How To Catch Mullet? In this text, you will learn everything you need to know about catching mullet. This includes information on the best bait and tackles to use, as well as where to find these fish.

You will also learn about the different methods of fishing for mullet, and how to properly clean and cook your catch. By the end of this guide, you will be an expert on catching mullets.

The Mullet Fish

The mullet (Mugil cephalus) is a fish of the mullet family, which is characterized by a large head, and large, harmoniously arranged scales.

Mullet is a fish that is commonly found in coastal waters. There are many different ways to catch mullet, but this guide will focus on the most common and simplest method. This method is known as “bottom fishing” and it is a great way to catch a lot of fish, including mullet.

The fish-sea mullet ( striped mullet ), thin mullet, Ilaria, and plastering, are thermophilic, with a pronounced decrease in activity in winter. They tolerate large fluctuations in the salinity of the water, which is why in the summer they enter the mouths of rivers flowing into the sea for protection. It breeds in June - September on the high seas. It feeds on detritus, vegetation, benthos, and others.

The biggest fish of them is the sea mullet. It reaches 65 cm in length and weighs 4-5 kg, but sometimes up to 1 meter and 5-7 kg. His body is laterally flattened, and towards his head, the flattening is above and below. This gives a slightly snake-like appearance to the fish’s head. The scales are silvery and large, covering the head and gill covers. The eyes are big. A flock of fish that migrate to large areas.

How Catch Mullet: Fishing Tactics 

It is well known that mullet is widespread in our rivers and reservoirs. That is why it is worth making a little extra effort in preparation for successful fishing for mullets.

Choosing the right tactics and approach to fish is often a deciding factor. It remains a real challenge to catch the big mullet - something that requires special attention from the fisherman. Catching big fish is not for the indifferent. Those who set themselves the task of catching a big mullet know that the bigger the fish they chase, the harder it is to catch it. This requires dedication and diligence.

After making the necessary preliminary preparations, the choice of location is essential.

A careful walk along the shore of the pond will show if there are signs of the presence of fish. The big mullet usually hides well. To get him out of his hiding place, we feed him with well-kneaded bread that falls to the bottom.

This would help keep the fisharound. To prevent small fish) from attacking the bait, crumbs of old bread are broken. They are drier and do not sink to the bottom. They stay close to the surface and distract the little ones. If there is a slight current, the crumbs disappear in the direction of the current, and with them the small fish. It is generally believed that the large mullet hides under dungeons, fallen trees, and shrubs, in the curves of the coastline. Often it stands in places where slow and fast water flow at the same time, and the current carries food.

Baits to Catch Mullet

Bread To Catch Mullet

I use it as bait, bread is also a good bait. It can be further flavored with an odor that attracts fish. In a more liquefied state, the bread forms a food cloud in the water, which attracts the larger fish to the place of fishing. Bread can be mixed with smelly cheese and even cat food to which a dye can be added.

Hemp To Catch Mullet

Very good summer bait for mullet. I know fishermen who never go fishing without a good supply of hemp seeds. It is also used as bait. When we use hemp as bait, the bait on the hook can be anything.

Flavored corn To Catch Mullet

Be careful with flavored corn, because if it has too strong a flavor, it makes the mullet suspicious. Feeding more than a few grains of flavored corn is not recommended.

Worms To Catch Mullet

No self-respecting mullet would pass a bunch of worms released downstream. When fishing with red worms, to increase the irritation of the fish, the worm can be injured or caught with the tails of two / three worms. The wounded worm emits an odor that further irritates the mullet. An excellent bait for the big mullet is undoubtedly the live fish, the grasshopper, and in summer cherry, mulberry and plum.

Mullet fishing technique to Catch Mullet

The use of a wide range of bait is a necessary condition for catching large mullets. We present you with a mullet fishing technique popular in some countries. The specific thing here is the occasion and the bait - flavored corn, colored red. Some fishing tackle shops offer ready-made imported colored and flavored corn, but you can always make your own.

Striped Mullet on Bread

Bread is probably one of the oldest known and used types of bait, and mullet fish - those who best appreciate its unique taste.

In summer the days are so long that you can already consider serious fishing. During this month the activity of marine fauna is very high as a result of the favorable water temperature, which facilitates the development of living organisms. It is gratifying to note that during this period the opportunities for successful fishing of all species increased significantly, regardless of the fishing equipment used. in the sea river sections, is among the most active species for the season.

Many fishermen’s neglect of mullet is dictated by their tendency to visit areas where organic waste is found and to use for food everything it encounters on the bottom, in the water, or on the surface. That allows all the various foods consumed by it to be transformed into dense, white meat of good quality. live bait due to its endurance, the plastering (from 30 to 50 cm), and sea mullet reaching 70-80 cm and weighing up to 4-5 kg ​​- a remarkable fighter.

The first two varieties of mullet are the most active visitors to the surface water layers, which are caught in the summer, leaving pieces of fresh, freshly moistened bread on the surface. Carried by the current, these pieces form a surface trail behind them, enticing the mullet. Very often the mullet can move against the current without caring about changing the salinity of the water and reach a great distance inland.

The “relatives” of the mullet, who tend to inhabit the sea, although they look very different and with specific habits, are united by a great common weakness: spread all along the coast, they look forward to the moment when a generous fisherman will offer them one of the most necessary and ancient gastronomic inventions of man - bread. Bread is the one that makes a miracle possible.

In Italy, for example, every experienced fisherman knows that this is the mullet’s favorite bait, which, if properly prepared, gives the best chance of catching good prey. It should be noted that the mullet, no matter how large, do not have a habit of swallowing the morsel of bread given to it: it usually sucks it up, slowly breaking it up.

It is directed towards the bait, if the fiber remains invisible to it, then it is thrown with its snout, at which the stage of “tasting” begins. The float begins to vibrate, and the feather tilts and is gradually immersed in the water. The moment of catching is coming.

Quick reflexes and good eyesight are the two necessary components for the success of this fishing technique. The mullet is a very hardy fish and an excellent swimmer. Even when it seems to you that he is at the edge of his strength from fatigue, he is able with a powerful aspiration to go to the bottom or in the open sea and start the battle again … Who is passionate about mullet hunting and knows where to find it does not need an excessive amount of bait.

If the fish is present, a few bites of bread are enough. The invention of bread is a great human achievement. Even greater is the case with shallow bread. The characteristic of this bread is that it is made from durum wheat, using a special technology that forms a multi-fiber dough. To prepare bait from this type of bread, it is necessary to follow the following sequence:

Preparing the bread to To Catch Mullet

1. The bread is placed in a bowl of water, waiting to swell to a state where the “braid” can unravel and begin to separate strips along the length of the fibers.

2 Then remove some of the crust and check how much water has penetrated inside the bread.

3 Finally, the individual strips are squeezed by hand and carefully placed on a linen or cotton piece of cloth, wrapping them until a roll is obtained, which is left in the refrigerator for at least half a day. The bait prepared in this way is ready for use.

4. The last phase is the cutting of the shaped strips into individual pieces 2-3 cm long, each of which is hooked like a narrow squid strip, which swells significantly in contact with water, softening without losing its stability.

Catch Mullet: Bait storage

Proper storage of this valuable bait is important to avoid the inconvenience of having it cooked every time. Left in the refrigerator, use the bait below for two days. At the same time, it is of better quality than the one just prepared, because in the latter case the time would not be enough for the even penetration of water in each layer of the dough. Store them wrapped in damp gauze (in the same way as in the preparation of the bait), to protect them from excessive drying caused by sunlight. powder with the smell of cheese. One packet of this flavoring is dissolved in the water in which the bread is soaked. The water, together with the flavored powder, is absorbed by the bread, resulting in an even more excellent and “killer” mullet bait.

Distribution of Fish Population

The flathead mullet is cosmopolitan in coastal waters of tropical, subtropical, and temperate zones of all seas, as far north as the Bay of Biscay and Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean.  It occupies fresh, brackish, and marine habitats in depths ranging between 0–120 meters (0–394 ft) and with temperatures between 8–24 ° C (46–75 ° F).

Catch Mullet in Australia

In Australia, the fish is widespread, from Far North Queensland, around southern Australia to the Kimberley region of Western Australia. They also occur in the Bass Strait area of ​​Tasmania. They live in tropical and temperate coastal marine and estuarine waters but are also often found in the lower reaches of rivers. They can live in a wide range of salinity and so may also be found in lagoons, lakes, and far into estuaries, but migrate back to the sea to spawn.

Catch Mullet: Western US freshwater occurrence

In freshwaters of the western United States, the striped mullet historically ranged far up the Colorado River to the vicinity of Blythe and up the Gila River to perhaps Tacna. Because of the dams and restricted flows to the Gulf of California, the range in Arizona is restricted to the Colorado River below Laguna Dam and the lower end of the Gila River when there is water present. They are often abundant in the mainstream and lateral canals in the Gila River region.

In the Colorado River mullet are pelagic in larger pools, sometimes moving into currents below dams, and generally occurring in small groups.

Catch Mullet: Cuisine

The role of this mullet is salted, dried, and compressed to make specialty food across the world, such as Greek, Taiwanese Wuyutsu, Korean, Japanese karasumi, Italian bottarga, Turkish Caviar, and Egyptian Nazareth. In Egypt, the fish itself is salted, dried, and pickled to make a fetish.

Why it is useful to consume river mullet?

Mullet is a valuable food product. In terms of nutrition, it competes with the best types of meat, but fish is much easier and faster to digest, so it is widely used in dietary nutrition, on the menu of children and the elderly.

The mullet has an elongated body, an oily greenback, and a silvery side. It usually reaches 50 centimeters, in rare cases up to 100. The maximum weight is 8 kilograms.

Composition and nutritional value

The meat of mullet, as well as that of all river fish, contains a large number of macro- and micronutrients: boron, lithium, iron, copper, potassium, calcium, cobalt, magnesium, manganese, bromine, phosphorus; vitamins B and D.

The minerals and vitamins found in fish are very diverse, with the largest percentage of them containing vitamin B3, which is 5.2 milligrams and represents 26% of the daily requirement for humans.

Phosphorus also has a high percentage - 22% of the daily recommended dose, which is equal to 221 milligrams contained in 100 grams of mullet.

52% of the daily requirement of selenium can be provided by the same amount of mullet.

Health benefits

Mullet contains vitamin A, which promotes the regeneration of all cells in the body, and a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which prevent the development of cardiovascular disease.

The fat in fish is used for energy, and the fatty acids in mullet support the health of hair, skin, and nails. Protein in fish helps heal wounds.

Conclusion

Mullets are a type of fish that can be found in both fresh and salt water. To catch mullet, you will need a few supplies, including a net, bait, and a rod and reel.

Patience is also key, as mullets are not the easiest fish to catch. With the proper supplies and a little bit of patience, however, you can successfully catch a mullet.