Mullet flies - Cork Harbour

Hi fellas/ladies,

I had a small bit of sucess with mullet on bread flies last June in Kerry. It was great sport when we could get them feeding on bread. Tried the same in Cork Harbour in September but couldn't get them feeding on bread. Tried a good few days too. Just wondering if any of you have had success in the Cork Harbour area (very silty/slob bottom) and what files you got them on. Or the time of year?

Been looking at sand-hopper and maggot imitations but I reckon these probably would work better off weedy/sandy beaches on big tides. I guess I need to figure out what they're feeding on in the more murky/slobby water?

Any help much appreciated.

I guess I need to figure out what they're feeding on in the more murky/slobby water?

I intend to do some mullet fly fishing this year and so have been reading-up a little on the subject. I'm no expert but reckon your statement quoted here could be the key.
have a read at this: http://leslieholmesinternationalschoolo ... e-fly.html
its a brilliant write-up from a man who spent many years fishing for mullet and actually guided successfully for them up this way. he relays a lot of hard-earned info here
hope it helps

Thanks Charlie.

Its a great article alright. I'll give a few small shrimp fies a swim this year so. One thing I've noticed from a number of articles is a red head or bead as a trigger for the mullet. It'll be a couple of weeks yet before I'll get a cast at them though. I'll let you know if I score!

excellent article chuckaroo.mad for just one mullet on the fly meself.i had a good lash at them last year in cork harbour over 6/7 days,i whipped the tide into a foam with okey dokey buzzers that one of the lads on here suggested to me,killer bugs which both kinda look like larvae and even a shite fly the only one that took they're interest was the killer bug,i could see them swim up to it even nose at it only to piss off again...very frustrating!
must get on the thinking cap again and sit down at the vice with a bucket of coffee

I have tried every fly in the box. I have 'tied' every fly in the box, including the red glass bead head diawl bach - and the mullet in Cork Harbour - or at least the part of the harbour that I fish, steadfastly ignore them all - other than the bread fly.

Apparently the red bead head Diawl Bach and variations of mud shrimp are a killer in parts of the UK, the green weed fly is a killer in Denmark - but my local mullet ( 5 minutes walk away) couldn't care less. Bread gets em going though. However, the bread fly should be as soft as bread. Tie it with material that is soft or they will reject quicker than you can set a hook. Fish with very light leaders and razor sharp hooks size 6 -10

I have caught hundreds of salmon on the fly - but when it comes right down to the sport of fly fishing, the humble mullet on the fly are just as good - and somewhat less expensive to pursue.


Kevin

I guess I need to figure out what they're feeding on in the more murky/slobby water?

I intend to do some mullet fly fishing this year and so have been reading-up a little on the subject. I'm no expert but reckon your statement quoted here could be the key.
have a read at this: http://leslieholmesinternationalschoolo ... e-fly.html
its a brilliant write-up from a man who spent many years fishing for mullet and actually guided successfully for them up this way. he relays a lot of hard-earned info here
hope it helps

great link! thanks Chuckaroo!

Thanks Kevin,

I'll have to give the bread another lash too this year.

http://www.stsflyfishing.co.uk/index.ph ... art-i.html

The above has great insights into mullet - any success I've enjoyed has been very timing and location specific - in other words I don't fish IN Wexford hbr for fish with any fly however I DO fish for them on the entrances or confined transit points for very short periods drifting into their path

another good read thanks jimh.can anyone shed some light on what other mullet species we have in cork harbour would i be right in saying we have more golden greys than thick lipped or thin lipped

Some info http://www.selectafly.com/mullet-583-c.asp

another good read thanks jimh.can anyone shed some light on what other mullet species we have in cork harbour would i be right in saying we have more golden greys than thick lipped or thin lipped

From what I've seen there's more of the bigger thick lipped boyos in the inner harbour rooting around in the silt. These are the lads I've throwing been flies and bread at with no success. Off the beaches I've seen shoals of smaller fish (dunno if they're golden greys or thin lipped) as well as thick lipped. I reckon I'll concentrate on high tide fishing off weedy beaches this year. At least I know what they're feeding on then.

From what I've seen there's more of the bigger thick lipped boyos in the inner harbour rooting around in the silt. These are the lads I've throwing been flies and bread at with no success.

in the same boat as me lad...ive fed them bread,groundbaited bread,floated and freelined bread but the only signs ive got of interest we'll say is on the fly...ghosts they are lad.

Some info http://www.selectafly.com/mullet-583-c.asp

i'll be tyin those few lad.
what size hook would u recommend or should i just vary them like,a few of each?

Update...

Fishing idotea patterns - in particular Colin McLeod's Ghost Buster - on the dead drift has worked for me in West Cork this year. Haven't tried it in Cork Harbour because as yet the Mullet have not turned up in my usual spots to try it out. Previously I have fished the bread fly which works and wet fly patterns on various rates of retrieve which definitely do NOT work in my spots. The dead drift - as in nymph fishing - is worth a serious look at and is probably going to be the main way of catching mullet on the fly other than the bread fly.

All of which is extremely vague and given the newness of mullet on the fly, is hardly surprising given that a similar question about salmon fly fishing would be backed up by probably a lifetime of experience and more than a century of bibliography.

In other words definitive methods of catching mullet on the fly are yet to be discovered. However, given the angling challenge and fighting qualities of the mullet, well worth the time spent.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin and Lucky 13.

I reckon dead drifting very small patterns might be a way forward alright. Any updates much appreciated

Chris.

Its not over yet,tied and tried the corophuim volutator and the flexi shrimp and a killer bug Wednesday,all dead drifting, to get a scattering of fish with a few returning to check out my fly...so i changed to longer finer leader,no way would they play ball,no takers but definitely had interest.not much shoaling yet just a few wanderers...

Its not over yet,tied and tried the corophuim volutator and the flexi shrimp and a killer bug Wednesday,all dead drifting, to get a scattering of fish with a few returning to check out my fly...so i changed to longer finer leader,no way would they play ball,no takers but definitely had interest.not much shoaling yet just a few wanderers...

If they were easy to catch, you would probably quickly lose interest fairly quickly.

A couple of decades from now catching mullet on the fly may be considered with the same reverence as catching trout on the dry fly on a gin clear chalk stream - except that mullet fishing is free- whilst fishing dry fly on chalk streams is for the super- rich.

In other words, stick with it.

Kevin

Its not over yet,tied and tried the corophuim volutator and the flexi shrimp and a killer bug Wednesday,all dead drifting, to get a scattering of fish with a few returning to check out my fly...so i changed to longer finer leader,no way would they play ball,no takers but definitely had interest.not much shoaling yet just a few wanderers...

The action might hot a bit when there's more fish shoaling and competing in a couple of weeks. What size hooks are you tying on? I've a few Ghostbuster-type creations ready for a swim on size 12 hooks. Haven't been out yet though.

Its not over yet,tied and tried the corophuim volutator and the flexi shrimp and a killer bug Wednesday,all dead drifting, to get a scattering of fish with a few returning to check out my fly...so i changed to longer finer leader,no way would they play ball,no takers but definitely had interest.not much shoaling yet just a few wanderers...

The action might hot a bit when there's more fish shoaling and competing in a couple of weeks. What size hooks are you tying on? I've a few Ghostbuster-type creations ready for a swim on size 12 hooks. Haven't been out yet though.

i started off with kamasan barbless animal spades,in sizes 10 and 12 simply because they were the only hooks i had lying around small enough,i havent spent mad money on this lark yet..then i tied some with the kamasan b911 barbless spades i found lying around in the shed,glad i didnt hook up on those after some of the stuff i heard about the fight theses bad boys give,hard 'nuff to keep 'em on with a barb im told,but both types a complete balls to tie,obviously because i had to tie the spade end knot,roll up the hook length and tie my fly with that obstruction hanging off the end of my vice...the other day tho i got me some kamasan b980 size 16 specimen eyed some b175 size 10 heavy trout hook and some kamasan x-strong barbed spades with hook length attached,sizes 18 and 20 tied to 2.5lbs line...must tie up some more but im in trace and weight making mode at the moment...
running savage low
still fairly new to swff...so any pointers on hooks or anything else are definatly welcome

Landed two and hooked three on Tuesday. Using a bread fly indicator and a shrimp pattern below. That day they were more interested in the indicator.

My sidekick Sam, an eighteen month Springer, has become a fly rod dog rather than a gun dog, he can spot the tiniest ripple and fin breaking the surface and go into the same set as if it were a pheasant. Seems to understand what fly fishing for mullet is all about.