Mullet soup

If any one is interested in fly fishing for mullet this week might prove to be an ideal opportunity. With the increasing tide levels over the next few days plus the warm weather, anywhere there is large deposits of seaweed will be full of maggots.

Rising tide levels will disperse and move this weed and the maggots - you can also do this yourself by turning over the weed and throwing it in the water. Fish will feed in remarkably shallow water and close to shore. Stay on your hands and knees and creep up on them.....sad i know!

I have attached some fotos of what i mean plus the artificials that are made from short lengths of ultra chenile. Simply burn the ends of the material lightly and attach one, two or three to a hook.

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Thanks for the tip Jim. Just out of interest, I have seen mullet in the location that I have been fishing for pollack. It is a sloping small boulder rocky area. As you have mentioned, I have seen fairly large mullet literally on the shore line with the dorsal and tail fin quite high out of the water. There is some weed but not a lot but I'm thinking that I will try your above suggestion. My question is, how do you actually fish the imitation maggots? Is it just a matter of leaving them float two or three feet from the shore or do you have to add some sort of action? Also, do you just thread the ultra chenile maggots onto the hook as you would for maggots while course fishing or are they whipped on?

Sorry about all the questions!

Thanks, Denis

Hi D

No problem with the questions here.

Regarding the little maggot imitations just simply whip them to the hook with a few turns of v.light mono. Two things i have noticed, fishing them as a group by lightly supergluing two or three of them together (say head to head) randomly on the one hook works better. And if you can bear it collect some of the maggot/seaweed soup in a plastic box and place your imitations in it for a while.

Creeping up on them is always better, stay low (hands and knees) and avoid lining them too. I use a light tapered leader and try to present the fly line along the 'beach' and the leader only turning over onto the water. Try to present them in the surface film if possible.

Do not retrieve them but rather concentrate on maintaining contact and keeping them in the zone - difficult i know. When they start to hoover or whatever it is they do just hope that your maggots get eaten.

best of luck D

Thanks for the speedy reply and even more tips. However, I do have another question. At what time in the tidal cycle should I go down and throw in/turn-over the weed from the high tide mark. Is it something that should be done an hour or two before hand to prevent spooking the fish? or can you go down create your mullet soup and then sit and wait till the fish appear?

Thanks again!

Denis

D

usually the banks of weed with worms will have been deposited by

the last Spring Tide or
the last reasonable onshore strong breezes before the current spring tides

during the neaps this is not usually accessible/moved by rising tides. I tend to arrive when the tide is fully out and wait and watch as it rises over the weed to see what happens. in some locations the mullet know food will be available and will already be there in others you can encourage them by 'starting early' and throwing it at them!

by the end of the week you should be seeing lots of fish cruising during and after mid tides waiting for the feeding opportunities.

Went for a bit of a feather flick at the location that I'm thinking of trying this at. The tide was about half full but I failed to spot any mullet at the shore line. However, I did see them further out surface feeding in a slick that looked like it could be the beginnings of "red tide". So the mullet seem to be consistently there! The other thing I also checked out was if the area contained the ingredients to make "mullet soup". I dug/lifted an area of the high water weed bank to see what was in it, sure enough the maggots were there but not in the numbers as shown in your photo. As I also expected, the weed was alive with "sand hoppers" not exactly sure of the scientific name but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Do these entice the mullet to feed in the same way? and if so, should I try using an epoxy version that they sell for trout nymphing.

Popped in a picture below of where I'm going to try this, its an exposed area and there is always a bit of a swell so I can see there might be some problems in trying to keep the fly out from the shore with the wave action constantly pushing the line and getting it caught between the small rocks (this is difficult enough to avoid when fishing normally).

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Hi D

With the current prevailing winds at Northerly or North Westerly - (please see http://www.windguru.com) you might need to find a southerly facing venue, ideally a little cove. This will mean that the water will be crystal clear and the wave action kept to a minimum so control can be easier for you.

Northerly or Easterly facing venues will be subject to coastal breezes and hence wave action - its not impossible and often results in more hook ups.

i think the 'volume' of maggots is important in getting the mullet to feed - i have tried several grayling type patterns but honestly cannot say which is most if in any way consistent. The challenge lies in discovering this type of fishing and the results that might make it work for you through new skills and methods!

just thought i would post this.. for the next 4/5 days before/after h.w. there will be swarms of G.G. mullet on the cunnigar from the sand hill down to the point, they come in very close less than 2 meters and can be seen feeding, so if anybody wanted to have a go with the fly,there would be no better time. it would be worth it just to see all the fish jumping
i was fishin there today had bream/bass,