Iron Cove Bridge Mullet Madness

[Brooker435]

Hey Raiders,

After hearing about Kingfish activity at Iron Cove I thought Id go early this morning and check it out.

Arrived at 7am with squid but then decided on using mullet and live baiting as there was just so many of them around.

Set up for catching mullet 10 Minutes later I have 5 Mullet around 20-25cm mark so I thought yeah that's enough for a while then 2 of them jumped out of the bucket and wouldn't you know it they fell straight back into the drink so I was down to 3 so I decided to start fishing before I lose all of them.

I have never done live baiting before but I had a crack at it anyway with the following setup.

Tied a swivel (small one) followed by a float then the stopper and 1 meter lead 20LB tied onto a suicide hook decent size cant remember exactly and hooked up the mullet behind the dorsal and sent it out.

If by any chance any of you Guys and Gals think my rig is Wrong please feel free to let me know as it was my first time anyway had the mullet in the water for about 1 hour and a half still perfectly in tact with no takers so I unhooked it and let it go and it swam away to fight another day.

I guess the most rewarding part of the morning for me was that a father took his son fishing for the first time and were trying to catch mullet so I decided to head over there and offer them some bread if they were not using any and help them catch some for fun.

My advice was taken and they caught a few and released them so I was rather happy with myself.

I will definitely head back there as I even saw garfish in the water but I think because of the rain the kingies were not around but hopefully better luck next time.....

Now I am looking forward to an afternoon at the Narrabeen lakes and hopefully another post but with pics this time around.

Regards,

Nathan

[SAfisho]

You can only keep mullet under 15cm (as live bait) and over 30cm (you can do what you want with them). Obviously an honest mistake though.

[the one that got away]

You can only keep mullet under 15cm (as live bait) and over 30cm (you can do what you want with them). Obviously an honest mistake though.

I knew i should have said where i caught my kingy!

I usually use 20 - 30lb main line, 50lb trace, with a snelled 6/0 for live bait or 4/0 and 6/0 for dead bait.

Oh well, better luck next time mate!

Cheers, Zac

[Brooker435]

You can only keep mullet under 15cm (as live bait) and over 30cm (you can do what you want with them). Obviously an honest mistake though.

Hi,

Thanks for the heads up!!! Ill be sure to remember for next time.

I guess the positive out of all of this is all the mullet I caught lived to fight another day and I know where to go to catch them if need be. Also forgot to mention there was a few swimming around that would have easily gone over 30 next time Ill educate myself as I have never used mullet before.

Regards,

Nathan

[Brooker435]

I knew i should have said where i caught my kingy!

I usually use 20 - 30lb main line, 50lb trace, with a snelled 6/0 for live bait or 4/0 and 6/0 for dead bait.

Oh well, better luck next time mate!

Cheers, Zac

Dont Worry Mate I did not manage one So I hope the next one is yours.

I Explore allot so hopefully Ill find them soon.

Just a dumb question anyway.

I fished near Gladesville Bridge a few years ago caught a couple of Bream do you know of much happening there as it is quite a nice spot on the rocks there to relax and hopefully get a fish?

Regards,

Nathan

[jewgaffer]

Hi beginner It might pay to go down deeper when swimming mullet under a float (by the way it sounds very promising for later to see mullet running so free and fancy in iron cove) by using an adjustable stopper simply tied as a standard stopper knot made out of knitting wool - for the reason that it runs thru the guides easily.... When mullet are able to rise have you considered that your target predators themselves such as natural bottom dwellers and deepwater fish coming in under the mullet may not be able to rise at the particular time....

Cheers

jewgaffer

[Brooker435]

Hi beginner It might pay to go down deeper when swimming mullet under a float (by the way it sounds very promising for later to see mullet running so free and fancy in iron cove) by using an adjustable stopper simply tied as a standard stopper knot made out of knitting wool - for the reason that it runs thru the guides easily.... When mullet are able to rise have you considered that your target predators themselves such as natural bottom dwellers and deepwater fish coming in under the mullet may not be able to rise at the particular time....

Cheers

jewgaffer

Thanks Jewgaffer you sure know your stuff.

It was the first time I used a livey so it was more of a experiment than anything but will consider trying different ways of rigging up and if I get the fish its just a bonus and another lesson learned!!!

Its because of people like your self that us Amateur anglers are able to improve and get better fish and get them more often. so a big thanks to you and all other helpful raiders out there

Regards,

Nathan

[jewiehaven]

Bad luck Nathan, but at least you know wheree to go and get the live mullet for next time.

Try using a running sinker on a separate leader that anchors to the bottom, then the live bait will be able to swim up and down the whole water column as it pleases.

I find that star sinkers as long as they are not too heavy work best followed by snapper sinkers, they will hold the bottom good and allow for the livie to swim around freely- just remember to feed a few metres of line every now and then as the livie will need some slack so it can swim around more.

This means also tyhat if a predator picks up the live bait ther is little resistance and the fish will be none the wiser until it swims away to swallow the biat, then strike for all its worth.

The trick here is to be patient- let the fish run with the bait, when it starts to slow down or stops to engulf the bait is the time to strike... too early and you will pull the biat from its mouth or it will spit the bait at the first sign of resistance.

... Leave it too late and you are in a whole world of trouble, which usually ends up in you being disted, losing your rig and the fish will go elsewhere for a feed (Fish are pretty smart- once bitten twice shy...)

Good luck mate

Edited November 14, 2009 by jewiehaven

[saltrix]

Have a good look at your mullet and learn to identify them as it is only the sea or poddy mullet that has a legal size, as advised for bait and for the table.

The yellow eye mullet, the sand mullet, and the flat tailed mullet are also reasonably common in Sydney estuaries and have no legal size , although subject to a bag limit of 20 combined.

The yellow eye mullet takes a bait more readily than the poddy or sea mullet.

Borrow Sea fishes of Southern Australia ( Hutchins & Swainson) from your library or buy a copy of this or a similar publication as it is important to know your species for legal sizes and also as a safety aspect as some fish can give you a nasty sting or a painful spike.

Similarly flathead have differrent legal sizes for different species and have no legal size for some species although I rarely keep any that are less than well over the minimum size.

Regards and hope your live baiting does well.

[johnny doi]

hi nath,bad luck on the kingy front but at least you got a few mullet & helped a father son team get onto some fish.good onya mate.iv fished iron cove bridge quite alot a couple years back.not for kings,but for jew.id fish the nights after work,[when i was working lol] & hook & land a few school jew to 8kgs.few big bust offs too.most were hooked during the low tide change,either run in or out.need to start keeping a fishing diary for my trips so i can go back over past outings.i havnt fished there since theyv done all the renovations there,putting in a wharf & the like.before the reno's,id fish next to the mangroves & cast out to pretty much where the wharf is situated now,so they took one of my fav jew spot away. im sure people still get em there though.i even landed a huge big muddy there one nite while targeting jew with big squid strips.it got tangled in the leader.most jew i got there were on squid heads & strips,but did get 1 on a live poddy mullet.out of the 30 odd jew sessions i had there,i landed around 8 jew there from around 2-8kgs,& a few pulled hooks & bust offs from bigger jew.alot of hours between fish,but i love em,theyr my favourite fish no doubt. the jew on my avatar pic is a 6kg fish from the last time i fished there.

cheers johnny.

Edited November 14, 2009 by fisher doi

[Brooker435]

Bad luck Nathan, but at least you know wheree to go and get the live mullet for next time.

Try using a running sinker on a separate leader that anchors to the bottom, then the live bait will be able to swim up and down the whole water column as it pleases.

I find that star sinkers as long as they are not too heavy work best followed by snapper sinkers, they will hold the bottom good and allow for the livie to swim around freely- just remember to feed a few metres of line every now and then as the livie will need some slack so it can swim around more.

This means also tyhat if a predator picks up the live bait ther is little resistance and the fish will be none the wiser until it swims away to swallow the biat, then strike for all its worth.

The trick here is to be patient- let the fish run with the bait, when it starts to slow down or stops to engulf the bait is the time to strike... too early and you will pull the biat from its mouth or it will spit the bait at the first sign of resistance.

... Leave it too late and you are in a whole world of trouble, which usually ends up in you being disted, losing your rig and the fish will go elsewhere for a feed (Fish are pretty smart- once bitten twice shy...)

Good luck mate

Thanks for your advise I might have to come out with you on your next Jew Outing so I can learn all this stuff as I am used to catching bream mostly which is very simple I have only started getting into all this stuff recently as I have seen Live baiting in action and every time I have witnessed it there has always been a fish caught at the end of it I know this is not the case for everyone but I am only going by what I have seen....

Regards,

Nathan

Have a good look at your mullet and learn to identify them as it is only the sea or poddy mullet that has a legal size, as advised for bait and for the table.

The yellow eye mullet, the sand mullet, and the flat tailed mullet are also reasonably common in Sydney estuaries and have no legal size , although subject to a bag limit of 20 combined.

The yellow eye mullet takes a bait more readily than the poddy or sea mullet.

Borrow Sea fishes of Southern Australia ( Hutchins & Swainson) from your library or buy a copy of this or a similar publication as it is important to know your species for legal sizes and also as a safety aspect as some fish can give you a nasty sting or a painful spike.

Similarly flathead have differrent legal sizes for different species and have no legal size for some species although I rarely keep any that are less than well over the minimum size.

Regards and hope your live baiting does well.

Hey thanks for the advise I will have a look at them next time that's for sure as I originally planned on using squid but changed my mind when I saw how many mullet there were this morning thinking that Is what the Bigger fish would be eating but next time Ill use the squid which by what I have heard is a decent bait as long as it is fresh and leave the live baiting for a day when I am with someone who has caught fish using live bait previously........

Regards,

Nathan

hi nath,bad luck on the kingy front but at least you got a few mullet & helped a father son team get onto some fish.good onya mate.iv fished iron cove bridge quite alot a couple years back.not for kings,but for jew.id fish the nights after work,[when i was working lol] & hook & land a few school jew to 8kgs.few big bust offs too.most were hooked during the low tide change,either run in or out.need to start keeping a fishing diary for my trips so i can go back over past outings.i havnt fished there since theyv done all the renovations there,putting in a wharf & the like.before the reno's,id fish next to the mangroves & cast out to pretty much where the wharf is situated now,so they took one of my fav jew spot away. im sure people still get em there though.i even landed a huge big muddy there one nite while targeting jew with big squid strips.it got tangled in the leader.most jew i got there were on squid heads & strips,but did get 1 on a live poddy mullet.out of the 30 odd jew sessions i had there,i landed around 8 jew there from around 2-8kgs,& a few pulled hooks & bust offs from bigger jew.alot of hours between fish,but i love em,theyr my favourite fish no doubt. the jew on my avatar pic is a 6kg fish from the last time i fished there.

cheers johnny.

Mate might have to tag along with you sometime...

Yeah It was pretty good teaching the father and son how to catch mullet I know they are just mullet and I know that they are easy to catch but It is good to use the very limited knowledge I have and help other people!!!!

Regards,

Nathan

[jewiehaven]

hi nath,bad luck on the kingy front but at least you got a few mullet & helped a father son team get onto some fish.good onya mate.iv fished iron cove bridge quite alot a couple years back.not for kings,but for jew.id fish the nights after work,[when i was working lol] & hook & land a few school jew to 8kgs.few big bust offs too.most were hooked during the low tide change,either run in or out.need to start keeping a fishing diary for my trips so i can go back over past outings.i havnt fished there since theyv done all the renovations there,putting in a wharf & the like.before the reno's,id fish next to the mangroves & cast out to pretty much where the wharf is situated now,so they took one of my fav jew spot away. im sure people still get em there though.i even landed a huge big muddy there one nite while targeting jew with big squid strips.it got tangled in the leader.most jew i got there were on squid heads & strips,but did get 1 on a live poddy mullet.out of the 30 odd jew sessions i had there,i landed around 8 jew there from around 2-8kgs,& a few pulled hooks & bust offs from bigger jew.alot of hours between fish,but i love em,theyr my favourite fish no doubt. the jew on my avatar pic is a 6kg fish from the last time i fished there.

cheers johnny.

johnny, did you find the jewies also like live yakka???

I caught my biggest Jewie (went 92cm) on a chicken strip and a 2/0 baitholder in Lane Cove/Riverview area, chasing Jewies for LONG time, been catching jewies LONG time too... caught my first when I was 9yo from harrington Breakwall, got my first 5kg model from same location...

have hooked 2 or 3 corkers at different locations but all within the last hour of the run-in and first of the run-out.

Jewie fishing requires the ultimate patience, my grandfather has nailed 60lb from Harrington, my father nailed a 35lb from Forster Breakwall, its only a matter of time ...

Still waiting, I reckon I have hooked a 50lber before, frigging fight of my live... or at least the 20minutes I ran up and down Fingal Beach near Newcastle on a strip of fresh mullet on a 2/0 suicide hook....

Was fishing 30lb straight through too...

Pinged when I got to the end, but she had more then I expected in her, lol

SHE WAS A BEAST FOR CERTAIN!!!!!

[johnny doi]

johnny, did you find the jewies also like live yakka???

I caught my biggest Jewie (went 92cm) on a chicken strip and a 2/0 baitholder in Lane Cove/Riverview area, chasing Jewies for LONG time, been catching jewies LONG time too... caught my first when I was 9yo from harrington Breakwall, got my first 5kg model from same location...

have hooked 2 or 3 corkers at different locations but all within the last hour of the run-in and first of the run-out.

Jewie fishing requires the ultimate patience, my grandfather has nailed 60lb from Harrington, my father nailed a 35lb from Forster Breakwall, its only a matter of time ...

Still waiting, I reckon I have hooked a 50lber before, frigging fight of my live... or at least the 20minutes I ran up and down Fingal Beach near Newcastle on a strip of fresh mullet on a 2/0 suicide hook....

Was fishing 30lb straight through too...

Pinged when I got to the end, but she had more then I expected in her, lol

SHE WAS A BEAST FOR CERTAIN!!!!!

hi JH,iv never caught a jew on a live yakka,& its not from lack of trying.lol.iv used yakka strips at IC bridge but iv only caught heaps of bream & few flathead,but thats on the other side i fish for the jews on,next 2 the scout hall.also got some decent tailor there on whole squid around 50cms while chasing jew.iv never hooked jew on that side of the river,all on other side,couple near the pylons on a low tide,but most over near the mangroves when it was fenced off around the shrubs.& come to think of it,ALL my jew have been caught on a 3/0 hook or under,mostly 1/0,except for the pb,which was on 2 snelled 6/0's.

my biggest jew to date was a 12kg model that was 113cms.got her off the beach at cronulla about 3 winters back.caught on a live 35cm tailor cast not very far out at all.thought it was a shark at first cos back then id only caught 1 or 2 jew & didnt really know how they fought.the first flash of her flank on my headlamp is 1 of the best sights a fisho can have.can picture it now.what is strange is that iv noticed that since i swapped over to using braid,i havnt had much sucess on the jew front,dont know why,maybe its i dont target them as much as i used to.lately iv been pretty much spinning with lures,but i stil love my bait fishing & i think i always will.

cheers johnny.

[jamesds]

I was fishing at Thames Street Wharf yesterday and there were heaps of decent size mullet in the shallows at high tide. Couldn't tempt them though. I was already using mullet strips for bait when the mullet showed up - don't think they're into cannibalism