Jack Mackerel
Jack mackerel are a small, fast-moving schooling fish found in coastal waters right around New Zealand.
Most anglers encounter them while chasing bigger species — snapper, kingfish, kahawai — and quickly realise they've stumbled onto one of the country's most useful baitfish. Easy to catch in numbers, tough on a hook, and genuinely good eating when handled well.
Scientific Name: Trachurus declivis
Also known as Yellowtail, horse mackerel, hautere, jack mack
- Elongate, streamlined body with a deeply forked tail; blue-green back fading to a silver-white belly, with a distinctive black blotch at the rear of the gill cover.
- A prominent, scute-lined lateral line runs the full length of the body — the enlarged, bony scutes are the clearest ID feature separating jack mackerel from similar small pelagics.
- Long pectoral fins and a slender build; most fish caught by anglers run 15–35 cm, though they can reach 50 cm and live close to 30 years.
- Dark, oily flesh that whitens on cooking — a useful indicator when assessing table quality at the wharf.
What to know
Habitat Distribution
- Found in coastal waters all around New Zealand; the largest concentrations are off the west coast of the North Island, where commercial trawlers target them in volume.
- A pelagic, schooling species that moves through mid-water depths in inshore and continental shelf waters, typically from the surface down to around 500 m.
- Two of the three New Zealand species — Trachurus declivis and T. novaezelandiae — are endemic; a third, T. murphyi, arrived from the wider Pacific in the 1980s and is now part of the same mixed-species fishery.
- Schools regularly gather around man-made structures — wharves, bridges, harbour pylons — making them accessible to shore-based anglers throughout the country.
Key Locations
- West coast of the North Island — the main area for commercial and recreational encounters, with large schools in coastal waters.
- Harbours and wharves throughout New Zealand — man-made structures reliably hold fish and give shore anglers easy access.
- Harbour entrances and tidal rips around the North Island — current-swept structure concentrates schools in catchable depths.
Specific Spots
- Current lines where moving water meets foul ground or structure concentrate schools in the 5–15 m depth range — look for tide rips off headlands and harbour entrances.
- Wharves and bridge pylons hold fish because the structure creates current breaks and attracts the small invertebrates and baitfish jack mackerel feed on.
- Mid-water column during daylight hours; schools tend to drop closer to the bottom after dark, so daytime surface-to-mid-water presentations are most productive.
Jack Mackerel FAQ
Answers from onWater's species guide.
What are the best lures and bait for Jack Mackerel?
Sabiki rigs, a string of 4–8 small flies on fine-gauge wire hooks, are the go-to for catching jack mackerel in numbers. Drop into a school and multiple fish at once is common.
When is the best time to fish for Jack Mackerel?
Available year-round in New Zealand inshore waters, no strong seasonal closure or disappearance from coastal areas. Warmer months (November–April) tend to see more active schools in shallower inshore water, making bait-gathering easier from shore.
How do you catch Jack Mackerel?
Most anglers target jack mackerel from wharves or small boats using sabiki rigs, dropping into schools in 5–15 m of water and loading up a livebait tank before switching to heavier gear for snapper or kingfish. Shore fishing from wharves and bridges is productive and accessible without a boat.
What do Jack Mackerel eat?
Feed on plankton and small fish, their diet shifts with size and availability, but the small-profile, flashy sabiki fly (a string of tiny feathered or tinsel hooks) imitates the small organisms they're actively filtering and chasing at mid-water.
Where do Jack Mackerel live?
Found in coastal waters all around New Zealand; the largest concentrations are off the west coast of the North Island, where commercial trawlers target them in volume.
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