still no mullet!!

[Guest sslatter]

Fraught with feelings of serious inadequacy after reading this thread, I went off this afternoon to a new spot: the area of tidal creeks I mentioned before. It turned out to be the weirdest 3 hours of mullet fishing I've ever had. As I explained before, these creeks were cut out in the 19th century to drain an area of marshland, but there seems to be no logic in the pattern they've been cut out in. When I got there, the tide was in, and all the inlets were full. The first one I came to was a "finger" that is about thirty yards long, and four feet wide,with a depth of 6"-10". As I stood looking along the length of it, suddenly there was the back of a very large mullet no more than ten feet from me, in 8" of water. And as my jaw dropped, there was another one further along the "finger". There is no bankside cover at all, so there I was, flat on my stomach, "dapping" a piece of crust into the tiny bit of water. The fish didn't spook at first, and I got a good look at it. It was an absolute lunker of about 7 pounds, and my heart was in my mouth. But did it show any interest in my floater? Nope. I ended up spooking it, and so I moved on to the other fish I could still see further down the "finger". I spooked that one as well! That was the pattern of the afternoon. I tried dapping crust, legering flake with one aaa, and finally tried popped-up crust, but no go. All afternoon I had some very large fish swimming around me, and all were feeding on something in the weed rafts, but I only managed to get one bite on a pop-up, that I missed. Still, it's totally different to fishing the usual town marks, and like Leon said, it's worth the challenge. So I'll be back there on Sunday with a friend of mine, and I'll take a few flies with me for some more dapping. The oddest mullet venue I've ever seen.

[Vagabond]

Chippy:

Graham

 

Keith (that had those 19 last week, including the 8lber), was using red tag flies - a grayling pattern i believe. Might be worth a shot?

 

Paul

Sounds a good idea - I have caught trout on red tag, but never used them for mullet. But 19 fish to 8lb sounds a good enough recommendation to me, thanks Chippy for passing that on.

[Guest sslatter]

Yes, sorry Chippy, forgot to say thanks for that. I'll try a red tag, and a spider pattern or two. A small coch-y-bondhu might work. Let's see.

[WeymouthSean]

A bit early for the 4.3kilo fish Jim!! Joined Weymouth Angling Club on Friday. Mick Channon reckons you don't even fish for mullet is that true?

[Chippy]

No problem, a Treacle Parkin might also be worth trying....

 

Sean - have you joined the NMC yet too - It's well worth the fee mate....

[Guest sslatter]

Went back to a local tried-and-trusted (but also well-thrashed)town mark today for a couple of hours pre-run off, and was rewarded with 8 bites, 6 of which I missed, 1 which bounced off at the strike, and one with which I connected and which produced a thicklip of about a pound and a half, yet again a lift bite. Caught up with one of the locals, who had fished there earlier in the day, catching a couple of small bass, and a flounder of a pound and a half (!), all on bread, but no mullet. He was bemoaning the fact that the bigger fish aren't showing. According to him, it's been one of the poorest starts to a season for quite a few years. I asked him about the creeks that I wrote about earlier, and told him about the big fish I'd seen, and asked him if he had any tips/ideas/advice. Although he'd never fished there before, he also thought that dapping a spider pattern might work, and he had an interesting observation to make about dapping crust. He said that I shouldn't try to "cover" a fish with a piece of crust, rather that I should find a spot away from the fish, chuck in a few free offerings and my hook with a piece of floating crust, and "wait for the fish to come around". So, lots of things to try on Sunday. I'll get some photos of the venue (and hopefully a fish or two) and post them up in the thread. It really is a weird place.

[Jim Roper]

WeymouthSean:

A bit early for the 4.3kilo fish Jim!! Joined Weymouth Angling Club on Friday. Mick Channon reckons you don't even fish for mullet is that true?

I bought a nice Webley and Scott rod for the mullet, but had it pinched with everything else in a burglary.

Not bothered since.

The only mullet I've ever caught have been in nets.

[WeymouthSean]

Recokn it's a bit harder to hook them on a rod and line than it is to just to net them Jim. You want to try it some time!

[Guest sslatter]

I am not happy. Down at the local pontoon hotspot, just been busted by a large fish that would have been my PB, if my reel hadn’t decided that the pick-up pins wouldn’t catch the line as I tried to reel in with a large weight pulling on the end! B****y Abu 704! The power of these mullet is unbelievable. The fish shot straight under the pontoon pulling out line, and stopped 15 yards out the other side, with my reel not retrieving properly. We had a tense 60 seconds or so of stand-off, as I tried to get the reel working. Then the fish took off again, and the line snapped. I looked at the hooklength-the line had broken off at the (barbless) hook! Gitted is not the word. The word is gutted.

 

NB Fished the marsh creeks on Sunday and Monday. Very difficult. Masses of floating rotting weed. The whole system is nearly weedlocked. We got them going on floaters though, and my friend missed a stonking take right in front of him, but we ended up fishless.

 

[ 12. June 2003, 10:58 PM: Message edited by: Graham X ]

[Chippy]

Gutted not's the word Graham....It happens to us all at some point though I suppose....all part of the game

 

I've not been this week - driving lessons have had to take priority with my test next week, but the weather/tides are ideal this weekend, so planning on a session after work today, then tomorrow afternoon and Sunday.

 

I took Roger from Floats-Direct out with me last Sunday, but the wind made fishing my usual spot unfishable (shame as I had a 4lber the day before). We tried it anyway and after getting pounded by the surf for a few hours we moved round to the marina for a while. Roger had to leave after a couple of hours by which stage neither of us had had any bites......within the hour of Roger leaving I had a 2lb bass and a cracking 2lb Goldie - He must be cursed

 

I'm taking him again on Sunday, so hopefully he'll be a virgin no more - I'll keep the board posted...