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Outdoors

Follow mullet to prize

Mullet can hold the key to how productive a fishing area is. This time of year they can be found in large spawning groups.

By DAVID A. BROWN
Published December 16, 2006

It's a timeless angling axiom founded on irrefutable logic: Find the mullet and you'll find the gamefish.

Essentially, if these mud munchers don't like the neighborhood, it's unlikely top-shelf predators like speckled trout, redfish and snook will find reason to stick around.

Whether it's poor water quality, lackluster tidal movement or meager food supplies, the absence of mullet usually means an unproductive fishing area.

Mullet inhabit Nature Coast waters year-round, but fall and winter see these fish gathering in large spawning groups. They'll loiter in backwater bays until a cold snap ushers them into the Gulf for one of several reproductive cycles.

Between spawns, redfish, trout and the occasional snook will follow the mullet herds - often running right among their escorts - in hopes of scoring a free meal when crabs, shrimp and pinfish flush from their bottom hideouts.

Finding the action

When mullet move en masse through shallow coastal bays and backwaters, their rumbling parades leave muddy trails that resemble chocolate milk. Known in angling circles as "muds," these turbulent paths indicate recent or current mullet movement.

Also look for "nervous" water, or current ripples caused by mullet schools. As you idle past a gang of mullet just under the surface, the startled fish typically blast away with boils, splashes and mad dashes.

Mullet often fool anglers into thinking they've found redfish. However, the latter usually moves in distinct "V" wakes, while the former ambles without much direction.

In large bays, watch for distant flashes of silver sides, below or above the surface. Mullet like to leap in awkward, belly-flopping arcs that provide visual and audible clues to the school's presence.

As you fish, scan the distant reaches of a water body for circling ospreys. These birds could be watching a handful of trout, but the birds make a good living off seemingly oblivious mullet, so pay attention to their efforts.

You'll also hear splashing when the passing shadow of a low-flying bird, predatory or not, spooks a school. This sudden reaction sounds a lot like someone stepping out of a bathtub.

Working the schools

Fishing out of Port Richey, captain Mark Dillingham starts his mullet missions around sunup. Approaching the schools via trolling motor or push pole ensures that the mullet don't spook and take the gamefish with them.

"As long as you're not making a lot of racket, you can ease a long and blind cast to the fish," Dillingham said. "You're mainly just casting right into the mullet and you'll pick up good numbers of trout and redfish."

When targeting a mullet school, Dillingham tips quarter-ounce jigs with cut shrimp. For picky predators, he'll hook a whole shrimp through the tail so the jig head rests against the fins.

Both arrangements allow optimal, low-and-slow presentation.

"This time of year, the fish are really hugging the bottom," Dillingham said. "It seems like the slower retrieves are generating more strikes because it gives the bait enough time to rest in front of the fish."

The same 7-foot medium-action spinning outfits common to warm-season inshore fishing work just fine on winter fish. However, Dillingham said line choice significantly affects strike sensitivity.

"Braided line makes a huge difference in feeling the fish strike in the colder water," he said. "They're not real active so they're just sucking in the bait. A fish is not really hitting it; he's just laying there and picking it up."

That's good to remember for fans of artificials. Erratic twitching and rapid retrieves garner little attention from lethargic fish. You'll do best with a low, slow hop along the bottom.

This is a good time of year for various scented soft plastic baits. Shrimp and crab patterns best resemble natural forage, but shad tails, tubes and soft jerk baits also do well.

Topwater plugs can bring some of the most ferocious strikes you'll see, especially from jumbo winter trout.

Low-light conditions of early mornings and late afternoons prove best for topwaters, but when mullet are active, you can often sneak a noisy topwater plug into the commotion long enough for a gamefish to crush it.

Mullet for dinner

Mullet are high in food value, and these abundant fish do more than attract the sexy species. They offer a relatively easy target for those seeking to fill the dinner table.

As vegetarians, mullet rarely bite a baited hook, but if you can sling a cast net, you can drop a bunch of mullet into your cooler.

The fish are generally in shallow water, so you don't have to strain your back with a heavy net. However, the wider the diameter, the more mesh you can drop on the school.

A 10- to 12-foot net with 1-inch mesh will do the trick. From Sept. 1-Jan. 31, licensed anglers can keep a daily limit of 50 mullet (aggregate of striped and silver) per person or vessel. On Feb. 1, the daily bag limit goes to 50 per person, or 100 per vessel.

Fried mullet ranks as a southern classic, but these fish will also turn out nicely in the smoker. Just dress the fish by removing the head and entrails, leave the skin and tail intact and spread the body skin-down on the smoker rack.

A long, slow round of low heat and your favorite hardwood smoke yields a memorable treat that might make you forget about those trout, redfish and snook.

[Last modified December 16, 2006, 07:52:25]