MAGICAL MULLET

Why is it that mullet are such magical fish? Is it simply their elusiveness, their gift of avoiding capture or their unbelievable ability to fight until the angler is almost beaten?

wonderful 3D camo

3lb12ozs of muscular beauty

Then you have their constant and mysterious movement with the tides, their muscular torpedo shape and that most beautiful camouflaged back. Ain’t nature wonderful when the depth of colour and form makes them so difficult to see from above, though not so difficult that one of the fish eating osprey’s name is ‘mullet hawk’.

not such a great sight if you're a mullet

shallow water creeks beloved by mullet

Sue and I were walking the RSPB’s heathland reserve at Arne on Thursday and as the tide flooded the creeks, the mullet cruised amongst the legs of egrets and spoonbills. An osprey circled with intent, as they often do over Poole Harbour at this time of year, re-fuelling on mullet and flounders for their long odyssey to the sun drenched mangrove swamps of west Africa.

Christchurch Harbour from Hengistbury Head

Non of us anglers are that far from an estuary where mullet might be caught, though we are very fortunate here in Dorset to have both Poole and Christchurch Harbours in which to try our luck. We usually venture forth into the latter and absolutely love our days out on the waves.

big skies the norm

happy Trev - taking a few precious hours out from the Avon Roach Project

 getting tense now - they often fall off after several battling minutes

relief at last

it's always a pleasant surprise if we catch one - we sometimes get more - or non at all

We almost always see hundreds of mullet all around our boat ; catching them is the tricky bit! Feeding as they do on algae, we never know why it is they take a lump of flake or bunch of maggots but we are always very grateful when they do. As we often say, when it comes to mullet fishing there are lots of questions but no answers!
Much admired angling author and Times columnist Brian Clarke wrote in an Angling Trust newsletter that he's sure trying to catch mullet was the quickest way to the asylum that he knew!

if you're thinking you might catch a mullet ...

first cast bass for Jim

Sometimes they don’t seem interested in any of our bait but luckily there are lots of other species to catch. Bass are always a possibility, good roach, clonking great dace and beautiful bronze bream are a probability. So there’s never a dull moment as when the float fails to do so you never quite know what has taken the bait. Hours of fun.

my favourite - a pound+ roach

a 3lb+ bream pulls well in the tide

another lovely bronze battler

a clonking dace for Martin

Martin trying to avoid politics while Trev bags up

another nice bronze bream

hours of fun ... but no one promises it won't rain - it did! 

Going out with friends makes the days even more enjoyable and this year we’ve been fortunate to be joined by Martin Salter and Jim Wreglesworth, both of whom are as enthusiastic about trying to catch mullet as Trev and I.

a colourful summer dawn and the tide flooding

yours truly being beaten up by a mullet - they don't half pull! I hope your rod is strong enough Mr. Drennan

not all that big either

I spent my birthday with Sue instead of fishing with the lads, [brownie points earned maybe?] … taming a starling, walking around the estuary looking at wildlife and going on a boat trip, so was able to see Jim and Trev from a tourists point of view.

compass on top of Hengistbury Head

you don't often get a dawn greeting like this

emperor dragonfly egg laying

Jim and Trev approaching the Clay Pool

HM as 'papparazzi'

It was a successful day all round, for I enjoyed two ice creams and Trev caught his biggest ever mullet, a battler of 5lb6ozs that for several minutes had him squealing for mercy!

how big?

this big - a 5lb6oz PB for Trev

Another friend, Steve Derby caught an absolute monster on Thursday, all 8lb 9ozs of it. What a creature .. and the mullet was quite impressive too! No pics yet but I’ll add it to a later blog. Well done that man.

plastic rings to identify individuals in the flocks

I got the impression that this guy wasn't very happy

Sue and I were lucky enough to be on the quay during a swan upping, the ringing of the flightless monsters for research and it was easy to understand how mullet become conditioned to eat bread judging by the amount holidaymakers were throwing to the wildfowl.

lots of bread for ducks and swans ... and mullet

So, if you've never tried to catch a mullet, give it a go before this lovely summer passes by. Strong float rod, centre pin reel, 6lb line straight through and a large lump of flake on a strong ten hook … what could be simpler! Getting the critters to take the bait is the trick, then landing them the challenge. Go on, test your tackle ...

MULLET MADNESS - 2013

Peaceful dawn on Grimbury Bay

They live in such a beautiful place and fight so hard that it’s difficult to believe a creature can have so much energy and endurance.

fully engaged in battle

No wonder my friends and I have got mullet swimming through our veins and nagging at our brains when we aren’t out there. Those who’ve tried it know they drive you mad.

mind the anchor rope!

Good friend Steve Derby used to come down south several times every year to fish for barbel in the Avon but since I took him out to try mullet fishing he has hardly cast for barbel ever again.

heading out into heaven

Instead he has bought himself a rig, found a mooring and is out in his boat at every opportunity, introducing several friends to the madness of mullet fishing.

happy Steve - he's going mullet fishing

a fresh breeze greets us

My best mate Trevor Harrop of Avon Roach Project fame was taken out there by friends and like Steve, it wasn’t long before he too bought a rig and is out there weekly, well he'd like to be. 

 Trevor soaking up the rays in the Clay Pool, dreaming of big roach

I often join him or borrow his boat to take our friends out, like Norfolk convert Brian Naylor.

Brian with a nice one

top guide Graham with proof he is

I was first introduced to the life changing sport by old hand Graham Peplar of Davis tackle fame. I wanted to film a sequence for our series “Catching the Impossible” so Graham kindly showed me the ropes and introduced me to one or two spots … and at the first we tried I caught a roach almost first cast so I was happy, especially when we each caught a mullet or two as well.

Martin and Bernard with a small one

Then I had to buy a rig as well, big enough for both Bernard Cribbins and Martin Bowler to fish from while I filmed. We had such a good time out there, so full of laughs, especially when Martin was driven mad by mullet escaping from his hook just when he thought he had them beat. [A clip of the cursing can be seen in Prog 9 of the series, the ‘making of’ bit that I tagged onto the TV series for the DVD sales. It can be viewed on a previous mullet post, Angling Adventures 3]. He got one in the end though.

Martin with a splendid fighter

Our most recent convert has been Pete Reading. He was first taken out by Trevor but sadly he blanked … though we don’t feel any sympathy for him any more because when Steve took him out the following week Pete’s first ever mullet weighed 7lbs1oz … so we’re not talking to him any more!

Pete with his 7/1 - blinding skill or beginners luck?

Though mullet occur all round our shores in summer, our adventures all take place in Christchurch Harbour, either in among the boats in the lower end of the River Stour and Avon or out in the wonderful wide open spaces of the mud flats and sand bars that are ever changing with the wind and tides. 

anticipation at dawn

Wherever you cast, it’s a beautiful place to be, the wildlife decorated water sliding past before rushing out into the Solent at Mudeford.

a birders paradise

There are three types of mullet, the small golden grey, one of which I caught when first out with Graham though I haven’t seen one since, the thin-lipped which are the most numerous and tend to weigh about 2-3lbs and the thick-lipped which can weigh up to 12 lbs, though a good one is anything from five pounds or so and a ceiling on rod and line seems to be about 8lbs. Mind you, size doesn’t matter when a three pounder fights so hard you think you have a monster on the end.

nearly six pounds if I remember correctly

Their appeal is widespread, for as mentioned in a previous post, when asked, the legendary Terry Lampard said that if he could only fish for one species for the rest of his life it would be mullet. He caught three eight pounders in his all too short time on our planet.

Terry with one of his biggies, tho' not 8lbs.

The fishing is simple : a strongish float rod, a centre-pin reel, 4-5lb line, an Avon type rod and float, then trotting or stret-pegging bread flake, with bread mash sloshed in to attract a fish that never eats bread. 

Steve bombing it in

It’s like roach fishing for something that resembles a tropical bonefish when hooked, though mullet are almost as fast and have more stamina. They are awesome.

ten minutes already

getting tense now, he's standing up

result - 5/15 of beautiful feisty mullet

What’s more there are hundreds of them in the harbour this summer, the shoals so thick that you could walk across their backs without getting your feet wet. And it’s such a pleasant change to dangle a bait in a place where there are so many fish, even if catching them is impossible!

dozens of mullet in the Clay Pool before sunrise

But that is all part of the appeal. Everything is changing all the time, the flow, the depth, the fish, the wind, the tides … and by the end of the day you sometimes come off the water feeling you have been in a tumbler dryer filled with water … and it seems however hard you try, you can’t understand why they took the bait, or more often, why they didn’t!

a real biggie - 27inches of muscle

About a month ago I was out there three days running, taking advantage of this wonderful summer, and caught seven mullet the first day, four mullet the second and seven mullet the third and each day they were accompanied by a few bass, sea trout, bream and dace, even a dab, all taken on bread.

tasty bass but they all go back

even tastier sea trout - if only it could be poached!

good bream - notice the cormorant slash on it's belly - greedy sods

a dab/ I'm told it's a flounder - on bread - ridiculous  

I thought I had it cracked but the last two times I’ve been out I failed to catch a single mullet … but that’s why we love it so much, especially when the wildlife is so rich, my blanks more than compensated for by the appearance of two very special birds, bearded tits. I never knew they ever visited Christchurch Harbour.

what an amazing picture of a bearded tit © Edwin Kats

even the small ones battle like monsters

 

not ready yet

not yet either

Mullet fishing has that essential ingredient that all good fishing should have and that’s mystery. Fishing for them is a journey into the unknown, one that drives you out there time after time to try to find all the pieces of the puzzle to complete the picture … but fortunately, most of the pieces are missing.

relief that the war has been won