Potty Mullet Traps

[veck]

Greetings Fishos

I live along the Georges River and often see schools of potty mullets swiming in the creeks that feed into the Georges. I purchased a few plastic see through traps the other week and have been leaving them in the local creeks all week , with bread in the traps.

I have thus far caught zip.

Has anyone out there had luck in catching this great bait ? and if so how ? Also, what is the best way to keep them alive ?

P.S. Best luck over the weekend fellas.

[Matrix]

Gday Veck,a mate and I tried catching Poddy Mullets once, with the rectangular collapsible mesh trap and bread, all we got were disgusting toadies!

Maybe u should try the cut out milk bottles? I've seen it on tv and those guys caught heaps.

Matt

[Matrix]

     

Anything in a potty that resembles a mullet should be avoided, the last thing you wanna do is try to catch it.

     

68596[/snapback]

Classic!

[Matrix]

I knew that'd appeal to you mate. 

68605[/snapback]

You'll know exactly why at Glenbawn

[Guest hottuna]

The alvey plastic ones work a treat.

One very important rule to remember with ANY sort of poddy trap.

MAKE SURE THE BREAD IS DRY AND POWDERED, That way the current will move it out of the trap much like smoke, the bread will end up down the channel bringing with it all the poddies! Very SIMPLE

Boy its hard to get good advise.

dan

[OWZAT]

G`day Fellas ,

VECK , Forget the Rest , this is the greatest , most efficient Poddy trap you can get .

The secret to this trap is to Microwave 4/5 slices of bread till they go rock hard without burning

Crush them up , add a handfull of gravel to the botom of the trap , mainly to keep it stable and of course submerged , then place a small handfull of bread in the bottle .

Force the Bottle down onto the sand or mud etc, in the area you are targeting , and just hold your hand over the opening till the bread settles , then another trick is to tilt the bottle slightly till most of the bread rolls down towards the neck , then lay it flat .

A good idea , is to Tie a length of string to the bottle , and tie it to a stake in the sand , just in case you cant find it agin .

Allow bottle to be covered with about 12/15 inches of water , and check regularly .

The bottle is just a cordial bottle , with a square section cut out of it 12 cms long by about 4 cms wide.

Cut a 1 cm long slit at 45 degrees in the corners , and fold the flaps inwards and down into the bottle , at no more than 45 degrees.

The section you cut out should be just slightly below the halfway mark on the bottle for best results , this makes them swim well up into the kneck.

A large plastic drum with an aerator attached is the best and cheapest way to keep them alive , I suggest you add a piece of mesh on top to stop the buggers Jumping out.

Good luck mate , and dont forget to post some pics of your achievements.

Mick

Edited September 24, 2005 by OWZAT

[paggles]

i have a better way of catching those little buggers...

get a large plastic bread loaf carrier(the type tip top deliver there bread to shops in

)and cover the inside with flyscreen mesh, attach ropes to all 4 corners, cover the mesh in wet bread and lower into water where little poddys are, when they attack the bread lift the device out of the water quickly and wallah.......

[veck]

G`day Fellas ,

VECK , Forget the Rest , this is the greatest , most efficient Poddy trap you can get .

The secret to this trap is to Microwave 4/5 slices of bread till they go rock hard without burning

Crush them up , add a handfull of gravel to the botom of the trap , mainly to keep it stable and of course submerged , then place a small handfull of bread in the bottle .

Force the Bottle down onto the sand or mud etc, in the area you are targeting , and just hold your hand over the opening till the bread settles , then another trick is to tilt the bottle slightly till most of the bread rolls down towards the neck , then lay it flat .

A good idea , is to Tie a length of string to the bottle , and tie it to a stake in the sand , just in case you cant find it agin .

Allow bottle to be covered with about 12/15 inches of water , and check regularly .

The bottle is just a cordial bottle , with a square section cut out of it 12 cms long by about 4 cms wide.

Cut a 1 cm long slit at 45 degrees in the corners , and fold the flaps inwards and down into the bottle , at no more than 45 degrees.

The section you cut out should be just slightly below the halfway mark on the bottle for best results , this makes them swim well up into the kneck.

A large plastic drum with an aerator attached is the best and cheapest way to keep them alive , I suggest you add a piece of mesh on top to stop the buggers Jumping out.

Good luck mate , and dont forget to post some pics of your achievements.

Mick

68664[/snapback]

[OWZAT]

i have a better way of catching those little buggers...

get a large plastic bread loaf carrier(the type tip top deliver there bread to shops in

)and cover the inside with flyscreen mesh, attach ropes to all 4 corners, cover the mesh in wet bread and lower into water where little poddys are, when they attack the bread lift the device out of the water quickly and wallah.......

68674[/snapback]

Mike , I`m wondering if that system might be classified as netting by some enthusiastic FI.

Things is , I saw a fella at the Breakwall at Coffs or Tweed , I cant remember which , with a cone shaped mesh witches hat , a bit similar to the one you describe , and the FI`s nicked him.

Mick

[kenmare]

Hi Veck,

After viewing some threads on this chat board (think I searched mullet traps or similar), I've just had some astounding success -- and I was in the same situation as you only two weeks ago.

I bought a clear plastic storage container (probably for bread storage) with press-on lid, dimensions: length 35 cm, width 27 cm, height 13 cm. Cost me about $6 bucks in a budget shop.

Then I cut a 9 cm diameter entry hole in the centre of the lid. A bit tricky -- you may have a drill bit to do this. As I didn't, I marked where I wanted the hole, using the top of a drinking glass as a template, then first drilled a small hole so I could insert the blade of my coping saw to cut the entry hole out, finally finishing with a rasp.

I then drilled the bottom of the trap with about 2 dozen or so 5 mm holes to allow the trap to drain water when retrieved. As I later found, it's also a good idea to drill a dozen or so holes in the lid to let air out when submerging the trap, otherwise air caught under the lid will tend to make the trap float. To ensure the trap stays where it's supposed to, I also used short plastic-coated wire traces with snaps attached to secure two 4 oz snapper leads inside.

When using the trap, this worked for me. I found a shallow area where there were large schools of mullet feeding and then positioned the trap on the bottom, so only about 5 cm to 10 cm of water covered the trap -- it's important to keep the trap in shallow water. Then I placed bread inside the trap, near the entry hole, and smaller quantities of bread at the hole and on top of the trap.

Finally, I rolled small pellets of bread between my fingers and, by throwing these in the direction of the poddy mullet schools but close to the trap, used the pellets to get the little buggers into a feeding frenzy and encourage them to "discover" the banquet I'd placed in and on top of the trap. Once one or two enter the trap, then the others can't resist following.

Worked a treat. Hope this helps.

[bombora]

Hiya Veck mate the best bit of advice I was ever given about trapping poddies was not to do with what you use (commercial traps, modified two litre juice bottles etc etc etc all work) but where you put em.

Many many people place the trap too deep, he said. Old digger told us to place the trap where only a centimetre or two of water is above the top of the trap. The shallower the better was this old boy's advice. It has worked for us. Cheers Bombie

[paggles]

Mike , I`m wondering if that system might be classified as netting by some enthusiastic FI.

Things is , I saw a fella at the Breakwall at Coffs or Tweed , I cant remember which , with a cone shaped mesh witches hat , a bit similar to the one you describe , and the FI`s nicked him.

Mick

68777[/snapback]

i forgot...there are laws

ive never used this method personally but remember seeing some bloke do it when i was young and it stuck in my memory because it worked so good i dont think it should be classed as a net because it isnt a net

[changa]

Some good traps here and they do work a treat when deployed correctly.

If you know here the poddies hand, then you are in an even better position.

Dont put the trap where there is current.

Look for and eddy and place it in the shallows.

I use a 3 litre coke bottle cut the end off and reverse(make opening bigger) and wire or zip tie ( i will attach pic if i can find one)

I use bread chunks in the trap, wet them so they can seep out.

Large snapper lead in the trap and some line attached to the shore.

I then scatter a small amount of crumbs near the trap, sometimes this take a few times to get them on the chew but once they do they go off.

By leaving the large chunks of wet bread in the trap, as one enters and starts to feed, it lets more out and the fish really go into a frenzy.

I have had coke bottles so full of poddies that there was no room for anymore in there.

cheers

changa

[Guest Sea Jay]

What fish do you target with the poddie mullets as bait?? are they similar to yakkas

And also how do you use them, Live? Strips? Cubes?

[kevvie]

a poddy mullet is just a small mullet, nothing too exciting. As live bait they account for a variety of species, most notably the humble flathead. They love em to bits. I've caught jew, snapper, john dory and even squid on small poddy's. But instaed of live poddy's try one of the soft plastic variety, they work just as well trust me.

[paggles]

i think it would be safe to say that Kevvie like the soft plastics

[fishguts]

Greetings Fishos

I live along the Georges River and often see schools of potty mullets swiming in the creeks that feed into the Georges. I purchased a few plastic see through traps the other week and have been leaving them in the local creeks all week , with bread in the traps.

I have thus far caught zip.

Has anyone out there had luck in catching this great bait ? and if so how ? Also, what is the best way to keep them alive ?

P.S. Best luck over the weekend fellas.

hi veck! use rectangle collapsable trap and place in the water only as deep as the trap itself!

use wet fresh bread squashed in a ball and i mean squish it, place in trap and lift it up and down

a few times this will leave a milky dispersion which will excite poddy but not feed em, they need

to get inside if they want a feed..freeloaders.. but they are the best!

..cheers!..stevo!..

[Guest DV8]

This topic has had more starts than Phar Lap. The truth is all the above methods work. Some days better than others. catching poddies is not rocket science, its childs play. there will be days however that they just will not go in the trap. on those days you will have to get them on a size 12 or 14 hook.

[Thunder]

Get a 4 or 5 litre ice cream container and cut a 2" hole in the centre of the lid.

Put some snapper leads on the bottom to hold it down.

Get a slice of bread and pinch a 1-1/2" hole out of the centre and put it in the container and put the lid on.

Put it in the water so there is around 8 - 12" water above the lid.

Centre the hole in the bread with the hole in the lid.

Break the 1-1/2" piece of bread into little bits and throw into the water around your trap.

This works a treat.

You will have 50 poddies in 15 minutes.

All traps work the best on a sunny day.

Cheers

Greg

[Milts]

Should the trap be placed in an area where the water is very still ie/ no current flowing?

It seems to me that the most important part is where you place it.

I have only tried a couple of times and not had much success.

[kenmare]

Should the trap be placed in an area where the water is very still ie/ no current flowing?

It seems to me that the most important part is where you place it.

I have only tried a couple of times and not had much success.

Hi Milts,

Poddy mullet stand to be eaten if they stray into deeper water as the tide falls, particularly along the edge of deep drop-offs.

So look for sheltered shallow areas, towards the top of a rising tide -- that's where you'll find them.

Place the trap in the shallow water (less than 30 centimetres deep), so it's barely covered. Then burley the area with crumbed bread to attract the poddies to the trap.

Once one or two go in trap, and start to stir up the bread inside, the others in the school will race to join in the action.

Getting the first one or two to go in is the hardest part.

Regards,

Bob

[chrisg]

Hi all

So where wouldone try all these trap ideas in the Woy Woy area?

C.

[Thunder]

I normally put it in near the boat ramp that I am using.

Just find a quiet area, away from the people and the boats and put it in while you are waiting your turn to launch your boat. If they are around, you will have plenty within 15 minutes.

Usually a sandy bottom works well.

Only throw the burley around the trap and a few pieces further out. Don't throw too much berley out otherwise they will pig out on this and not go into the trap. Also, the floating bread attracts sea gulls which will scare away the poddies.

If you have any children, this is a great job for them to do, and they will love it.

[varos1911]

When using poddy mullets to target flathead only,what is the best hook and size to use ?

I've seen a few old blokes using bannana hooks which seem to be doing the job well ?

Are long shanked hooks any good for this ?

[bennnsmith]

Hey guys,

My Grandfather taught me to use a glass bowl with stocking tied over the top with a three to six centimetre hole cut in the centre. Get a slice of bread and create a hole the same size and place under the stocking. scatter the rest of the bread as berly. Simple

Tight lines