MULLET - THE AUTUMN RUN

With autumn here many southern anglers will turn their focus to a silvery fish which arrives en masse along the South Australian coastline – the yellow-eye mullet. Improved day tides through autumn means water is flooding over the flats and into rivers during fishable daylight hours further adding to their appeal. Mullet are an endearing species. On the light rod they provide easily accessed fun, they come up well on the dinner plate and are a class act as bait for bream, mulloway, snapper, flathead, sharks and others. That’s a lot of value for such a prolific species. Where to get Them? Both country and metro anglers are spoilt for choice with yellow-eyed mullet in South Australia. They’re a wide ranging species, with hardly any aquatic environs off limits – surf, rock, river, estuary and jetty are viable locations. They tend to stay close to the shoreline making them ideal for the land-based flicker. When they’re switched on mullet can be berleyed at your feet, making for wild times when the fish are schooling, and fish-a-cast action ideal for the young and old fisho! Many of the bays on Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas, KI and the South East provide ideal habitats for these fish. A nice calm bay with a gentle surf break is an ideal situation to crack them. This said, they can be targeted in full-strength surf and caught alongside salmon and others. They’re a prominent food item for many surfy predators. A live mullet would be the numero uno mulloway bait here and in the estuary as well. The arrival of mullet schools can signify the beginning of the mulloway season in certain areas. Speaking of estuaries and rivers, these are some of the better areas to be trying. River mouths on a moving tide can produce fast fishing. Mullet love a brackish water situation, although if they remain in the system for any length of time the fish developer a darker colouration. Those shiny chromed up surf fish would be the pick of the bunch to eat if given the choice. In many locations mullet are caught side by side with yellowfin whiting and other desirable inshore fish. You can be fishing the flats of Boston Bay, Port Lincoln, or the metro shore near Seacliff and this will prove the case. These fish can feed in ridiculously shallow water so don’t write off a location without trying it first. Aim casts at weed edges and in the depressions on the flats. A high tide is often the best time to try as they push up hard against the shoreline searching out food in the window of opportunity high tide presents. On the surf beach look for gutters or cast baits around reefy fringes that provide a break from strong currents. Berley and Bait Baits of cockle (pipi), small pieces of squid or prawn, commercially sold mullet mix which is a minced meat mixed with spices, or worms will do the job. Various other preserved live or dead worms will also work. A sprinkling of berley of some description is essential. If you get them feeding in your immediate area your catch will build with minimum effort. Bread and water with a dash of oil if you have it on hand, is all that’s needed. Other pellet based or moist premixed berley products will get results. These can be used in a berley bucket or spring on your rig. Distributing a handful of attractant every so often should keep them close by, and maintain a steady run of bites. Rigging up & Tactics Mullet don’t have double-jointed bucket mouths, so a bait should conceal your hook and not be too large. A hook size of six to 10 is regulation on these fish. A standard fine gauge straight shank pattern will go fine, as will longshank versions. Small hooks and small baits tend to equal more hook-ups with these fish which bite fast and have small mouths. Change baits regularly as these fish have keen eyesight. A proven tactic is to slowly wind your bait in across the bottom which seems to get their attention. If they don’t grab it on the move briefly stop it. If you’ve got yellowfin whiting in the area, a running rig is recommended so you can tackle both fish. A light ball sinker that runs on to a swivel or split-shot is all the requirements. When specifically after mullet a paternoster rig, namely sinker on the bottom and one or two hooks coming off droppers above it, will suffice. A trace of 2-6 kilo mono or fluorocarbon is adequate. The autumn run of mullet can see areas inundated with large schools of fish, and you can inject a sporting approach to sessions if you wish, as they will at times happily small small poppers and stickbaits, and soft plastics. If you want to mix it up give it a try! Outfit wise, stay with your standard 2kg bream flickstick setup. The Shimano Nasci 2500 and Shimano Impact NXT rod, running 6lb Kairiki braid has been great for us. A rod with good bite detection and a slightly hard tip section for setting hooks on a mullet's quick bite is essential. Eating Them This is one fish best eaten fresh within a couple of days of capture. Cleaning them promptly is required as is responsible fish handling. Icing your mullet down or keeping them in cool water after capture equates to improved eating when you sit down at the dinner table. Clean and gut your fish ASAP after capture, by at least removing their dark stomach lining, innards and gills. Crumbed or battered fresh they’re a mouth watering dish not really befitting their dodgy hair style name! On a final note, mullet have generous restrictions in South Australia, and given the fish can be in huge numbers on occasions you will likely need to make a judgement call when to finish the session, and prevent the needless killing of fish. Enjoy!