Spotted mackerel

Spotted mackerel size and bag limit in QLD

Min 60 cm. 5 per person. No closed season.

Checked 8 Oct 2026 against the Queensland Government pages: size and possession limits and closed seasons.

Limits are possession limits: they count everything you hold, including any at home in the freezer. In yellow (conservation park) zones: max 2 lines and 2 hooks in total per angler. Green zones: no fishing. All QLD fishing rules

When to catch spotted mackerel in South East Queensland

• P peak season
• S in season
• – off season
• C closed season for at least part of the month

Tide: Work the current lines.

Time of day: Early morning.

Weather: not fussy about wind; rain makes little difference.

Seasons partly come from Coastwatch report mentions, not catch numbers.

Spotted mackerel by area

Not in our guide for Brisbane River, Moreton Island and Offshore Moreton.

Around Scarborough and the Redcliffe Peninsula

Our local Redcliffe Peninsula notes come from local fishing columns and reports, and for spotted mackerel they differ from the South East Queensland picture. Around Scarborough the best months are January, February and March, with April and December also worth a try.

Mostly a boat fish in the northern bay: between Moreton and Bribie Islands, the Four Beacons, channel beacons and near the Harry Atkinson artificial reef. Local sources don't report shore catches at Scarborough.

When: Early morning.

Where to catch spotted mackerel in SEQ

Summer run along the whole SEQ coast: Gold Coast Palm Beach and Mermaid reefs and the Gravel Patch off Burleigh; northern Moreton Bay (between Moreton and Bribie, Four Beacons, Harry Atkinson reef, Measured Mile); the Caloundra reefs and Currimundi; Mooloolaba bay and Old Woman Island; Noosa North Reef and Laguna Bay.

Spotted mackerel is mostly a boat fishery in South East Queensland.

Catch Signal forecast areas that rate spotted mackerel: Noosa River & Noosa Heads, Laguna Bay & Noosa offshore, Maroochy, Mooloolaba & Coolum, Caloundra & northern Pumicestone Passage, Bribie Island & southern Pumicestone Passage, Redcliffe Peninsula & Deception Bay, Central bay & Moreton Island west, Wynnum, Manly & Wellington Point, Cleveland, Peel & Straddie west, Victoria Point, Redland Bay & bay islands, Jumpinpin, Jacobs Well & Pimpama, Gold Coast Broadwater, Seaway & Nerang River, Burleigh to Point Danger, Ocean side of Straddie & Moreton, Offshore: Mooloolaba to Caloundra, Offshore: Gold Coast.

Spots to try for spotted mackerel

Picked because the water each spot reaches suits spotted mackerel (our habitat match), not from catch reports. Each spot links to its place on the area page; tide times are for the place our forecast reads for that spot.

How to catch spotted mackerel: best baits, lures and rig

Baits

• Whole pilchards drifted back in a pilchard-piece burley trail

Lures

• Good-quality chrome slugs cast at surface schools
• Small high-speed spinners

Spotted mackerel rig

3 x 4/0 ganged hooks with a short fine wire trace.

Good to know about spotted mackerel

One east-coast stock that spawns between Townsville and Mackay in winter-spring and feeds south in summer-autumn; Fisheries Queensland catch data put the Sunshine Coast-Gold Coast season at Dec-Apr, with Moreton Bay the main SEQ ground. Some years the schools bypass the bay.

Open in the forecast

See spotted mackerel in the Catch Signal app: seasons for the area you fish, closed-season warnings and the best days this week.