Make the most of your Mackerel

Whether you're fishing from shore or a boat, mackerel is a great species to target if you want some fun fishing followed by a delicious fresh seafood meal at the end of the day.

This mackerel recipe is quick to cook, full of flavour and a guaranteed crowd-pleasing feed after a day by the water, especially if you’re fond of a bit of spice. 

The secret is in the sauce, which can be prepared in advance and is also great with lots of other seafood!

Mackerel with Korean sauce

• Serves 4
• 15 mins prepping and cook time
• Camping friendly

Ingredients

Mackerel

• Choice of cooking oil for frying
• 4 Blue Mackerel (can substitute Jack Mackerel) - See the end of the recipe for our tips on catching and preparing your own
• Thinly sliced garlic

Sauce

• 2 tbs gochujang (Korean chilli paste - spicy, adjust to taste). Find it in your local grocery store's international food aisle
• 2 tbs diagonally sliced green onions
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs rice vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Cooking

Sauce

This sauce is quick to mix up and can be prepped in advance and stored in the fridge overnight.

1. Mix all the sauce ingredients together. Done!

Mackerel

1. Fillet your mackerel (no scaling needed), being careful to remove bones, and dry off the skin with paper towel.
2. Get your frying pan or BBQ plate ripping hot with cooking oil and fry off garlic until golden and slightly crispy (approx. 30 secs).
3. Place mackerel fillets skin side down on frying pan or BBQ for 2-4 minutes or until the flesh has turned opaque. Then flip over and cook for one minute.
4. Drizzle with your pre-prepared sauce, and enjoy!

Tips for catching Mackerel in Tasmania

Where to fish - Mackerel (both Blue and Jack) are a midwater species that can be commonly caught around Tasmania from both shore and boat.

When to go fishing - While you can catch them year round, mackerel are most commonly caught from December to March.

Bait fishing

• Small squid or fish-based baits work well, and using small circle hooks allows for quick de-hooking and rebaiting.
• In slow water flow, rig unweighted (or under a float) to maximise the amount of time the bait drifts through the water column. 
• Self-tied or pre-made small paternoster rigs (e.g. 2-hook whiting catchers or cut-down sabiki rigs) with a light sinker at the bottom also work well and keep baits off the bottom to help avoid undersize flathead.

Lure fishing

• Small metal lures (e.g. 15 to 25g in weight) are fun and effective when cast and retrieved, or slow trolled.
• Small soft plastics, saltwater flies and slow pitch metal jigs can also work very well. 

Berley - Adding some berley to the water can significantly increase your chances of a successful fishing trip. 

Berley attracts fish to where you're fishing and tells them it's time to feed, making it more likely they'll take your bait or lure. You can buy berley pellets from your local fishing store, or you can mince up some fish waste from a previous trip.

Bleed immediately - Like Australian Salmon, mackerel taste best when bled immediately, so if you're planning to keep your catch, kill it first (via brain spike or knock to head), then cut through membrane at the back of the gills to bleed it.

Have your ice slurry ready – All fish taste better when kept as fresh as possible, so put your catch in a 1:1 saltwater and ice slurry as soon as it has been bled.