Freezing Mackerel

alright people, can anyone give me any tips on looking after frozen mackerel, i appreciate its never going to be as good as fresh but winter will arrive and id like to have some in reserve.

how do you stop it from becoming mush after defrosting? even stuff that's frozen within an hour of being caught seems to go soft. how long will it keep in the freezer and what do you do to keep it in tip top condition


answers please.... or im gunna be using a lot of squid this winter!

I suggest you start stocking up on the squid as even the "blast frozen" maccy bought from the tackle shops goes to mush once defrosted.
Your other option is to cut up the fish into bait size pieces whilst it's still fresh then freeze it, this means you won't damage it more when trying to cut it up once its defrosted on the beach.( Mind you........saying that, I've been on the beach in the winter when my defrosted bait has frozen again!)

Its not easy For me I make sure the fish is washed and dried off, then bagged up in two's and straight in the freezer. No leaving it in the fridge till the nex day, freeze as soon as you can. I've tried vacuum packing individual mackerel, but its still no comparison to fresh. If you want to pre-cut it like Adrian suggested, then I think vacuum packing it is essential. I've often wondered whether its worth salting fillets down for a couple of hours before freezing, just to reduce the water content a bit. May have a go with a batch and see how it comes out.

Keeping the fish cool when you catch it works for me, I take a plastic cool box with about 10 medium ice/cool blocks, kill the fish by putting your thumb in its mouth and snap the neck back then straight in the cool box and put the lid back on ...... I have kept macks for 4 months or more adn they still work well as bait and I have even eaten them after 4 months in the freezer ... Freeze as soon as you get home ....

Even leaving the fish on warm/hot pebbles can ruin the flesh ....

Hope tis helps

I've found filleting the fish the best way, you can cut this down like Adrian suggested. Cut into strips then vacuum pack to freezer.

crack off colin gave me this tip.cut maccy into strips,salt,and place in kitchen roll or equivalent.2/3 pieces laid flat and freeze.take as many portions as feel fit at a time,thus cutting on waste.keeps well i found

cheers for the replies, coolbox to be added to the increacing list of things to carry down the shingle

Litchy wrote:cheers for the replies, coolbox to be added to the increacing list of things to carry down the shingle

If you get a rod bag with a long'ish strap you can carry the rods/tripods etc across the front of your body and rest the cool box on top with a ruck sack for tackle water etc on your back ...

Works for me, I walk past the bridging camp carrying about 20 - 25 Kgs of tackle without to many problems, it has taken me 5 years of "walking the shingle" to perfect this method

Try freezing them down on a metal plate. Ive got a small chest freezer with a wooden cross inside this has sectioned the freezer down into 4 compartments for crab, squid, maccy etc. The cross finishes approx 6 inches from the top of the freezer. I've got a plate of aluminium on the top of the cross, that way everything that goes into the bait freezer gets as close as I can to blast frozen. I wrap mackerell individually in cling film and put on plate then after about an hour tip them into the section. During summer I put my bait in an Imax cool bag, which are excellent, but all makes are similar.
Ive just got a new vacuum packer from JML which is the dogs, Ill let you know on here how the bait comes out.