I've been meaning to have a go at the mullet that live the marina, where I keep my boat, for quite sometime but have never built up the courage to do so.
Every spring they arrive in considerable numbers and seem to be there day in , day out ,swanning around the boats and pontoons with not a care in the world, and seemingly intent on winding up us anglers-particularly me.
As a long standing mullet fanatic, who does far too little mullet angling nowadays, I've found them extremely difficult to resist for over two years but, for various sound reasons, It's against the marina rules to fish among the moorings.
Alas, I could wait no longer, and egged on by my pontoon neighbour Roger, I decided to adopt 'stealth mode' and have a crack at them this evening.
This time of day is usually quiet on the moorings. The day staff have gone home, most boaters have finished their business and are at home watching the telly (why I don't know as evening fishing at sea has so much to offer), and only the security guard (Dave on this occasion) remains. Hence, there are less people to upset.
To make the most of the flood the boat needed turning around on its mooring so the stern faced down tide. This also gave me access to a clear patch of water which I reasoned would give me enough room to play a lively mullet without getting too near any other boats, and their line cutting under carriage.
A vegetable sack with a loaf of white, mashed bread was set up on the side cleat of the boat and occasionally agitated to release the fine white particles, which mullet cannot resist, into 3ft of water. Tackle was a 9ft light spinning rod(short and easy to conceal) with just a hook and a couple of split shot to tension the line(tight lining), the bait suspended as close to the sack as possible and in mid water. This tactic has worked well for me in the past in similar 'urban' mullet environments and I didn't have long to wait for it to work tonight.
The key is to make the hook bait stand out by ensuring that its slightly larger than the particles leaking out of the sack. I've actually watched mullet in the lower river actively select the bigger bait samples so know first hand of its effectiveness.
Commencing fishing I kept one eye on the rod tip, and the other on the lookout for Dave.(I'll get a right telling off if he reads this)
I peered over the side of the boat just as a mullet swam right under the sack and a few minutes later the soft topped rod pulled over and I was in on the first cast. Actually, the first drop.
The mullet just did not know what had hit it, and was clearly totally confused. It did nothing more than wallow on the surface for a few seconds before I was able to swiftly scoop it up in my, wholly unsuitable, boat net at which point it decided to wake up. By then it was too late.
After a quick snapshot and weighing before slipping her back into the murky water , I fished on for about an hour or so. I did get one more bite, unfortunately missed, but that was that and I managed to sneak off home with no-one the wiser to my covert operations.
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