mullet madness and a first for me

[roosterman]

Hi guys,

well its been pretty hectic for me with work lately and boat is landlocked due to new bub arriving soon so have been doing sneaky sessions either nailin the local blackies or just flicking for squid etc..

saw what i thought were pike out in the darkness few nights ago chasing small bait and hitting my bread burly so put squid rod away and thought hmmmm maybe they are mullet..

they didnt want to eat my pilly strip so i thought yep.... big mullet..

problem is i have no bread for bait.... i drain some of the burly out and with great difficulty get some to stay on hook..

flick out and keep missing em due to bait falling off hook..

eventually i get some crusty bit to stick and bang im on and tail walking surface smashing action erupts.. woooo hoooo i have not targeted them for yrs and forgot how much fun on light gear they are...

i end up nailin 4 nice big ones in half hr and decide at last min to boneless & skinless fillet em... herbed crumbed and yep forgot about how they go on the plate.. yummo... mrs says why not go get more so after the shock of her telling me to go fishing i head off for round 2 last night..

got there prepared with plenty of bread and rod rigged but wind,tide looked to be conspiring against me this time..

had a good burly trail off into the distance but alas not alot of action,even the local yakkas were staying down deep...

hmmmm i think i will set a deep bait see whats around..

within a couple min my float sinks an inch or so them pops up,then goes down an inch again again so i raise rod to see whats going on and bang i feel good weight and im on to something bigger than yakka and not a mullet..

it thumps this way and that and i steer it around while tightening the very lose mullet drag..

color.. big bream.. zzzzzzz......zzzzzzz... then bugger me.... its a blacky... more zzzzz and i then realise no net and this thing is a barrel of a fish and big.. 6lb line is looking edgy for lift and then a guy brings over his huge barrel bucket (like bunnings ones) and i try swimming it in,turn him 3 times and bugger me,top hooks now caught on handle.. im now looking at this fish thinking here we go another good fish lost like last few blacky trips to bad circumstances.

well lady luck shinned and ol matey was able to dig deep ,well took 3 or so heart stopping goes and we lift it onto the deck...

wooooohoooo...

i am buzzing as i have got blackies on dawn and dusk before but never in pitch black of the night.. my first night time blacky...

i have dropped live worms,nippers,weed etc on the nose of em in the past for zip and was convinced they wont feed late into night but am glad to be proven wrong here...

fish was aprox 40cm and very very fat,full of roe and ribbon weed and little bit of bread.

gave it another half hour for zip so filleted fish and home i go a happy chappy...

heres a pick of our make shift landing net... bear in mind this barrel is bloody huge.. i think its one of those ones from bunnings with big handles each side...

cheers...steve....

[chriseels2010]

Hey mate, were you fishing sydney harbour?

Because I caught some nice mullet not to long ago, was looking forward to eating them but only can eat 50g per 3 months. The worst for any fish!! I'm east harbour

[roosterman]

Hey mate, were you fishing sydney harbour?

Because I caught some nice mullet not to long ago, was looking forward to eating them but only can eat 50g per 3 months. The worst for any fish!! I'm east harbour

eating fish from the harbour is a iffy subject and def if in doubt then not worth the risk and is a personal thing..

some eat whatever and some practice catch an release only in the harbour..

the mullet i got were not river mullet and caught in pittwater..

they are real good bait fresh and live are unreal but ones i got were originally going to be slab bait for beach jew untill i changed my mind..

fresh and cleaned proper they are tasty and the fight on light gear is awesome and something i havent done for way to long...

cheers...steve....