Catching Mullet

[almO]

G'day Y'all..

Since I'm having no luck catching anything decent at the moment I thought i'd try my luck for some mullet... only problem is how?

In all the canals around mooloolaba in the late afternoon the waters come alive with mullet jumping everywhere.

I assume they are feeding on bugs or whatever on the top of the water? or are they trying to get away from something bigger and possibly worth catching??

Has anyone got ideas on the best way to catch them? I've seen in a few posts the bigger ones put up a bit of a fight which could be a bit of fun.

Any ideas will help. Bait/lures/plastics? Am I best floating the bait and hoping for a fish to jump up and smash it?

Cheers.

almO

[Terry H]

From what I've seen mullet jump out of the water usually to avoid something. For example, if they get startled by a boat/lights at night they swim and jump like crazy. I've seen videos where guys in boats have actually caught mullet in the boat simply by startling them with lights and having the mullet jump in the boat.

If there were lots of mullet jumping around, then it's a good chance that there was something bigger harrassing them, possibly a bully - the time of day would support that too.

As for catching the mullet, you'll need pretty small hooks, and bread. I would use the smallest hook I could find a cram some bread onto it, then attach a float and cast out. If you get bread out, mullet will go crazy over it. Just remember that if you do throw extra bread out, make sure it's only enough to start them in a feeding frenzy, and not enought to feed them. Remember, in a feeding frenzy, quite often the fish will smash anything that remotely looks like food, because if they don't another fish will and they will miss an opportunity at food.

Edit: I also forgot to mention, try and use as light a line as possible. I find mullet are scared by anything. Whenever I try to go after mullet I use lightest mono I have, or 1lb Fireline Crystal.

Post edited by: TerryH, at: 2007/04/26 13:17

[wokket]

Hey mate,

The mullet jump clear of water to get rid of parasites.

I've caught plenty of poddies in teh apst by schooling them up with some floating bread, and dropping either bread or pilly flakes out under a flot on a size 10 or smaller hook.

Bread flys are also a goer

You'll occaisionally pick up a bream or two doing this as well, especially around structuer (jetties, rock walls, etc)

The bigger they are, the more they seem to feed on plankton or something, as you very rarely catch the big guys (or even have them respond to the burley).

Good luck,they're god fun on light gear.

Tim

[sarod420]

From what i have read those big sea mullet jump as a part of the spawning process (something to do with releasing their milt into the water) Down in sydney we used to catch them at the mouth of waterways this time of year using tiny little baitfish profile flies or green weed flies, sometimes u will catch them berleying up with bread and tossing floating bread flies or small peices of bread fished under a float, Top fun on light tackle they will surprise u as to hard they fight.

Good luck

they can be pretty difficult

[sarod420]

ps: also a good time to get your big jewie lures out wherever u see the mullet in decent numbers

[almO]

I'll give the bread and a tiny hook a go and see what happens.

There are plenty of them jumping around. Happens every night. So I'd think its either feeding or playing funny buggers.

I've seen rays in the canals before but no reports of sharks as far as I know.

[almO]

I'll give the bread and a tiny hook a go and see what happens.

There are plenty of them jumping around. Happens every night. So I'd think its either feeding or playing funny buggers.

I've seen rays in the canals before but no reports of sharks as far as I know.

[roobs]

use bran or pollard to berley them- it's smaller so it works down the water column better and also it doesn't fill them up enough. don't worry about it sinking- fish follow berley trails as long as the current isn't too strong. i've caught plenty in the lakes in the gold coast that way but i think they feed differently in salt water as sea mullet seem to be much harder to catch.