Galway Bay Mullet 4/3/11

People: Just me

Duration: 5:30-6

Tide:High. ish.

Weather:clear and cold.

Bait: secret

Rigs: super secret

Results: 2 Fine Mullet




Report: Not a whole lot to report, i spotted the fish when i was on my way past the spot, decided to come back and have a crack at them. Both were very acrobatic fish, they took a good few leaps out the water before i managed to drag them in. Not sure how anyone can say these fish are soft lipped, both fish were lip hooked and i dragged them in putting loads of pressure on the hook. I was even worried that i was going to snap the 8lb leader at one point! I'm disappointed that i didn't get one earlier in the year, but i only have myself to blame for being to lazy to get out there.

Heres a pic of the first one. They were both on the small side, only about 3.5lbs each. If even that much. Sorry about the quality, it was on my phone as i didn't bring the camera.

Alex

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Well done on the mullet, nice fish. I saw a lot of them feeding in an estuary in October near where I live, was able to get within a few yards of them and they didnt spook. I wonder can I expect them to put in an appearance in the spring in the same place. Would love to find out what type of fly to throw at them. There were fish there in the 6-8lb bracket. Bound to be awesome on a fly rod.

Very well done.

nice fish must try and get a mullet this year

well done on gettin them this early, thinking of having a crack at them myself this year

jesus how bad well done a fine half an hours work!

great result for 30mins fishin.
so what were they bitin on...??

Bloody hell a mullet in March, well done!

well done

nice one alex,kerry will be jelous!

fair play on getting a mullet this time a year,well done

Well done on the mullet, nice fish. I saw a lot of them feeding in an estuary in October near where I live, was able to get within a few yards of them and they didnt spook. I wonder can I expect them to put in an appearance in the spring in the same place. Would love to find out what type of fly to throw at them. There were fish there in the 6-8lb bracket. Bound to be awesome on a fly rod.

Very well done.

There's good info from Lumpy here: /viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15907

Cheers Jim, gonna look at lumpys info now.

Well done on the mullet, nice fish. I saw a lot of them feeding in an estuary in October near where I live, was able to get within a few yards of them and they didnt spook. I wonder can I expect them to put in an appearance in the spring in the same place. Would love to find out what type of fly to throw at them. There were fish there in the 6-8lb bracket. Bound to be awesome on a fly rod.

Very well done.

There's good info from Lumpy here: /viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15907

Jim thanks for pointing me in the direction of Lumpys thread re mullet on the bread imitations, I think that might well do the job in the spot I saw the fish last October, they were there for at least a week, probably a lot longer. Thatll give plenty of time to get them used to accepting real bread.

Thanks, if those fish can be hooked on the fly rod it will be incredible.

Thanks lads. Mullet this time of year isn't really anything special around here, i've caught them in early/mid January when theres still snow on the ground. I was only my own laziness that stopped me catching one before now.

Well done on the mullet, nice fish. I saw a lot of them feeding in an estuary in October near where I live, was able to get within a few yards of them and they didnt spook. I wonder can I expect them to put in an appearance in the spring in the same place. Would love to find out what type of fly to throw at them. There were fish there in the 6-8lb bracket. Bound to be awesome on a fly rod.

Very well done.

There's good info from Lumpy here: /viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15907

Jim thanks for pointing me in the direction of Lumpys thread re mullet on the bread imitations, I think that might well do the job in the spot I saw the fish last October, they were there for at least a week, probably a lot longer. Thatll give plenty of time to get them used to accepting real bread.

Thanks, if those fish can be hooked on the fly rod it will be incredible.

They can be fun on a fly rod alright, but often the bigger ones are just slow and do lots of head shaking but no fast runs.

Either way, i would argue that you will have MUCH more success if you can figure out what they are feeding on then use the appropriate fly. I almost never use a bread pattern in favour of using very small shrimp patterns or maggot patterns. I would also discourage throwing too much bread in the water as there really is no need and it often only attracts unwanted attention from seagulls and the like. If there are large numbers of them about, there is always one that is curious enough to take whatever you put out, then its just a matter of spooning the fish to find out the contents of its stomach. This can be done with a bit of silicone tube and a syringe. If your careful it will not harm the fish at all, although you do rob it of its dinner, which is a bit unfair. The only other method is only of use on a dead fish, so its kind of useless as you generally don't want to be eating estuary mullet, it would be disgusting.

Do not be afraid to use the largest hook you can get away with, these fish are hard enough to hook with regular size 6's, if you start pissing around with tiny size 10s and 12s your just going to end up fishless and very frustrated!

In your particular situation i would recommend a maggot pattern or a maddie pattern if you can get your hands on one. A small shrimp might work well. You need to study their behaviour, if they are on the surface going slowly they may be looking for maggots. If you can see their tails and they seem to be feeding on the bottom, this may indicate they are filter feeding for small mud-dwelling organisms or maybe after maddies. If its sandy and they are travelling fast and in groups of 10 or more they may well be feeding on shrimp. Of course, they may not be feeding at all in which case you could put anything past them and you're generally hoping for an inquisitive fish to try it and see if its worth eating.

Hope some of that is useful, Mullet is a bit of a speciality of mine.

Alex

Alex,

Thanks for the info, I feel those fish were totally catchable but it will take the right fly and approach. They were feeding over a sandy shore that is only covered at high water, they were only in a foot of water and less. Their tails were breaking the surface as they fed head down, moving around slowly and leisurely, tails breaking the surface. I got reasonable pictures, as I said their behaviour didnt seem to change one bit with me standing only about 20-25 feet from them, I was surprised they didnt spook and clear off. They just kept moseying around and around. There is a long band of bladder wrack where they were, the fish were inside the band of bladder wrack feeding over sand, could very well be shrimp in there, but possibly algae also, what exactly is a maddie?

Heres some pics of the fish and their tail patterns. This was last October.

So biggish hooks are the way to go, what about tippet? Do you use flourocarbon?

Thanks.

Edit-- The photos are a bit crap now they are resized, they werent bad before, but they show big mullet in shallow water in a very fishable place, only feet from the waters edge.

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Flurocarbon all the way. Always. I use seaguar in either 6, 8 or 10 pound breaking strain depending on conditions and whatnot. Because of the proximity of the weed in the spot i would be inclined to use heavy gear so you don't lose the fish.

To be honest its hard to say what they could be feeding on without studying the area myself. Also a bit of experimenting with patterns would be needed. At a guess, i would say they are maybe feeding on shrimp, maddies or very small crabs, ones that are fingernail sized. A maddie is a harbour ragworm, you get them in all muddy estuaries and muddy areas in general. Less common in sandy areas but still present. A seaweed fly made out of dark green marabou would also be a good pattern to try i feel.

Mullet aren't as spooky as people make out, when i fish for them they are always within 10 yards of me and sometimes right next to me feeding off my boot if i'm wading!

Sorry about this but it must be said. There's very little chance theres an 8lb'er there. I've hooked mullet that i swear are huge when i see them in the water, and they are physically quite big but they rarely top 5.5lbs. A true 6lb mullet is a very large fish, and not may anglers get one that is beyond 7lbs. I could be wrong, and i'm quite happy to be proved wrong but until i see a picture i'm not going to believe it. Don't take it personally, i just know from experience that these fish often look much bigger than they actually are.

When you see these fish like that, go to that spot again at low tide and see if there are any markings in the mud. It will look like someone has dragged two fingers through the mud and made tracks. I haven't quite figured out what exactly they are feeding on when they do that, but i do know it means they ARE indeed feeding, which means they are more likely to take something else that they recognize as food.

If i had to try one pattern at that spot? Most likely a blob of green marabou that looks like the kind of seaweed they like when its submerged.

I can also recommend trying a maggot pattern, they are often on the look out for them and will readily take them in most situations.

Hope that helps some.

Alex

Thanks for this info Alex. Yeah thats fair enough about the fish sizes, youd know a lot more about that than I would. They look like brutes, well some of them do anyway. They appear to be salmon sized but broader. To be honest a 2.5lber would be a great start. That would be a big breakthrough.

I dunno if or when theyll show there in that exact spot but there are other spots I could look for them, places Ive seen them before. I like the sound of the marabou weed fly, and will try tying some maggot pattens, any particular dressing youd like to share? Just one other thing, what do you mean by a blob of marabou? A thick bunch tied over the hook like a heavy wing?

The fish in the pics gave me the impression of feeding fish, they were rummaging around and around as if they were confined in the area, something was keeping them in there and they were coming into that thin water tide after tide for a period of days. I think if I get the same opportunity this season, with the right approach a fish could be hooked. Heres hoping.

I remember seeing a fly tied for mullet in a Practicle Gamefishing magazine years ago. It was basically a very heavily dubbed ball of seals fur of mixed shades of green and brown and then combed out. A weed representing fly. Have you tried it? I still think I like the sound of your marabou version better, more mobile.

Flourocarbon, marabou and maggots it is then. Bite indicators at all?

Thanks again for your help, you will be the first to know if I manage one of those lumps on the fly.

Cathal.

Re mullet,

A few years ago I went looking for mullet in a Co Antrim harbour I was told they were often seen in. I walked over to the edge of the pier and peered in. Right below my eyes there were 3 or 4 big fish feeding on something among the kelp, they were almost vertical with heads down and tails up, in about 6 foot of water. I retreated back from the waters edge, couldnt believe I'd located the fish I was looking for so easily. It was Autumn.

I started to throw in bits of bread, having seen Henry Gibney at it on the TV. Didnt want to peer over again and risk spooking the fish. So after a while of groundbaiting I tried a bit on a free lined hook on light nylon about 8lb, throwing the baited hook out and over the edge into water I couldnt actually see, standing well back. Wasnt overly shocked that they wouldnt touch my bread, even though I knew I was dropping it right in between big feeding mullet. The only other bait I had was ragworm. I cut tiny sections of rag and baited up, dropped a bit over the edge on a hook. The piece of rag wasnt in the water 10 seconds when the rod gave an unnerving yank. My heart nearly stopped but I did nothing as I wasnt remotely expecting the take. The rod did the same thing again and I lifted. I was into a fish but Im serious when I say, almost with a sense of relief, it wasnt one of those beasts of mullet. It was a small ballan wrasse. My heart was thumping in anticipation of one of those things taking me, not because I hadnt dealt with the likes of them before but because I wanted so much to catch and photo one.

I went on to catch a succession of wrasse on the bits of rag and that was fun enough. Hopefully I can post a succesful mullet report this season.

Top stuff as usual Alex
Keep up the good work mate