in with the dough. The garlic powder was supposed to help attract them and the cotton wool helped the dough stay on the hook.
If you see mullet, throw some small pieces of bread out as a burley trail.
the late Doug Clegg the same question . He said to try cotton wool soaked in a sugar solution. He also said it was amazing how those same fish will take a bait once they reach the Shark bay area. cheers Pete
Big mullet are really shy thats why they get big. But they fight like stink. I used to catch plenty of mid sized ones (I lived in Southern Spain then) on bread paste. Nothing fancy just bread mixed with water to a medium consistancy to mould around your hook. Too wet and it was useless. I aways left the hook point exposed but never used large hooks say a 4 at most. This sat below a small float but not to deep and it wasn't weighted along the trace either (all directly under the float). What was most succesful was groundbaiting (you call it burley here). A constant flow of bits mixed up in crushed bread (cat food is great but stinks, you can mix it in with your breadpaste too but remember don't let it get too runny as it will be useless as hookbait). The trick was to get the fish competing amongst themselves (you can even watch them getting crazy). You keep flicking bits in the same spot and the fish get more and more excited (don't feed them mind you just tease them into competing for that food) and then it got quite easy to hook one. If it goes quiet change the hook bait to a breadflake pinched on the shank of the hook leave the rest of the bread all fluffy it swells up in the water and thats a killer or a small worm or piece of shellfish. (infact they try anything when they're switched on you will see) They quiet often start turning away from your bait cause they're getting spooky thats the time to swop to something else till you find something they're confident in. Breadpaste always worked for me anyway. If they dissapear you can change to a paternostered ledger rig and fish on the bottom under the berley. They often drop to the bottom where its quieter and you'll probably pick a few up there. As a rule of thumb big boys sit on the outskirts of a shoal picking off bits or dashing in and out they don't seem to sit in the melee anyway. The turmoil just seems to attract there attention. Don't bother casting at them they just spook, try and intice them into the fray with burley, just see what happens.
A major thing is be there set up fishing and groundbaiting before daylight as they get disturbed easily when people start moving around, they tend to hide under boats and stop feeding after that. I also took quite a few into the evening but things stopped dead as it turned into night. Never managed a really big mullet though (the ones that look like torpedoes ) they are so wary its unreal. They have even swam up to my hooked bait and sat there looking at it like it was a joke. Time for fine braid hooklinks or floro carbon I guess. We didn't have it in the old days. Good luck and hold on tight if you hook in, you'll need it. Oh and light rods are a must if you hook in you'll be amazed at how powerful mullet can be for thier size.
Do all these techniques apply to the mullet I see jumping every now and then in the swan and canning rivers? I've seen some fairly big ones and would love to try and catch one. Or are they a different species or something?
If they're mullet and I don't actually know if they are as local names can get things very muddled up as I've discovered during my travels, the above methods will definitely work. Be careful though because I saw the local whiting here (quite big ones actually) doing exactly the same thing that mullet would do when I was throwing bread from a boat last weekend. I could have hammered them easily by the above methods if I'd had any gear with me (can any local danglers on here confirm if there are any proper mullet species in the swan or not?)
Anyway mullet in my experience all seem to act identically the world over. I've caught them in UK, Spain and Greece and they all respond to the same methods as described above.
With the big river I reckon you could also try a swimfeeder as well (don't laugh). Might struggle with a lot of pest fish though, with the small hook sizes and types of baits. All a good reason to experiment till you get something working right, thats what I would do anyway. Keep me informed if you have any luck.
p.s. If you doubt a swimfeeder works think on this - I took well over 100lb in Common Bream on a day last year in a pond in the Uk and 60lb plus the day after. My point is basically with any shoaling fish (sea or freshwater), get the bait in the same area, build it up in that area and start to get those fish competing for it and its simply deadly, even the biggies start getting slack. Same as chum off a boat really.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8706
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Bakers dough
Roll up bakers dough in to a small ball on to a whiting/gardie hook.Use the lightest of lines and if possible use without a float.
The other way is to use 60 metres of 3inch square hook---ie a net
danno
Posts: 1676
Date Joined: 12/07/09
if they arnt in the marina
if they arnt in the marina you can gigi them.
they pull hard on a rod so get ready for a good fight.
cheers danno
Colin Hay
Posts: 10407
Date Joined: 23/10/07
We used to mix garlic powder and a bit of cotton wool
in with the dough. The garlic powder was supposed to help attract them and the cotton wool helped the dough stay on the hook.
If you see mullet, throw some small pieces of bread out as a burley trail.
Moderator. Proud member of the Fishwrecked "Old Farts". Make sure your subscribed to Fishwrecked Reeltime http://fishwrecked-reeltime.com/
adamkk
Posts: 77
Date Joined: 29/05/09
Mullet lures
We used to use mullet lures over east. A 12/0 trebble with a big sinker on the bottom.I dont think you can use them here though.
HuggyB
Posts: 2515
Date Joined: 03/08/08
bread flies
go the wand!!
The Terrorist - coming to a fishing spot near you.........
mako magic
Posts: 5785
Date Joined: 03/08/05
multi grain, brown bread or
multi grain, brown bread or white bread ones?
HuggyB
Posts: 2515
Date Joined: 03/08/08
white bread always!
its fluffy, like a nice inviting cloud.....
The Terrorist - coming to a fishing spot near you.........
piston broke
Posts: 776
Date Joined: 05/11/08
I asked
the late Doug Clegg the same question . He said to try cotton wool soaked in a sugar solution. He also said it was amazing how those same fish will take a bait once they reach the Shark bay area. cheers Pete
chrisd
Posts: 151
Date Joined: 05/07/09
Big Mullet
Big mullet are really shy thats why they get big. But they fight like stink. I used to catch plenty of mid sized ones (I lived in Southern Spain then) on bread paste. Nothing fancy just bread mixed with water to a medium consistancy to mould around your hook. Too wet and it was useless. I aways left the hook point exposed but never used large hooks say a 4 at most. This sat below a small float but not to deep and it wasn't weighted along the trace either (all directly under the float). What was most succesful was groundbaiting (you call it burley here). A constant flow of bits mixed up in crushed bread (cat food is great but stinks, you can mix it in with your breadpaste too but remember don't let it get too runny as it will be useless as hookbait). The trick was to get the fish competing amongst themselves (you can even watch them getting crazy). You keep flicking bits in the same spot and the fish get more and more excited (don't feed them mind you just tease them into competing for that food) and then it got quite easy to hook one. If it goes quiet change the hook bait to a breadflake pinched on the shank of the hook leave the rest of the bread all fluffy it swells up in the water and thats a killer or a small worm or piece of shellfish. (infact they try anything when they're switched on you will see) They quiet often start turning away from your bait cause they're getting spooky thats the time to swop to something else till you find something they're confident in. Breadpaste always worked for me anyway. If they dissapear you can change to a paternostered ledger rig and fish on the bottom under the berley. They often drop to the bottom where its quieter and you'll probably pick a few up there. As a rule of thumb big boys sit on the outskirts of a shoal picking off bits or dashing in and out they don't seem to sit in the melee anyway. The turmoil just seems to attract there attention. Don't bother casting at them they just spook, try and intice them into the fray with burley, just see what happens.
A major thing is be there set up fishing and groundbaiting before daylight as they get disturbed easily when people start moving around, they tend to hide under boats and stop feeding after that. I also took quite a few into the evening but things stopped dead as it turned into night. Never managed a really big mullet though (the ones that look like torpedoes ) they are so wary its unreal. They have even swam up to my hooked bait and sat there looking at it like it was a joke. Time for fine braid hooklinks or floro carbon I guess. We didn't have it in the old days. Good luck and hold on tight if you hook in, you'll need it. Oh and light rods are a must if you hook in you'll be amazed at how powerful mullet can be for thier size.
Hope this helps a bit, Chris
kavman
Posts: 87
Date Joined: 09/02/09
Mullet in river?
Do all these techniques apply to the mullet I see jumping every now and then in the swan and canning rivers? I've seen some fairly big ones and would love to try and catch one. Or are they a different species or something?
chrisd
Posts: 151
Date Joined: 05/07/09
Mullet
If they're mullet and I don't actually know if they are as local names can get things very muddled up as I've discovered during my travels, the above methods will definitely work. Be careful though because I saw the local whiting here (quite big ones actually) doing exactly the same thing that mullet would do when I was throwing bread from a boat last weekend. I could have hammered them easily by the above methods if I'd had any gear with me (can any local danglers on here confirm if there are any proper mullet species in the swan or not?)
Anyway mullet in my experience all seem to act identically the world over. I've caught them in UK, Spain and Greece and they all respond to the same methods as described above.
With the big river I reckon you could also try a swimfeeder as well (don't laugh). Might struggle with a lot of pest fish though, with the small hook sizes and types of baits. All a good reason to experiment till you get something working right, thats what I would do anyway. Keep me informed if you have any luck.
p.s. If you doubt a swimfeeder works think on this - I took well over 100lb in Common Bream on a day last year in a pond in the Uk and 60lb plus the day after. My point is basically with any shoaling fish (sea or freshwater), get the bait in the same area, build it up in that area and start to get those fish competing for it and its simply deadly, even the biggies start getting slack. Same as chum off a boat really.
Good luck
ody
Posts: 581
Date Joined: 30/12/06
Hi Ya, Good first post
Hi Ya,
Good first post Chris. Welcome aboard.
Cheers.