More about Mullet

[Duncan]

Morning All,

 

A mullet question.

 

In river estuaries or harbours are mullet creatures of habit or nomads. I mean by this do the same mullet return to feed in an area tide by tide and year by year or is it different fish passing through and taking advantage of the feeding opportunity.

 

 

TTFN

 

Duncan

[Leon Roskilly]

Fished tagged by the National Mullet Club have been captured several times in the same vicinity.

 

We have had several instances of the same 'recognised' fish being caught several times by members of Medway Mullet Group.

 

Some places seem to produce bigger fish than others. Usually places where both commercial fishing for mullet isn't widespread, and there is little angling pressure, and/or a strong catch and release culture amongst local mullet anglers.

 

With fish taking 10 years to reach just 3lb (first spawning age), these incidence of recaptures really drives home the necessity of returning that 4lb (say) specimen, if you are looking to capture a 7lb fish in another 5 years or so.

 

 

Unfortunatey the tags that the NMC have been using are not designed for a long life, so do not provide strong data as to what happens season to season.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Guest sslatter]

Duncan:

In river estuaries or harbours are mullet creatures of habit or nomads. I mean by this do the same mullet return to feed in an area tide by tide and year by year or is it different fish passing through and taking advantage of the feeding opportunity.

Good question. This one also occurred to me earlier in the season when I hooked and lost a very large fish that I'm sure was the same one I had seen last year in the very same vicinity. So I asked a local mulleteer who has been fishing the area for 50 years and he replied in the affirmative: that the same fish return to the same area year after year. There is a local road bridge over the estuary, and I've caught the same fish twice from above the bridge, and another 5 pounder twice from a small swim below the bridge, the captures being 10 days apart. The local mulleteer says that the fish stay in the same small localised spots until about the end of September, when they all go on the march and move into the area above the road bridge, but why they do this is anyone's guess. I often fish an area of saltmarsh on another local estuary, which totally empties on the run-off. I've seen the same fish too many times return to the same tiny creeks for it to be coincidence. It's now got to the stage where I can tell exactly where each fish will be. One lunker goes back every high tide to the same tiny shallow little inlet, but I haven't been able to tempt him! And seeing as my mullet pal and I got chucked off that particular bit by the owner, I probably never will! It's quite awesome to think that the same shoals of fish return year after year to the same small localised spots, and that each particular shoal has probably been doing so since the end of the last ice age.

BTW The twice-caught 5.08/5.06 pounder dropped some scales in the net, which this layperson had a look at under a jeweller's eyeglass. If my counting is correct, the fish is in its 15th year!Respect!

[Leon Roskilly]

I've spoken to Dave Rigden who has confirmed that the same fish have been recorded as being caught from the same venue over different seasons.

 

But then again, tagged fish have turned up in Ireland (it's amazing how far some trawlers carry their catch!).

 

I believe that fish will go on spawning migrations, but will return to their usual haunts.

 

Certainly, there is anecdotal stories of mullet anglers finding a prolific bay, with good specimens, only to have it wiped out by a netsmen after beer money.

 

It takes a long while for the fish to return (if ever) and decades for nature to replace the larger fish.

 

Even a few anglers, removing specimen fish throughout the summer months, year on year, soon have an effect on the fishery, which soon becomes a 'recruitment' fishery. ie few big fish are ever caught there.

 

That's one reason that most mulleteers are careful about letting too many people in on the know, when a prolific spot is discovered.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Duncan]

Thanks Leon/Graham,

 

You replies have reinforced my observations with identifiable fish.

 

There is an underlying reason for this query.

As you know mono-filament gill nets are banned in inshore fisheries in Scotland, however there appears to be a loop hole that is currently being exploited by certain sectors. The loop hole is – don’t use mono for the net, use a multi-filament (two strands of twisted mono is multi-filament) as this is outside current legislation.

 

My mate, who is the DSRB (District Salmon Fishery Board) manager recently observed a netter working in the estuary, catching mullet and salmon and sea trout (which were returned – dead but returned and therefore not illegal, again). He contacted the Sea Fish Protection bods who confirmed that it was ok to fish in this way with this type of net.

 

There was a small creek that contained a good number of larger specimens of thick lip mullet, this particular netter fished 4 tides in succession, his catch was 18 stone, 14 stone, 7 stone and 3 stone after which he gave up and went elsewhere. That creek is now devoid of fish and from your previous posts likely to remain devoid for the foreseeable future.

 

We are starting to move to get the estuary (the Solway) designated as a bass nursery, this will stop the netting however containing both the English and Scottish sides on the estuary this is proving a little more difficult.

 

Thanks for your reply and I will keep you posted on the developments.

 

TTFN

Duncan

[Leon Roskilly]

As you probably know, the NFSA are currently campaigning for the banning/restriction of inshore netting.

 

(In fact I, along with Bob Cox and Tom Pinborough, was at a meeting with the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit at the Cabinet Office on Tuesday when we talked about this.)

 

Duncan, You have email.

 

I've copied in the NFSA, BASS and the NMC and sent you some information on Gill-netting.

 

Good Luck.

 

Tight Lines - leon