Chesil - 02-Sep-2017 - chub mackerel

Matthew Pierce · Sep 3, 2017

Pitched up on Saturday morning about an hour before LW hoping for a triggerfish. It was already pretty busy and I couldn't get anywhere near the Adelaide wreck, so I carried on walking away from Portland and set up further down.

I wanted some mackerel for bait so started feathering straight away. The word in Chesil Bait n Tackle was that they have been pretty scarce, so I was nicely surprised to hit one first cast. On my third chuck I was in again but it played a bit different to a mackerel, without the usual constant vibration coming up the line.

I was thinking pollack or shad, until I dragged an odd looking mackerel up the beach. It had a large head and eyes, plus spots on the sides. I've had this species on my 'possible but unlikely' list for a while having seen odd ones reported - chub mackerel (scomber japonicus) - the lower fish in my photo:

There were 9 rays in the first dorsal fin which is right for this species - it has 9 or 10 compared to 11-13 for mackerel, so I'm reasonably confident in the ID:

The rest of they day was a write-off. Not a single bite, except for a solitary (normal) mackerel on a pop-up. Spider crabs were apparently about, given the number of lost hooks and chewed traces. Someone down the beach had a double shot of mackerel but apart from that I saw nothing caught.

bald dodge · Sep 3, 2017

My mate had a few of those from Alderney breakwater last week and judging from the pic its the same fish he caught. He also referred to them as Chub Mackerel so id say you're right

Mukiwa · Sep 3, 2017

Wow what a different fish, amazing, pitty the rest of the session didn't produce anything, tight lines for the next time out

Matthew Pierce · Sep 3, 2017

bald dodge said:
My mate had a few of those from Alderney breakwater last week and judging from the pic its the same fish he caught. He also referred to them as Chub Mackerel so id say you're right

Interesting. They are found globally in warmer seas, I think they just turn up here occasionally.

Mukiwa said:
Wow what a different fish, amazing, pitty the rest of the session didn't produce anything, tight lines for the next time out

Cheers - it was only this fluke catch which meant I could walk away with some kind of result!

Mukiwa · Sep 3, 2017

Just shows, fluke or not, warmer waters, and chance of catching that was rare before, might become more frequent, as we have seen a change in some of the venues and the amount of fish caught and the ones that have moved off, for one reason or another

gordon j · Sep 5, 2017

i've caught one or two before over the years on chesil. have never took much notice in the past , didn't realise they were a different specie , just thought it was a colour variation before i started messing about specie hunting. also caught a weird looking 4inch pout with a deformed underslung jaw before years later deciding it might have been a dinky haddock. sometimes surpriseing what you overlook . though the 5inch spurdog was pretty obvious if disapointing.

Matthew Pierce · Sep 5, 2017

Cheers Gordon - there must be a lot of interesting species that get caught but not recognised for what they are.

Guest · Sep 7, 2017

I will start looking a lot more closely at my mackerel........ nice report and interesting.

Matthew Pierce · Sep 7, 2017

Thanks Pete - another one to look out for is bonito, a few were coming out a couple of years back but I haven't seen any reported this season

Skatenchips said:
cheers for the heads up on the fishing conditions,sounds like a tuff session mate.

but not every day we get to add a new species to our seasons tally,i too will check more closely on what tumbles up the beach
at my feet....fascinating looking fish....has a kind of leopard appearance what with the spots.

Cheers mate - not the first time I have had a few biteless hours on Chesil ...

Skatenchips · Sep 7, 2017

cheers for the heads up on the fishing conditions,sounds like a tuff session mate.

but not every day we get to add a new species to our seasons tally,i too will check more closely on what tumbles up the beach
at my feet....fascinating looking fish....has a kind of leopard appearance what with the spots.

Chesil - 02-Sep-2017 - chub mackerel

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