN DANGAR

It’s a safe bet that many Field readers will harbour fond memories of sunny summer days spent in pursuit of that most obliging of all saltwater fish, the gorgeous and ubiquitous mackerel. My earliest recollections date from childhood holidays on the south Devon coast, where my brother and I would wake up at dawn and scour the blue seas overlooked by our holiday cottage in the hope of seeing Plynlimon anchored in the bay. Days would pass without a glimpse, until one happy morning the converted trawler owned by family friends was bobbing gently in the swell. Within the hour we would be clambering on board for a nautical adventure, the highlight of which was trolling a paravane and lure off the stern for mackerel. For young schoolboys, there was nothing more exciting than holding the orange cord between finger and thumb in anticipation of a distant subaqueous thump as another fish grabbed hold of the lure and was hauled into the boat quivering like an iridescent ingot of living metal. Other times we would lower sets of primitive feathers tied to rusty brown hooks into the green depths, which frequently yielded a dozen glittering prizes from a single drop.