Magic Mullet - Round 2 and new lessons learned

[FishingFables]

I visited Narrabeen Lake again yesterday evening for a quick fly fish with a mate, chasing magic mullet.

This time the mullet came on the chew before the sun went down - I think this was because there was cloud cover and lower light conditions so they felt safer on the flats earlier in the evening.

Conditions were challenging in other ways though - the wind was behind us which meant our berley drifted out to deeper water before attracting mullet, requiring longer distance casts with the fly rod and less accuracy on where we landed the flies. On the plus side, we caught some bigger mullet which put a decent bend in our 4 weight rods.

Interestingly, we caught all of the big fish on the surface foam bread fly this time, with the smaller mullet eating the submerged fly.

Also of interest was that we caught nearly as many bream as mullet on the bread flies - most of the bream were undersized but I did hook one in the mid 30cms which I lost (tragically!) at the net. It put on a memorable performance - I hooked it in deep water and it made a bee-line straight for my mate standing on the sand flat, probably because his legs looked like the only piece of structure around. He did a decent jig to avoid the fish going through his legs - I've never seen him dance that well before. Then the bream turned and headed straight for me like a torpedo, quicker than I could retrieve the slack like to stay tight to the fish, which is why I think the bream was able to spit the hook.

For me, the biggest lesson of the day was that the bread berley attracts more fish than mullet - bream come into the trail and I reckon predators like flathead would also move in because of the concentration of mullet and all of the splashing in the berley. Next time, I'll fish for mullet for the first few hours and when I notice bream in the area, I'll swap to a prawn fly and retrieve it under the berley trail to see if any big bream and flathead are lurking underneath...

Tight lines,

Jason

 

 

 

[Little_Flatty]

Nice work Jason. Will be working on my bread fly game over the summer! I’ve had a couple of takes in the Parra but no hookups (probably undersized bream). Different game in Narrabeen I suspect.

Interested to see how you go with your prawn fly strategy.

[faker]

2 hours ago, FishingFables said:

I visited Narrabeen Lake again yesterday evening for a quick fly fish with a mate, chasing magic mullet.

This time the mullet came on the chew before the sun went down - I think this was because there was cloud cover and lower light conditions so they felt safer on the flats earlier in the evening.

Conditions were challenging in other ways though - the wind was behind us which meant our berley drifted out to deeper water before attracting mullet, requiring longer distance casts with the fly rod and less accuracy on where we landed the flies. On the plus side, we caught some bigger mullet which put a decent bend in our 4 weight rods.

Interestingly, we caught all of the big fish on the surface foam bread fly this time, with the smaller mullet eating the submerged fly.

Also of interest was that we caught nearly as many bream as mullet on the bread flies - most of the bream were undersized but I did hook one in the mid 30cms which I lost (tragically!) at the net. It put on a memorable performance - I hooked it in deep water and it made a bee-line straight for my mate standing on the sand flat, probably because his legs looked like the only piece of structure around. He did a decent jig to avoid the fish going through his legs - I've never seen him dance that well before. Then the bream turned and headed straight for me like a torpedo, quicker than I could retrieve the slack like to stay tight to the fish, which is why I think the bream was able to spit the hook.

For me, the biggest lesson of the day was that the bread berley attracts more fish than mullet - bream come into the trail and I reckon predators like flathead would also move in because of the concentration of mullet and all of the splashing in the berley. Next time, I'll fish for mullet for the first few hours and when I notice bream in the area, I'll swap to a prawn fly and retrieve it under the berley trail to see if any big bream and flathead are lurking underneath...

Tight lines,

Jason

 

 

 

Nice catch, never knew mullet ate flies. Would this happen to be pipeclay point?Looks rather clear of weed last time I went to pipe a month ago the whole place was full of it and really hard to fish, can you provide advice which side clears up?

Edited November 21, 2023 by faker

[FishingFables]

2 hours ago, faker said:

Nice catch, never knew mullet ate flies. Would this happen to be pipeclay point?Looks rather clear of weed last time I went to pipe a month ago the whole place was full of it and really hard to fish, can you provide advice which side clears up?

You're right about the weed which can make shore based fishing a challenge, particularly if you are having to cast over weed beds to reach fish. That's one of the reasons why I wear waders which helps me access open water. As a general rule of thumb, I tend to fish along the Wakehurst Parkway side of the lake. The exception being the sailing club on the opposite side of the lake which can be busy but does offer a gentle slope into the water.

Hope that helps.

Jason

[jenno64]

Nice work again! I’ve seen lots of different methods for catching mullet and the bread burley is often the key factor …, great stuff getting them on fly though👌

[FishingFables]

10 minutes ago, jenno64 said:

Nice work again! I’ve seen lots of different methods for catching mullet and the bread burley is often the key factor …, great stuff getting them on fly though👌

Thanks Rob. Funny how a loaf of bread can turn an average fishing session into a good one - the bread berley works well for me chasing drummer off the rocks as well.

[big Neil]

You're obviously an experienced angler Jason, yet you still learn from new experiences. Good luck with the future assault on the Bream and Flathead. I'm sure it will be successful. Meantime, I'm enjoying reading your posts. Tight lines.  bn

[Green Hornet]

Another interesting report and a few good fish. That bream hookup would have been funny to watch from shore by the sound of things.

As well as the bream, expect to often find luderick and trevally (if the water is cold) hanging around the bread trail.

[kantong]

That's a great report mate! I'm intrigued by that front bag you have, it looks very organised. Can you share some details?

[Little_Flatty]

27 minutes ago, kantong said:

That's a great report mate! I'm intrigued by that front bag you have, it looks very organised. Can you share some details?

Google ‘fly fishing chest pack’ and you’ll find a variety 😎

[FishingFables]

6 hours ago, big Neil said:

You're obviously an experienced angler Jason, yet you still learn from new experiences. Good luck with the future assault on the Bream and Flathead. I'm sure it will be successful. Meantime, I'm enjoying reading your posts. Tight lines.  bn

Thanks Neil, I appreciate your kind words and encouragement. I'll let you know how I go with the bream and flathead strategy...

Cheers,

Jason

[FishingFables]

4 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

Another interesting report and a few good fish. That bream hookup would have been funny to watch from shore by the sound of things.

As well as the bream, expect to often find luderick and trevally (if the water is cold) hanging around the bread trail.

That's interesting - I do have some green weed flies so I'll make sure I take them with me in the future. Cheers, Jason

[FishingFables]

47 minutes ago, kantong said:

That's a great report mate! I'm intrigued by that front bag you have, it looks very organised. Can you share some details?

Sure. The pack I use is a fly fishing chest pack from Fishpond.

It suits me well for days on the river wading for trout and long sessions on the sandflats. There's enough space in the front for a few fly boxes, leaders and tippets, as well as attachment points for your pliers and line snipper. Inside there's a zippered section I use for my wallet, car keys and phone.

On the back, you can attach your landing net (I use a magnetic attachment) and there is a generous pouch which can fit a water bottle, sunscreen and a beer for those hot summer afternoons. The shoulder straps are padded and the weight is distributed well so I don't end the day with a sore neck.

The chest pack isn't cheap but I rate it highly for my fishing needs.

Hope that was useful for you.

Cheers

Jason

[Green Hornet]

2 hours ago, FishingFables said:

That's interesting - I do have some green weed flies so I'll make sure I take them with me in the future. Cheers, Jason

Don’t worry too much about the weed flies Jason. If you’ve got the luderick in the bread trail, you’ll most likely do better on a bread fly and likewise with the bream.

I used to chase mullet around 30cm for jew bait on bread when I lived up the coast a bit and sometimes the bream and blackfish were a nuisance.

Pete

 

[Yowie]

Just use bread, and see what bites at it.

[riveRecon]

Hey Raiders, just posting a link to this location/area, https://deckee.com/maps/drop-pin/location?latitude=-33.71041&longitude=151.27961
 as I'll do for other reports. We're testing out to see if raiders would like to see report locations on the Deckee map.