Mullet fishing from shore and/or kayak

[Mr. X]

Good point about the taste. I have only taken mullet well away from habitation and I tend stuff them with a few herbs, specially fennel, garlic & lime. Mullet (and bass) absorb the flavours well, so need to be careful not to overdo it. Thought I might be out on a limb finding their taste similar to but slightly better than bass but HFW's River Cottage Gone Fishing Guernsey fish smoking taste-off makes me think perhaps not (smoked mullet won).

 

[Mr. X]

Shooting more mullet in a single session?

Mullet hunting, that is one of my favority fish to kill, the place I've fish them in Brazil...
The one I am holding is 5.1 kb, the batch in the boat all of them are over 4 kg.
...
View attachment 18366

I had a question for Mundial but judging by your picture, StrangeLove, perhaps you might have some thoughts. I usually only get one mullet per session. I did on one rare occasion get two mullet (it was a rare, amazing day) - one far out and one very close to shore on the way in. How do you manage to get so many mullet in a single session? I often see groups but they struggle about so much once speared. Are you using boat/kayak to take in different locations?

 

[capetownguy]

Dave, couldn't see the movie, says its no longer available, any chance u can try again or is it just my pc not loading it....would love to see some underwater videos of the UK waters!

 

[Old Man Dave]

Look up Theflatfishking (all one word) on you tube. There are a few vids I took last year. Nothing special but a first try with my new camera. Can't post the link from here as work doesn't allow you tube.

Dave

 

[Magpie]

Here's Dave's:

YouTube - theflatfishking's Channel

And here's mine:

YouTube - jaketheshed's Channel

 

[strangelove]

X

The credit for the amount of fish should go to the location not to me, the place is called sepetiba bay, it is a bay with murky water 2 meter vizibility normally, but with an amazing amount of fish specially mullet and shook (I think there are three world records coming out this bay). So we normally fish outside the bay where the water has better visibility and just like you mention sometimes we land one or mullets ( among other fish ) and sometimes a couple of mullets around 1kg. But often we also fish inside the bay (normally at the end of the day), then we either catch none or catch a bunch like the day of the picture.

The funny thing about mullet fishing in this place, the location appears to be relevant to the size, in some locations they are around 1 to 2 kg in other locations they are around 4 – 5 kg .

View attachment 18393

 

[Mr. X]

Thanks for sharing that StrangeLove. The huge mullet in your earlier picture:

... is much longer than any I've seen although I was lucky enough to see a huge one last year but no where near as long as the one shown, but much deeper in the body. ML mentions on his DVD that you will find different but recognisable variants of the grey mullet the world over.

As I usually dive alone, so I don't dive deep. I find doing aspetto/ambush by dropping into weed about 16ft (5+m) has worked best for me so far. However for mullet, I have started looking over my shoulder, behind and above me, having had groups of mullet sneak past me several time. My best mullet last year was shot like that, I looked over my shoulder and a shoal of about a dozen 4lb-ish mullet swam close by; unusually, they turned and headed towards me at first - perhaps I presented a smaller or less recognisable figure from that position? It was very exciting. Most of the mullet I have encountered were in shallower water though, with the fish swimming just below the surface.

[You're right OMD...the thought of the XXV is getting me in a spearing kind of mood Trying not to get psyced up though, as April the last couple of years has been pretty disappointing.]

 

[strangelove]

X

This one was the last fish of my Brazilian seazon this year (It was a double hitter), I nailed this one plus a smaller one around 3 kb, it gave somewhat of a ride. I was fishing on shallow water just waiting around 5 meters, the bay has mostly muddy bottom but this place is a channel with course sand and rocks. The key is to have your back to the current, so you catch them swiming toward you, I've also learn is they normally swim on the same direction so if they are passing on you back, you may try turning 180 degrees when doing your waiting.
I also think, for mullet fishing the murky water may help us more then the fish, but again the large mullets as well as the great quantity is definitly just credit to the location, that bay is really rich on that type of fish.
You've have thinking about getting a xxv gold now, I think that would be a great gun to fish salmon in AK, but they are still not available in US, also Mark Labocceta, warn me again that double banding would be a bad idea for that gun.

 

[Coral Sniper]

Tongans call it ''the fish for nobles'', Very high quality fish down here!

Love shooting them

 

[Mr. X]

As long as it is for Nobles and not No Balls! Interesting that grey mullet are found around Tonga on the other side of the world, I guess ML was right. They do taste very good, yet a lot of folk will not eat them here. I guess in heavily populated areas or heavy industry it makes sense. Always surprised to see articles in angling magazines, showing popular fishing marks near the cooling discharge of power stations, presumably nuclear power stations. [Amazing that we have folk all over the world able to contribute on the grey mullet: UK, Italy, Tonga, Alaska/Brazil, Africa, Oz,...].

 

[Coral Sniper]

Most of the mullet I shoot down here are in habour waters, But they must be ok to eat rofl.

I have seen some rare versions of mullet down here, some with yellow tails and a black spot on the tail, and one other kind that was blueish.

I saw these fish out in some remote areas.

 

[Mr. X]

Circling mullet

I came across a group of medium sized mullet in clear, shallow water last year, in a patch of string grass, amongst large boulders. Perhaps attracted by tiny silver bait fish.

On first encounter, I was caught by surprise & unable to make a shot. Figuring, they were unlikely to come back, I circled round the rest of the small bay exploring (perhaps a 50m radius circle). Not finding anthing else, I returned to the same spot, carefully. This time there was a single larger mullet in the same spot, fired & missed. Repeated the circle again, still no other fish. Returned to the same spot again, even more carefully, this time another group of medium sized mullet were there (perhaps the original group) but there were skittish & already took off when I fired and missed. I think I did it one more time & then started the long swim back -- as I obviously wasn't hitting anything.

I haven't had the opportunity to try this out again, to see if it might be a technique worth developing or just pure chance, or perhaps due to the presence of those tiny silver fish. Might be worth trying though. Several times, I've come across a group of mullet twice in the same general area (I don't think I've ever encounter the same group more than twice though - despite looking).

 

[strangelove]

I would have done somewhat different (I am not sure if the result would be any different – but just something else to try), if I have come to spot where I have see the fish, I would just stop at that place and I would do dives down where I would just hide myself and wait. In fact normally I don’t have the luxury of seeing the bottom (in Alaska and Brazil) , even tough my gun has a reel I also haul a float with a 1 lb weight, so when I dive down and see the fish I sometimes don’t even shot, just drop the weight to mark the place. On the dives down I would have my back to current and try to be as stealthy as I can and just wait for the fish to comeback. The waiting position is really important, you want to have the fish swimming in front of you gun, not at your back, the main reason you definitely want to figure out the current.

I have try flashers on my float line, it did not make a difference in Brazil (the water is never that clear). The flasher does attract the rock fish in Alaska.

Just something else to try, that is normally how I fish for mullets, since you’ve asked for input, again it is just another way.

 

[Mr. X]

Interesting, I'll give that a try. The situation I described was a little odd, in that the water was very shallow, not much more than 1m deep, so no need to dive & not easy to hide. Also, the clearing with the fish had 3, maybe 4 main entry routes and I think I probably came in the same way as the fish (I might be wrong) between two large boulders sitting in deeper water (maybe 2-3m). I could probably hide behind/near the big boulders although, as I said, that might be the way they enter the clearing.:hmm

 

[strangelove]

X

Some places inside that bay the water is just 1 to 3 meters deep, but we still catch mullet and shook, we all have two weight belts on the boat so we go in in those shallow places with a lot of weight so we can stay at the bottom without effort. Probably the main difference is the water is really murky (2 meters max)

 

[James T]

X - my experience with Mullet is actually quite similar to Bass. Quite often I will not take the first shot when I see one or more Mullet as they will be spooked and shoot off. I immediately take a dive and lie on the bottom and in most cases the scared fish come straight back to take a look. In my limited experience the amount of time between scaring the fish and my dive seems to make a difference. The further the fish are away by the time you dive it seems like the less likely they are to come back - this might just be my imagination but it is almost like the pressure wave of my descent gets them curious and this over rides their initial flight reflex.

I even do this in 3m of water quite often with similar results.

Who knows whether this is right or not but this pattern of behavious has happened for me very frequently and I use it as a last resort if I miss the fish on the first go.

 

[mundial]

hi guys

long time was away :head

but

sometimes
i am taking this fish

mostly eaten in grill
when it is fresh its got a good taste

as a rule i am spearfishing only in a natural sea
not marina or harbor zone or places that are mostly dirty
all fish got a batter taste
some pics of last fish dinner
mullets as a plate between 500gr-800gr

last week catch

 

[Mr. X]

Is the other fish a grouper?

 

[spaghetti]

Yes it is, and it looks quite young. Must be a 2 years old mediterranean brown grouper, "Epinephelus Marginatus".

 

[Mr. X]

Yes it is, and it looks quite young. Must be a 2 years old mediterranean brown grouper, "Epinephelus Marginatus".

It's an ugly looking fish - puts me in mind of our exotic looking ballan wrasse. Good eating?