Mullet Season 2006

[Jim Gibbinson]

Three Medway trips so far this season (all from the shore); no bites. I've seen a few swirls, but I think they were thins.

 

Trying the shore again this afternoon; plus a pier trip this weekend.

 

Trying to fit my mullet fishing in with tench and carp this year, rather than focusing specifically on mullet. Remains to be seen if the policy is a sound one.

[Leon Roskilly]

I've managed one trip this year and, to be honest, found it as frustrating as usual

 

I've caught mullet before, last one in December, but never with any consistency. My problem is striking. I can get them feeding and going for my bread bait but I really struggle hooking them. Most of the time they have the bread off the hook and away. When I do manage to hook one it more often than not comes out as the hook was never properly set.

 

I'll keep going, however, as it's very addictive and I know I can catch them but I suppose the more often I go the more I'll learn.

 

Always amazed by the number of other anglers who tell me I'm wasting my time or that they don't know why I bother!

 

 

Mullet are adept at removing bread from a hook without taking the hook into their mouth.

 

Nibbling at the edges, but avoiding the hook.

 

And I've seen mullet 'testing' the bait by 'swirling' at it, or simply bumping it.

 

I'd swear that they are suspicious and seeing whether moving the bait about can provoke a strike.

 

I've also seen them swimming off with the edge of the breadflake held lightly in their lips (perhaps it is the line over their top lips that prevents them getting the bread wholly into their mouth).

 

Being able to see what they are doing, you can better time the strike, but when fishing in muddy water, or deep down, only having the float as a guide to what's going on below, it's very difficult to know exactly when to strike.

 

Even a float sailing off produces thin air on the strike, because the hook was never fully in the mouth, whereas an instintictive strike when a float does no more than tremble results in a well-hooked fish.

 

If you are loosing fish when hooked, change the type od hooks that you are using.

 

For some reason certain patterns that work well for other species don't seem to hold mullet, and it may differ from angler to angler, having something to do with the tip action of their rod, the kind of line they use etc.,

 

I found that I was not alone in having that problem when using Drennan Super Specialist, and the problem all but disappeared when I changed to using a short shank, wide gape carp hook in size 10.

 

Always make sure that the hooks you are using are super sharp as well, a small diamond hook sharpener is a must, as hooks become blunted very quickly.

 

Every now and again, test the sharpness by running it across your fingernail.

 

It should scratch and dig in.

 

If it merely slides across the nail, it's time to give it a sharpen, or change it.

[Tony U]

You're not going to face the dreaded Suin Pier are you Jim?

I will be down there next week sometime in full body armour or at least a crash helmet.

 

Tony

Edited June 15, 2006 by Tony U

[101_North]

Mullet are adept at removing bread from a hook without taking the hook into their mouth.

 

Nibbling at the edges, but avoiding the hook.

 

And I've seen mullet 'testing' the bait by 'swirling' at it, or simply bumping it.

 

I'd swear that they are suspicious and seeing whether moving the bait about can provoke a strike.

 

I've also seen them swimming off with the edge of the breadflake held lightly in their lips (perhaps it is the line over their top lips that prevents them getting the bread wholly into their mouth).

 

Being able to see what they are doing, you can better time the strike, but when fishing in muddy water, or deep down, only having the float as a guide to what's going on below, it's very difficult to know exactly when to strike.

 

Even a float sailing off produces thin air on the strike, because the hook was never fully in the mouth, whereas an instintictive strike when a float does no more than tremble results in a well-hooked fish.

 

If you are loosing fish when hooked, change the type od hooks that you are using.

 

For some reason certain patterns that work well for other species don't seem to hold mullet, and it may differ from angler to angler, having something to do with the tip action of their rod, the kind of line they use etc.,

 

I found that I was not alone in having that problem when using Drennan Super Specialist, and the problem all but disappeared when I changed to using a short shank, wide gape carp hook in size 10.

 

Always make sure that the hooks you are using are super sharp as well, a small diamond hook sharpener is a must, as hooks become blunted very quickly.

 

Every now and again, test the sharpness by running it across your fingernail.

 

It should scratch and dig in.

 

If it merely slides across the nail, it's time to give it a sharpen, or change it.

 

Cheers for the advice Leon. I'm hoping to get out for a while this weekend so I'll report back if I've any luck.

 

101

[Leon Roskilly]

I've seen a few swirls, but I think they were thins.

 

I was hunting along the bank at Sharps Green with my lure rods this afternoon.

 

I decided to move on when some ferral kids from Gillingham decided that it would be fun to annoy (they retreated to a safe distance when I pointed out the large barbed trebles attached to my lure, and how far and accurately I could cast it. But still they persisted with their verbal), so I moved off before I was tempted to do them damage.

 

As I cycled by Coppermill Lane, I saw a swirl near some weed close in and stopped to watch as a large lone mullet arrogantly swam about in front of me (How do they know that you aren't packing mullet tackle?).

 

I spotted one or two other swirls nearby so it had some friends.

 

As I left down Coppermill lane, I was passed by a couple of coppers in a landrover, and sent them off towards Sharps Green with a vague description of the three dedicated troublemakers

 

It's rarely boring fishing the Medway!

Edited June 15, 2006 by Leon Roskilly

[corydoras]

NUMBER 17 Now by the way.

Unfortunately I have only managed to get out twice this year. Blanked the first time, only caught a small bass on the second outing, so technically it was a blank too. My mate has been out a lot more than me. Hes had about 6 I think mostly 2lb-3lb but he did have one at 6lb.

Edited June 16, 2006 by corydoras

[WeymouthSean]

Had a long run of bad luck. Lost my last 5 fish some where 5lb plus for sure! Funny leon talking about Super specialist being no good for mullet. You can just guess what I was using. However I have never normally had a problem with them maybe it was a faulty one? So yesterday I changed it and dispite getting snapped off by a mother of a mullet first cast I did manage to hook a 3lb 3oz one to break my run of bad luck.

 

What about pontoons? I fish where floating pontoons are about 20 yards out. I really try to put the breaks on the fish to avoid them going underneath them but is there any problem in just letting them go. I wondered if how they are attached and if they have metal chains underneath them where they would be anchored to the ground. Anyone know much about them?

[Leon Roskilly]

Any object in water gets coated with barnacles that are like razors.

 

Whereas many other fish (ie chub) automatically head for 'cover' when they are in trouble, Mullet seem to prefer to fight in 'open' water.

 

(If they headed for the nearest shopping trolley, old bike etc, we'd have no chance of landing them in the Medway)

 

The problem is when they go past something, and change direction.

 

I've had fish go under a pontoon (fishing from a pontoon there's always that danger!), but they go deep (which to a mullet is keeping away from the structure itself), so it's a question of jamming the rod tip as beneath the water as far as possible and hoping that it doesn't come into contact with any of the pilings, old electric cables etc, hanging down beneath.

 

 

Something that I keep meaning to do, but it usually goes completely out of miy mind when I have a fish on, is to see how a mullet reacts to slack line.

 

Most coarse fish, once you stop fighting them, seem to forget they are hooked when they can no longer feel the pressure, and resume normal activity as soon as the line is released.

 

That is a handy weapon, if you have the courage, to stop a fish that seems absolutely determined to head into the branches of an old felled tree, and you know that there is no chance of stopping it.

 

Flick open the bail arm, and the fish stops reacting against the pressure you have been applying, and meanders off.

 

Once clear of the obstruction, you can tighten up on it again.

 

 

Most pontoons are fixed in position, floating up and down on poles or pylons, and joined together by chains. It's quite likely that they have cabling/pipes beneath them if they have lighting, or power and fresh water available to the boats.

[WeymouthSean]

Thanks for the tips Leon. I must admit I have invested in some really good abrasive resistant line used for fishing for Carp in really snaggee ground and just hope that it helps hold them. When I normally hook them it is very shallow and there is only one place they can go and that is out! Trying to keep the rod down was what I was doing but at low tide I am standing on the harbour wall that is at least 16 feet up so there is no chance of getting my 13 feet rod below the water. However I do try and keep it as low as possible. The fish do not seem to go deep at all and I could see the fish thrashing on the surface on the other sidev of the pontoon. After it had run some 50 - 60 yards I decided enough was enough and tried to give the fish a bit more welly. Unfortuarely my hook length which was drennan double strenthy 6-lb snapped in the middle almost instantly so I feel I must have given the fish as much force as I could of done. Might have to upgrade my hook length to something as thin diameter as the drennan but 8lb?Any ideas what I could get?

[Leon Roskilly]

Hmmmm!

 

With 6lb line you should just be able to lift a 6lb weight off the floor without the line breaking.

 

With balanced tackle it's just about impossible to apply that much pressure with a rod to do that, so I suspect that the line went at a pressure less than the 6lb at the tip, that line should have withstood.

 

Usually it's the knot that goes, but you say it went along the hooklength which leads me to suspect a weakness there.

 

How old was the line? Is it likely that there was undetected abrasion damage (treading on the line, or catching it when putting it in the car boot etc could introduce an undetected weak spot). Some lines break some way below the stated bs, particularly if they have been stored a while, or the UV from the sun has got at them. Have you tested the bs of the line? If the line has been stretched, either playing a fish or pulling free of a snag that can significantly weaken the line.

 

Something I try to remember to do is once I've rigged up, put the hook onto an object that will hold it, and apply pressure to the whole rig, hoping that any weak spot, knot or undetected damage will reveal itself before beginning fishing, and I'm then confident how much pressure I can apply with little liklihood that the line will part somewhere.

 

And, although it's a pain to do, if you have any doubt of the integrity of the line (after pulling from a snag, or after a hard fight) automatically change the hooklength and 'retest' the rig.

 

I normally discard the reel line I've been using once or twice a season.

 

The very last thing I want, when I hook into that fish of a lifetime, is to be worrying whether I should have replaced my line by now, or worse still feel it part without having applied very much pressure at all when I could have easily ensured that it was strong enough before starting fishing.

 

Alternatives?

 

None I dare to suggest.

 

There are so many factors to take into account along with strength and diameter.

 

Visibility, stiffness, cost, knot strength etc.

 

What is for sure is that the stronger the hooklength, the less bites you'll get, especially from the bigger and more cautious fish.

 

But a hooklength that will bring the bites you want, leaves you the problem of needing the finely and correctly balanced tackle, and more importantly the skill to land whatever you hook!

 

Mullet - frustrating aren't they?