Poddy Mullet

[rickb]

I use one of the Alvey bait traps. They have holes at either end making it a little easier for the fish to find their way in. But I find this also works against me when I go to get the trap out - you should always approach the trap from the side of the hole so that the fish panic and swim to the other end so they are well and truly trapped. With the Alvey you can't do that as I find some of the fish find their way out of the opposite hole - so you need to approach it sort of side on instead. Besides being collapsable the Alvey also has a few small holes drilled at each end where you can tie some weights to keep it on the bottom. Also one end is removable to make it easier to take the fish out.

You really do need shallow water though (I'd reccomend no more than 12" over the trap really) for them to work as poddy's don't like to be down deep. If the fish are in deeper water (if the tide is up for example), one trick I've found is suspend the whole thing under a couple of bobby floats tied to each end on a foot of mono. With a couple of weights on the bottom or rocks inside the whole thing suspends near the surface. I've used this trick at narrabeen a few times when the tides have been up. A bit fiddly but it gets results when placing it on the bottom doesn't work.

Paul

[/qHi uote]

Hi Paul ,like you I bought one of those alvey traps back in the 70's.

Only good in very shallow water, the reason I gave them away,was the hole at both ends,they would swim in and before you could them out they would swim out other end, Thats when I started using the fluro tube,they would pack in like sardines no time flat,then I selected my bait and return the rest to grow up.

Cheers Rick.

[mushtaka]

Mushtaka is there is no reference to mullet between 15cm and 30cm.. do they have the limits in another section in regards to the mullet that are freshwater and salt water fish..Apart from the big bull mullet an estuary mullet is a still a mullet

Cheers

jewgaffer

Hey Jewgaffer, the limits i found in regards to mullet size was in the saltwater section of the fisheries website. The way i read it is that all poddy mullet need to be under 15cm. THere is no reference for mullet between 15cm -30cm.

So i guess you cant take a mullet that is in between the 15cm mark and 29cm mark.

There is no reference to mullet in the fresh water section.

Im more than happy to be corrected? I always catch them just over the 15cm mark and put them back.

I only catch them to try and convert them into a jew.

Thanks mate,

Mushtaka

[jewgaffer]

Hey Jewgaffer, the limits i found in regards to mullet size was in the saltwater section of the fisheries website. The way i read it is that all poddy mullet need to be under 15cm. THere is no reference for mullet between 15cm -30cm.

So i guess you cant take a mullet that is in between the 15cm mark and 29cm mark.

There is no reference to mullet in the fresh water section.

Im more than happy to be corrected? I always catch them just over the 15cm mark and put them back.

I only catch them to try and convert them into a jew.

Thanks mate,

Mushtaka

Good onya Mustaka for picking up on that... one would gather that the rules are fundimentally floored and rightly so...there's a bag limit as high as twenty on mullet used for bait and you can take twenty spawners out of the bull mullet that are over 30cm.. So now it appears quite clearly that no one has bothered to account for the soup components from 15cm to as you say 29cm, so the main point is what becomes of the recommended size mullet for Grandmas mullet head soup and can a law abiding citizen like Grandpa still recyle the frames into crabs without putting a hook and line around the frames and hooking the frames onto the wire

Cheers

jewgaffer

[framedtrash]

cheers for the great info guys

whats the best way to fish them for flattys on the flats? just let him free swim or put a sinker on ??

im also keen to try them as live bait for kings when at anchor

will they handle deep water ok like can you take them offshore and use them for the offshore flattys

cheers

[paulthetaffy]

cheers for the great info guys

whats the best way to fish them for flattys on the flats? just let him free swim or put a sinker on ??

im also keen to try them as live bait for kings when at anchor

will they handle deep water ok like can you take them offshore and use them for the offshore flattys

cheers

Use a small pea sinker just to force them down in the water - has to be light enough so that they can still swim. Keep in contact with the fish by slowly taking up slack line - the fish will naturally swim back towards you covering more ground. When it starts going ballistic get ready as it is usually followed by the thud of the flatty engulfing it. Pinning it either behind the head or dorsal fin will work but I find with poddy's on the flats that if you hook them through the nose (through the mouth so the bottom jaw is free to move) then they swim nicely back to you and don't tire so quickly.

I've not fished them deep or offshore before so will let others answer that, but I suspect they will not be as effective as other livebaits as poddy's are naturally found in shallow or top water.

Paul

[framedtrash]

cheers mate

do u still need to strike or does the flatty hit it hard enough that it pins itself ??

[paulthetaffy]

cheers mate

do u still need to strike or does the flatty hit it hard enough that it pins itself ??

Depends what hooks you're using really. I use 2/0 - 4/0 circle hooks which are designed so that you do not strike - instead the weight of the fish swimming away rotates the hook in the mouth and catches the corner. Circle hooks or wide gape hooks are perfect for this type of fishing. If you're using a regular J/suicide/livebait hooks etc then you will almost certainly need to strike.

[framedtrash]

thanks for the advice

ive got some big sandbanks just near my house will go and test it out some time this week

[DGF]

im curious to see these orange juice bottle traps or even coke bottle traps as i have no clue on these traps i have purcahsed one those white bait traps but they are useless :/ i usually catch mullet with a small hook tiny peice of bread on a small plastic float

[Welster]

Here are the pictures of the two types of trap I use

This one has lead folded over and glued to the bottom and not much care is taken but it works.

This is my prefered trap. The elastic was added because the container chosen lid did not stay on very well and still catches plenty.

I hope this helps.

Edited January 14, 2010 by welst

[mushtaka]

I just went down to Narra lake and landed heaps of poddy mullet!!! Hopefully tonight i will land the jewie i have been chasing for 10 years!!!

All of the mullet were caught on a float, size 12 hook and bread. I found the key is to keep the bread moving in the water.

I think you catch more that way and bigger ones!

Mushtaka

Edited January 14, 2010 by mushtaka

[driftwood]

Hi fisho's

just saying thanks to all the people who had the time to answer my questions.

thanks driftwood.

[pyoubs]

i spent half my holiday up the coast trying to get poddies and learnt a few things from multiple empty traps...

just a note the trap i was using was similiar to the alvey style.

I first found leaving the trap was a no no. berley trails from the traps were getting eaten by gulls. Instead it was alot more time efficient to stay and add a slow steady burley till they were on the boil around the trap.

Shallow waters were alot more productive, where i had the best results was probly in only about 6-8 inches of water.

One poddy in the trap will bring more in, they seem to gather aound and there was a heck of alot more activity when there was poddy/ies in the trap. For this reason i was leaving one poddy in when i emptied the trap, BUT i also learnt they WILL often swim out of the alvey style traps but it was still worth it to bring more fish in.

After getting home i tried catching them by line and observed a bit their feeding habit a bit closer, the bigger sized mullet seem to prefer floating bread. also floating baits seem to make the muller 'splash' from what i saw the commotion brought ALOT more around for a feed this is opposed to doughy bread which sank and often only eaten by the tiny piddly stuff.

have had good results on a handline size 12 hook no sinker and bread not completely squashed onto the hook so it may float slightly

now all i have to do is actually get some results from using them, anyone have any suggestions where i can take these poddies for some BIG flatties in botany/georges river?

PS a note on using them which people have hammered into my head is if pinning them through the back/shoulder use an offset hook, if through the nose a straight hook. may be begginer stuff but its helped me.

[diver1]

well its got me stuffed must have to be a magician to catch the friggen things, there are 100,s of them in the creek down the road and i tried the mesh trap and all i got was a tiny bream and heaps of tadpoles then i tried the juice bottle and only caught 1 when i go back to check me juice bottle 1 i sneak up and there are poddies all around it but not goen in.

[Welster]

well its got me stuffed must have to be a magician to catch the friggen things, there are 100,s of them in the creek down the road and i tried the mesh trap and all i got was a tiny bream and heaps of tadpoles then i tried the juice bottle and only caught 1 when i go back to check me juice bottle 1 i sneak up and there are poddies all around it but not goen in.

Thats frustrating who knows what there thinking. Sometimes where I go with the kids 1 bottle seems to get more than the others. I often think in a shaded part is better with only a little bit of water over it say 3 to 4 inches. I put the bread in the neck of the bottle which does give me the irits if it works it way out just as ther coming around.

I have also noticed not much happening until the water gets a bit of movement although when I was away we were able to catch them at smith lake which has no tidal flow (we let them go as we were just playing around with the kids whilst trying some soft plastics).

By the way they will stay alive for a few months with about 6 inches of water in one of those plastic storage containers. You just need an aerotor and chang a couple of litres of water every few days. I use tap water that is a couple of days old. Feed with goldfish food. I have had some that have been out on fishing trips 2 or 3 times changing back and forth from salt to fresh.

My biggest problem is consistent conversion into dinner, where others like Jenno64 seem to have it all worked out.

Edited January 19, 2010 by welst

[paulg]

3 litre juice container, with a few sinkers on the bottom, so that it sits horizontally.

80 x 50 mm hole on the top side, with corners folded down prevents mullet from escaping the trap, no other holes are required.

Trick is 1 foot of water, sandy areas

I first throw some bread in the water and wait to see if the mullet are there. If no mullet appear to the bread bits thrown in, in 5 mins, I move.

good luck,

some days you can get 30 -40 some days they are not there.

MR RB>

[brendong]

Figured I'd better add my two cents worth with a name like Poddy Trapper.

I used to use the tackle shop ones and found the clear ones with wholes at either end to be the best too...sometimes haveing the bread worked into a milky solution works well, some time small bit s of bread, some times large bits of bread....I found the clear ones that some have wholes and double as a berly dispencer the poddy's seem to feed on the outside so I gave them a miss.

But my last Clear one broke and in a recent DVD that came with mag subscription Mark Berg was banging on about the juice container with the diagonal X cut in it. Given my last clear one broke it thought I'd give it a crack.

Coyote and I built one each, I peeled the juice stickers off mine and Coyote didn't. I grab a rock for weight ripped up some bread shot it in where I saw a few poddy's and it worked like a charm. Coyote's didn't however and the only diff we could see was he used lead for wieght and still had stickers.

Scored more poddy's than I could handle in both Lake Conjola and Nambucca Heads over the last 4 weeks and several were over 15 cm so we chucked em back. Even caught them on a water ski day with kids flopping around the water not more the 4 meters away and boat and skiers coming in and out.

Ugliest looking trap I've ever used but worked I think better than the shop bought ones....I'll never buy another on again.

Plus on accassions I've had them knocked off, washed away or forgotten to collect it before leaving and who gives a rats when its just a old juuce bottle.

Hope it helps...