Mackerel as bait

Mackerel is probably one of the most used baits in the Winter Months, it is cheap, nearly always available whole from your tackle shop or supermarket or in fillets again from both.

Mackerel is easy to prepare and the Whiting and Doggies will just love it !!!.....

Follow these easy step by step instructions to prepare the killer winter bait.

Let your Mackerel completely thaw out if it is frozen.


Use a Sharp Filleting knife, if you do not then you will find that the flesh will drag, you may also slip with the knife and gain a nasty cut. Insert the knife on a 45 degree angle just behind the fin.


Once you have made the cut you will feel the knife hit the bone, straighten the knife up to follow the fish's back bone, you will need to place your hand over the head of the fish to keep it from slipping as you do so.


Run your knife all the way along the fish, a sharp knife will just glide through the flesh of the fish, once you reach the tail one last cut will release the fillet from the body.


Turn the fish over and repeat the process, this will then give you 2 neat fillets to prepare for " Tipping Off " your main bait or indeed to prepare as a bait on its own.


You can now discard the body of the fish as the Fillets are ready, A knife that is not sharp enough will leave a lot of the flesh still attached to the main body.


Each fillet can now be prepared to either be a tip of bait or to be your main bait.

To prepare your fillet for tip off baits, simply slice through the fillet giving you small strips, you can then cut these down again if you wish giving you smaller pieces to act as tip off baits.

To Prepare your fillet as the main bait, simply cut through the the fillet length ways, this will give you 2 large strips, you can again cut these in half to give 4 baits or thread your hook through to give 2 large baits.