Mullet Season 2006

[Matt Baldwin]

had a trip to Sun PIer yest morning (medway) for 3 hours of the flood.

 

had bites every so often throughout the trip with 1 bite on dangle down rod makeing the rod bounce of the railing.

 

had 2 school bass bouth around 3/4lb.

 

where are the mullet????

 

Very few heard of coming out of the medway this season

[BREAMAGAIN]

had a trip to Sun PIer yest morning (medway) for 3 hours of the flood.

 

had bites every so often throughout the trip with 1 bite on dangle down rod makeing the rod bounce of the railing.

 

had 2 school bass bouth around 3/4lb.

 

where are the mullet????

 

Very few heard of coming out of the medway this season

 

 

 

Go Tench fishing with Andy instead , he's killing 'em at the mo. !

[Andrew Boyd]

Yep I need to get back out after Mullet, problem is there is a excellent Tench water near home, early season it's a choice of driving for 45mins to the Medway to blank ( again ) or 5 mins to my Tench venue ( where I know i wil catch ) leads me to stay close to home. I'll be back after the Mullet soon enough. maybe a trip next weekend. Though have to be carefull . . I'm away with Breamagain after Mullet at Weymouth for a long weekend soon . . to show Sean how it's done ( just like last year ) !!!

 

I was in Gillingham a few days ago on business, popped onto Gillingham pier and saw several decent fish ( 4lb + ) in shallow water as the tide was entering the moorings. Typical, limited time, no rod and Mullet everywhere.

[Leon Roskilly]

I fished the NMC fish in on the Hamble on Saturday.

 

Plenty of mullet to be seen swimming past, but only two small fish hooked, despite having the cream of mullet angling in attendance.

 

I missed the one single bit I had all day long.

 

I'd taken my hand off the rod to throw some breadmash at my float, and was just reaching for a towel when the float went under and reappeared as I reached for my rod!

 

Mind you, late in an otherwise frustrating day I was 'entertained for a while by a flounder that took up an ambush position immediately in front of me about 2ft from the bank and clearly visible through the polaroids.

 

Knowing that flounder have been caught on bread, I couldn't resist manouvering my bread-baited hook right in front of its mouth, only to be totally ignored.

 

My next attempt was with the landing net.

 

Carefully positioning myself on the very slippery bank, I could almost reach it, but not quite.

 

I recklessly darted the landing net forward, the flounder beat a hasty retreat, I started to slip down the steep slippery bank towards the water, dropped the landing net and panically attempted to grab the marsh vegetatation as I continued to gather speed towards the clouded water from where the flounder has urgently departed.

 

By some miracle I stopped sliding and managed to 'climb' back up (actually it was more of a sliding scramble with equal chance of resuming a slide back toward the water as reaching the safety of the saltmarsh bank).

 

Now covered in mud, and with shoes three times the size of those I was wearing before, I walked and slide along on the bankside grass in a futile attempt to reduce the size of my mud covered shoes.

 

We were due to get together in the pub at the end of the day, and now covered in mud I mad a mental note to bring a change of clothes to future fish ins (that's something I do as a matter of course when Elton is present as someone, often me, usually ends up in the water!).

 

Back on the bank, float recasted and being watched intently, I was amazed to see the flounder back waiting patiently in ambush in the same position as that I failed to net it.

 

(Every now and again it would dart forward in a flurry of mud, obviously pouncing at an unseen prey).

 

What I had previously taken to be the footmarks of doggie visitors to the water (there was a lot of dog walkers aling the bank encouraging their charges to go for a swim), turned out to be the homes of crabs.

 

And a resident crab decided that flounder was just the thing for tea, and began to chase the flounder round in circles for a while before, like me, returning frustrated to its hole to resume whatever it had been doing before.

 

The flounder also resumed it's previous position and I was surprised at how territorial its behaviour was.

 

The next event was when a small crab had decided it had a taste for bread and came in clinging desperately to my hook.

 

Surely the flounder would accept some crab flesh?

 

That thought sealed the destiny of the bread stealing crab.

 

Out went the hook again, this time bearing the remnants of the crab's flesh.

 

The moment it hit the water, it was attacked by a silvery fry.

 

Instantaneously!

 

But again studiously ignored by the flounder, even though positioned within mms of its mouth.

 

Flounder fishing!

 

More frustrating than mullet fishing.

 

I spent the next 20 mins regarding the flounder regarding me, before finally calling it a day and retreating to the pub, leaving the flounder in possession of the swim.

 

I had the great pleasure of meeting Gerry Green, one of the legendary founders of the National Mullet Club.

 

He remarked that in 'his day' they simply went out and caught mullet, none of this 'on a good day'!!

 

(ps Watch out for Gerry's comments on the Alan Yates/Mel Russ mullet trip to the Medway in the June Issue!)

[WeymouthSean]

Leon. The main line was brand new that day( Ifish so much I change it every 2 months) and the hook length I change on every session. I feel they are some real clongers out there this year and some although I haven't landed any are late singles if not early doubles. Thats a big mullet to get in on 6lb line especially with the opstacles i've got. There must be some thinner but stroger line out there? I'll keep you posted on what I find. My main line is KORUM carp stuff 0.25mm at 8lb and it seems as tuff as old boots! Well happy with that just need to find a descent hooklenth? I almost have to aplly hook and hold technique down here but when they go passed 6lb it becomes diffcult!

[Leon Roskilly]

The best that I can advise is to rig up, but before waiting to hook a sizeable mullet to test out the claimed bs of your line and knots, try lifting (say) a 5lb weight, and pulling against a spring balance to see what breaks at what bs.

 

You'll often find that the bs claimed is somewhat lower than that claimed, and even a reliable brand will have batches with weak spots.

 

Take nothing on trust, especially when if your tackle lets you down you lose a fish of a lifetime.

 

If you've any doubts about a line to do the job that youwant it for, junk it and keep looking until you find something that you are confident of using.

 

Even then, remember that line that is perfectly good one week, has 'gone off' by the next session.

 

Good Luck.

[Andrew Boyd]

Sean

 

While it does not make casting or float control any easier, perhaps try a heavy main line ( clear / 10lb'ish ) with a short tippet of say 30 to 40cm of 5lb / 6lb. That way you would gain some abrasion resistance, and have the benefit that if a fish did snap your off they would only take a short length of line with them.

 

Cheers A

[WeymouthSean]

Yes thats pretty much what I do but I don't think its worth going to 10lb if my hooklength is 6lb? Just need to find something as thin as 0.185mm thats a little stronger than 6lb that would be nice! Anyone like you said you will be able to show me how its all done again in a couple of weeks. Just remind me how many mullet you got last time and how many Dave and I got?

[WeymouthSean]

By the way Andy took another mullet tonight taking my total to 19 for the year and they are well turned on to the bread now. Creaming it off the top for a couple of hours tonight continous. If you don't get one this time Andy something must be serously wrong!

[Jim Gibbinson]

Matt, you ask where the Medway mullet are.... a proportion of them, at least, are in the Number One basin at Chatham (no fishing allowed, of course). A friend who is an experienced freshwater angler said that the largest of those he saw would have been equivalent size to chub or grass-carp of about 8lb. Certainly very few signs of mullet at my usual locations: just a few lip-marks, and you have to look hard to find them. Like Andrew, I'm cutting my losses and restricting my mullet fishing this year to occasional keep-in-touch trips while primarily targeting tench.

 

Trouble is, Medway mullet can't be in the river AND the dock basin(s) - it's one or t'other. Last year they were in the basins until late autumn; looks like it's shaping up the same this year.

 

Curses!