Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

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WannaDoDat
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by WannaDoDat »

Good stuff, Nicholas. An acquaintance on the river uses the same set up minus the chum and uses a live earthworm instead of the white plastic grub.

I have six, seven and 8 foot castnets. Three eights inch for bait but I have caught many big eating size mullet in them as well. My favorite size is the 8 foot for it's ease of larger spread and faster sinking. Although the six-foot is lighter for packing in my backpack if I'm hiking. Haven't thrown the castnet in a long time but even though the rocks can get in the way one of the easiest places to catch the big mullet are on the jetty at the St. Mark's lighthouse. They predictably swim back-and-forth around the jetty. The other place that I've had good luck is along the shore at St. Mark's and places like Bald Point shore or off an oyster bar where sheepshead are often in the mix. I remember one rainy day I stood on the little fishing pier at Bald Point with a man who had macular degeneration. It was the fall run and I could see the mullet coming in swarms right by the pier. When it was time to throw I would yell "GO!" and he was pulling them in left and right, 10-12 at a time. That was some fun teamwork. :D

Jean
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by BloodyChamp »

You've caught big mullet even in the 6 feet net Jean? I forgot what size net I had before but it was the biggest out of whatever was in Oshman's. I practiced in the yard and figured it out but it was tougher once I got in the water, plus the rocks like I said. I suppose I couldn't complain if I could catch a few mullet in a 6 feet net somewhere else even if it's not my style.
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by WannaDoDat »

Take whatever net you have to the beach with you and practice on the sand, in the calm surf or probably the best would be a bay. The main thing is that you don't want to throw them on oysters or rocks or, worse yet, a crab trap. LOL. The main thing is that if you do get hung up STOP and go and gently remove the net from whatever it's hung up on. You have to be willing to wade and get wet. At the St Marks Light jetty what I used to do was wade out a bit where I had a fairly clear area to throw and basically waited for them to swim by. And yes I have caught them in the 6 foot net but I think it's actually easier, for me anyway, to throw a 7 or 8 foot. They just open easier for me. I've never had a dedicated mullet net with the 1 inch mesh but it would be nice to have one. Especially one of those beautiful handmade ones!

I definitely understand being happy in the way that you do things and you should continue to do so. But it's always nice to try something new. Like they say you should always strive to be a beginner at something. :wink:

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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by BloodyChamp »

Finally caught a couple nice mullet out of freshwater today!!!!!!!!!! And I lost a few more, including 1 giant that I thought was a bass. And if you count the ones where I just yanked it out of their mouth I lost atleast a dozen. This happened at a place I'd never tried at using a method I've never used so hopefully I'm finally on to something.

If I'm not on to something, the 2 old men I met sure were lol they had a cooler full. And when I say old men I don't mean retired guys fishing...I mean 100 year old men lol but they dang sure knew what they were doing, and they laughing and cutting up with each other the whole time. Good stuff.

They were in their boat. I'd brought my boat but there were so many mullet at the landing that I never got around to putting the boat in! So obviously I'm already ready to go back!
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by Noles »

Congrats on the mullet catch! Did you cook them up?
I've always thought mullet that travel way up fresh water tasted different.. or I could be wrong.
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by BloodyChamp »

I sure did yummy yummy yummy!!!!!! I've argued about that with people for years. I honestly think people just say that because they can castnet them from the ocean so easy while they can't catch them from rivers. I've never had a bad tasting mullet. They might be my favorite food ever.
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by BloodyChamp »

I know I told the story of the time I went next after I caught those mullet I mentioned above, but it must have been in another thread. Anyway the next time I went last year turned out to be the last because my father got sick, but it was a trip I'll never forget. I could have caught 100 but quit at 5, planning to come back all summer which obviously didn't happen. The hook would hit the water, and the nearest mullet would ram each other with their heads out of the way over the baited hook. Then another random mullet would swoop in and grab it.

I waited all winter just to see if that was some kind of fluke and I found out yesterday...it wasn't! I think I can finally say I'm a good mullet fisherman now. I only caught 2, but it was in no time and they were everywhere. The bottom came out of the sky after the 2nd one.
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by jholden »

Look into a bow for mullet maybe? Seems it would be pretty simple to float down the Wakulla or Wacissa in a Jon boat or gheenoe and arrow a cooler full if you're a good shot.
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by BloodyChamp »

Well here we are again lol! I’ve continued to have good enough (but not what I’d call extraordinary) success catching mullet, but the weather has just ruined the last couple years. The Aucilla and St Marks stay blacked out, so I finally bought myself a 4 ft castnet to learn once and for all. I’ve gotten good at it and have caught 2 mullet in it.

The first 1 I caught was at the upper Wakulla River Bridge out of a group of only 4. The 2nd one was today at Goose Pasture during a very interesting day. In a rare turn of events, they were cooperating and not flying around like missiles. I actually believe that with some chum I could have baited them up and loaded the boat either fishing or castnetting. Instead I was just throwing the net every time they got close. I caught the 1 and I pancaked it over all the others but they whooshed out from under the small net. In the end I’m happy to have hit the targets so many times today. Obviously all I need is a bigger net, but of course I won’t forget about just fishing because a bigger net can tear up real fast on the rocks out there. Then if today was just a 1 time thing where they cooperated then atleast I know how to use a net now and can just go somewhere else.
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by jsuber »

Pssst.....the secret is................a bigger net!
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by BloodyChamp »

I’m grabbing 1 Monday lol!
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by BloodyChamp »

Didn’t grab it Monday because my week didn’t go like I planned but here’s what happened. I was dirt tired Friday but didn’t want to spend another night in front of the TV. I went to Goose Pasture to relax and take a quick swim. I went ahead and grabbed the chum and brought it and waded out to a clean spot and tossed it in, and they were there within minutes! I could almost touch them! The last couple of times I’d been to Goose Pasture they’d cooperated but didn’t like getting to close to the boat so I thought I was onto something with the wading.

The first thing I did Saturday was grab a 7ft net with 1” mesh. I pancaked it in the yard easy but just couldn’t do it in the water. I went back today with the chum and they responded again, and there was even more! At the peak there was probably 40 and there was always 20. I resorted to snatching and hung a few but I couldn’t get a good set in the water either.

I’ll try again with the boat tomorrow. The spot I waded to isn’t the spot I was at last week in the boat. Maybe they won’t be skiddish of it since they’ve gotten away with destroying the chum the last 2 days.
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by BloodyChamp »

Ahem...YAAAAAAAHHHHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I got um today! I did it my way to, no castnet. I could have caught 100! It took a while for them to start hitting but today + the last time this happened taught me something in hindsight because it’s now happened the 2 times I could have caught 100. The chum works, the nearest group of mullet comes over, and you catch the dumbest or hungriest 1 or 2 out of that group. Then an hour or longer later mullet whoosh in from everywhere, I’m guessing hungrier or more careless after a long trip and nail everything in the water.

I left with 7 after catching the first 2 then the last 5 bam bam bam. And in the middle of those 5 I lost the 3 biggest ones on this light tackle. The first big one I lost was the start of the frenzy and some people on the bank who I’m pretty sure were laughing at me looking all silly in my lil boat started screaming you gotta Red you gotta Red (lol!)!!!!!! Then it got off right at the boat. Then they couldn’t believe how I started catching them and cheered me on lol!
Last edited by BloodyChamp on Mon Aug 03, 2020 6:02 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Any old timer mullet fishermen here?

Post by fishinbug »

Well done, BloodyChamp. I know you had a blast and a good dinner.
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