Port Hacking - quiet morning

[Yowie]

Fished the deep off Lilli Pilli early this morning. Hardly any fish and not one at legal size. Only 1 yakka, a few little reddies and that was that. No decent hits on bait, and when some frigates turned up near sunrise, they were feeding on baitfish about 1.5 cm long. Not interested in any lures.

No tailor around me. Normally March is a good month for most fish, but the lack of decent rain is probably the cause.

Headed to Maianbar and pumped some nippers for the one whiting. Drifted about and picked up the flattie and bream, just very quiet.

Near the ballast heap, I saw a couple of small schools of mullet feeding on the surface, so I anchored up and sent out a bit of bread burley. The mullet would not stay for very long near the boat, but they are a good size for sand mullet and go hard on a whiting rod. Bread bait on the hook, no sinker.

[Fodzii]

Your quiet mornings are my dream mornings..

Are the mullet good eating or do you use them for bait or something?

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, Fodzii said:

Your quiet mornings are my dream mornings..

Are the mullet good eating or do you use them for bait or something?

I like eating mullet for a change. Sea mullet can be a bit muddy in taste if they have been feeding up river on  muddy bottoms, sand mullet feed on sandy bottoms so they don't normally have a muddy taste in the meat.

Mullet also make great bait, as does the intestines which are a great bream bait.

These were easy to fillet, and the rib bones are removed in one easy cut of the knife. Frying is not recommended, as mullet have a high content of oil (good oil for the diet) so other cooking methods are better.

[Welster]

As read the title and I knew you had a bag of fish regardless.   You must be the most consistent Hacking fisho around.   Well done.

Do you have any tips for catching mullet?

[Scratchie]

You know it’s a quiet day when you resort to catching mullet! What hope have the rest of us got! But still nice to see that bag mat full. 

Cheers scratchie!!!

[hookerbruce]

At least you got out I'm stuck at home painting. I don't mind fresh mullet and nothing wrong with the flattie.

I'll let the weather stir them up a bit and head out in the river fri. Think it might be overcast with a few bits of chop .

bruce

[Basil D]

not bad for quiet , you still managed a feed 

[Yowie]

4 hours ago, Welster said:

As read the title and I knew you had a bag of fish regardless.   You must be the most consistent Hacking fisho around.   Well done.

Do you have any tips for catching mullet?

Mullet are usually found in shallow water, over sand banks, though at times I have caught them near the surface of deeper water.

Bread for burley and bread for bait. A few small pieces that float along in the current will bring them on the bite, also a small piece of bread that is mashed up and thrown out to slowly sink. Floating bread crusts will also attract bream and garfish (very occasionally a blackfish). Floating bread also attracts *&#@*#* seagulls, that will swoop down to eat the bread and scare off the mullet.

I use half a piece of fresh bread in the hand, dip it into the water for a second then squeeze out some water. Squeeze out a lot of water and the bread becomes a bit doughy, squeeze out less water and the bread is a bit softer. Mould a piece of a size less than a 5 cent piece - size 8 or 10 hook - and lob it out near the floating bread burley - hard to throw it against any wind, but you can use a small bubble float to gain distance. The best idea is to anchor or fish up wind so that the wind can assist with casting.

Mullet will also eat squirt worms, small pieces of prawn, dough made from flour.

[Yowie]

3 hours ago, Scratchie said:

You know it’s a quiet day when you resort to catching mullet! What hope have the rest of us got! But still nice to see that bag mat full. 

Cheers scratchie!!!

The mullet were there so I grabbed a few before they swam off. I like to take something home for the table.

Edited March 19, 2018 by Yowie

[Yowie]

3 hours ago, hookerbruce said:

At least you got out I'm stuck at home painting. I don't mind fresh mullet and nothing wrong with the flattie.

I'll let the weather stir them up a bit and head out in the river fri. Think it might be overcast with a few bits of chop .

bruce

Hopefully a bit of rain coming along.

[Yowie]

3 hours ago, Basil D said:

not bad for quiet , you still managed a feed 

A feed is a feed. Normally this time of year is fishing better than of late. You found that out in Botany Bay.

[Welster]

17 minutes ago, Yowie said:

Mullet are usually found in shallow water, over sand banks, though at times I have caught them near the surface of deeper water.

Bread for burley and bread for bait. A few small pieces that float along in the current will bring them on the bite, also a small piece of bread that is mashed up and thrown out to slowly sink. Floating bread crusts will also attract bream and garfish (very occasionally a blackfish). Floating bread also attracts *&#@*#* seagulls, that will swoop down to eat the bread and scare off the mullet.

I use half a piece of fresh bread in the hand, dip it into the water for a second then squeeze out some water. Squeeze out a lot of water and the bread becomes a bit doughy, squeeze out less water and the bread is a bit softer. Mould a piece of a size less than a 5 cent piece - size 8 or 10 hook - and lob it out near the floating bread burley - hard to throw it against any wind, but you can use a small bubble float to gain distance. The best idea is to anchor or fish up wind so that the wind can assist with casting.

Mullet will also eat squirt worms, small pieces of prawn, dough made from flour.

Thank you

[sydney south]

A good and different feed....