Mackerel Madness

Each year in the Autumn thousands of Mackerel pass by our southern shores on their way to winter in the Atlantic and every now and then if the weather is right a window of opportunity arises to view them in a special way, literally a 'window'. There are moments when one can see into a breaking wave. In this photo the fish inside the wave are all Whitebait. (not a species, but a joint name for several species of young fish, fry, that all look very similar i.e.) This view is only possible for a short time and many years can pass without it occurring at all. Read on and I'll explain

If the weather blows a north breeze off of the land and onto the sea, the water flattens and all the little particles within will, if the breeze lasts about 5 days or more, sink to the bottom and leave the sea as clear as tap water. Clear or not the Mackerel are busy chasing whitebait and can be seen on the surface on many occasions. Bass are chasing Mackerel, seals to join the action and who knows what else? At lease Shad, Scad and Gurnards. Probable rays, dogfish and Dolphins and for sure Thresher sharks. When I was a boy I often saw them herding the mackerel with their 6 foot tails into the corner of Newhaven West beach and the big concrete West harbour arm.

Images such as these two above that I took at Seaford are lucky shots but at that particular time the waves breaking on the beach were cloudy and what I'm particularly after this year, weather conditions permitting, are shots like the two below that are a very rare sight and sadly two years ago when I took these, all that I had was frankly an inadequate camera. Fingers crossed for this year with my new Nikon.

This explains, I hope, why I named this blog and the article in this months Lewesian magazine, Mackeral Madness....it's who is going mad desperat to get more and better quality photos asap.

Bye for now, say hello if you see me on the beach in the next few weeks, Steve