Looking for Mullet but got bream!

[kantong]

Inspired by @FishingFables I went down to the Georges River in search for mullet. Armed with bread and tiny hooks, I could see the visible ripples already in the water. I had my fishing buddy (my son) with me and we were keen to catch some fish.

I've caught many tiny bream in this area but never had any luck with the mullet. My rig was simple, a 6lb mono straight through to 2 hooks (no sinker). I lobbed my first bits of bread out and the line tightens up within a minute. Fish on!

I hand the rod to the little man and in comes a bream, about 20cm. Not bad, not the target species, but a welcome fish all the same!

Over the next 30 minutes, we catch 6 bream, all undersized but no mullet. I can see the school of mullet around but no hook-ups.

On reflection, the bread is squeezed onto the hook and acts like a sinker and the bread goes down to the bottom where the bream are hanging out. 

Question for the mullet whisperers, what can I do differently to catch these mullet?

[Green Hornet]

Nice going, there’s not too many species in the river that won’t take bread.

In a way you answered your own question. A small float, the smaller the better, will help you keep your baits in the zone and make sure you weight it correctly so only the tip is showing. If you’re not sure how to rig and weight the float, take a look on YouTube.

[Yowie]

A bit of fun for the young bloke.

Depends on the species of mullet. Plenty of sea mullet turning up in the estuaries now, and they do not bite very often at bait.

Lob out a bit of crust to free float near the mullet. If they are sand mullet, or another species, they will eat the crusts. You can then add a small piece of crust to the hook. 

Casting with bread crusts? not easy. As stated above, add a small float and casting the crusts will be easier.

The way I do it is to add a piece of dry crust to the hook, quickly dunk it into the water then out again - then gently cast so as not to throw the crust off the hook. The water in the crust gives it weight to cast further, however, the water softens the crust and makes it easier to fall off the hook in a vigorous cast. Just a matter of practice.

[Larkin]

Can’t go wrong with a day spent father son fishing!

might be also worth trying with some tiny bits of prawn under a small float in case any garfish around. They’ll usually get attracted by the bread burley 

[blaxland]

Many years ago I would make a dough out of the centre  of a slice of white bread and use the crust as burly unweighted I could get a 3 metre cast off the south end of the tunks park tunnels lots of poddy mullet. Should work any where

[Little_Flatty]

Great stuff @kantong! Fishing for bread eaters is one of my favourite forms of fishing! It's good fun eh?

I agree with @Yowie on the sea mullet thing. Plenty of 50+cm models in the harbour and parra, none of which will ever take a bait.

Garfish fishing is real fun, particularly on ultralight gear ~1-2kg mono. Try it!

[kantong]

17 hours ago, Yowie said:

A bit of fun for the young bloke.

Depends on the species of mullet. Plenty of sea mullet turning up in the estuaries now, and they do not bite very often at bait.

Lob out a bit of crust to free float near the mullet. If they are sand mullet, or another species, they will eat the crusts. You can then add a small piece of crust to the hook. 

Casting with bread crusts? not easy. As stated above, add a small float and casting the crusts will be easier.

The way I do it is to add a piece of dry crust to the hook, quickly dunk it into the water then out again - then gently cast so as not to throw the crust off the hook. The water in the crust gives it weight to cast further, however, the water softens the crust and makes it easier to fall off the hook in a vigorous cast. Just a matter of practice.

Thanks for the tip on the crust, will give that a go!

18 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

Nice going, there’s not too many species in the river that won’t take bread.

In a way you answered your own question. A small float, the smaller the better, will help you keep your baits in the zone and make sure you weight it correctly so only the tip is showing. If you’re not sure how to rig and weight the float, take a look on YouTube.

thanks! Will get on the floats!

13 hours ago, Larkin said:

Can’t go wrong with a day spent father son fishing!

might be also worth trying with some tiny bits of prawn under a small float in case any garfish around. They’ll usually get attracted by the bread burley 

A great afternoon by the river! Good idea with the prawn, will give that go too!

11 hours ago, blaxland said:

Many years ago I would make a dough out of the centre  of a slice of white bread and use the crust as burly unweighted I could get a 3 metre cast off the south end of the tunks park tunnels lots of poddy mullet. Should work any where

that's a great idea, will have to try that! Thank you!

11 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Great stuff @kantong! Fishing for bread eaters is one of my favourite forms of fishing! It's good fun eh?

I agree with @Yowie on the sea mullet thing. Plenty of 50+cm models in the harbour and parra, none of which will ever take a bait.

Garfish fishing is real fun, particularly on ultralight gear ~1-2kg mono. Try it!

Keeping things simple means more time fishing! I've not targetted gars either, will have to give that a go!

[Restyle]

Caught something which is all that matters. My top spot for mullet is Cronulla ferry wharf at night. Burley with bread crust by crumbing it directly out front and wait. It takes about 15-20 odd minutes for the mullet to come so in the meantime just try your luck for squid or yellowtail. You’ll know they show up when you see the boils/small splashes on the surface. By then throw small chunks of crust and and turf some out on a tiny hook with no sinker or float directly out front. It should float amongst the burly and you’ll know your on when you’re chunk of bread disappears which you give a nice sharp strike. Mostly sight fishing, the areas the mullet hang out is about 10 meters from the jetty in the area between the darkness and light from the wharf 

[kantong]

2 hours ago, Restyle said:

Caught something which is all that matters. My top spot for mullet is Cronulla ferry wharf at night. Burley with bread crust by crumbing it directly out front and wait. It takes about 15-20 odd minutes for the mullet to come so in the meantime just try your luck for squid or yellowtail. You’ll know they show up when you see the boils/small splashes on the surface. By then throw small chunks of crust and and turf some out on a tiny hook with no sinker or float directly out front. It should float amongst the burly and you’ll know your on when you’re chunk of bread disappears which you give a nice sharp strike. Mostly sight fishing, the areas the mullet hang out is about 10 meters from the jetty in the area between the darkness and light from the wharf 

Thanks @Restyle, will give that area a go too!

[Green Hornet]

5 hours ago, kantong said:

thanks! Will get on the floats!

 

You can make a good little mullet float out of a paddle pop stick with a small rubber band at each end to hold the line. If the line slips through the bands just wind it around the float a few times between the bands and problem solved.

Weight it lightly enough so it still lays flat on the water, as often the mullet will take the bait and stay up near the surface. When you see the float start to move across the water or sink, either a gentle strike or just start winding should hook them.

Also works great on garfish.

[kantong]

1 hour ago, Green Hornet said:

You can make a good little mullet float out of a paddle pop stick with a small rubber band at each end to hold the line. If the line slips through the bands just wind it around the float a few times between the bands and problem solved.

Weight it lightly enough so it still lays flat on the water, as often the mullet will take the bait and stay up near the surface. When you see the float start to move across the water or sink, either a gentle strike or just start winding should hook them.

Also works great on garfish.

Thanks @Green Hornet, that's a great idea! So excited to try all these new tips!

[FishingFables]

On 12/12/2023 at 2:25 PM, kantong said:

Inspired by @FishingFables I went down to the Georges River in search for mullet. Armed with bread and tiny hooks, I could see the visible ripples already in the water. I had my fishing buddy (my son) with me and we were keen to catch some fish.

I've caught many tiny bream in this area but never had any luck with the mullet. My rig was simple, a 6lb mono straight through to 2 hooks (no sinker). I lobbed my first bits of bread out and the line tightens up within a minute. Fish on!

I hand the rod to the little man and in comes a bream, about 20cm. Not bad, not the target species, but a welcome fish all the same!

Over the next 30 minutes, we catch 6 bream, all undersized but no mullet. I can see the school of mullet around but no hook-ups.

On reflection, the bread is squeezed onto the hook and acts like a sinker and the bread goes down to the bottom where the bream are hanging out. 

Question for the mullet whisperers, what can I do differently to catch these mullet?

I'm glad you were inspired to chase some mullet 🙂 The advice our fellow Raiders have given you is spot on...I'm sure you'll start to catch mullet soon.

And in the meantime, it looks like you had a wonderful session with your son on those bream, which is lovely to see.

Cheers

Jason

[Pickles]

Great the little bloke is catching fish. When I target mullet, Ifish with 6-8lb Mon and no weight. Burley up with bran or pollard to get them interested - works for me.