Sunday July 22nd - With a heatwave starting to exert its grip on the south coast, I simply could not resist the temptation of a cast or two on the evening ebb. Conditions were perfect, water with clarity of gin, a soft, warm breeze and reasonable numbers of mullet moving in the surf. Hopefully the major shoals would come in-shore as the week progressed, encouraged by a rapid rise in sea temperature. Tonight, however, the focus would be on small groups of fish feeding where gentle waves rolled into a sandy bay. Perseverance is required, to continually cast the flies in advance of the moving fish, hoping for a connection. The first connection came after 2 hours of stalking but lasted only until the third, lightning fast run. 50 minutes later the fly line locked solid oncemore and following a feisty 7 minute scrap in fading light, a 1lb thick lipped mullet slipped into the net. I have never encountered such a small TL before.
Tuesday 24th July - What a relief to slip into the cool (relatively ) waters of a Solent mullet mark after a day spent in strength sapping heat of a construction site. Despite the mediterranean conditions, the hoped for mullet shoals remained elusive. A few large individuals showed themselves as they cruised the upper layers but these were not feeding fish. Simon (Tailing Loop) suddenly arrived, camera at the ready, in hope that some mullet action might be on the cards. I assured him that this was quite unlikely given the absence of fish. Famous last words. At 9.15 pm, just as we were ready to call a halt to proceedings, I saw a fish rise in an area of current to my right and covered the rings. The take was as instant as it was hard and my first thought was 'Bass'. Simon sprang into action with the camera and I attempted to bring the fish under control for the lens. But the fish was having none of it and struggled determinedly well into darkness before eventually succumbing to Simon's net. The fish was in fact a pristine thick lip of 2.5lbs. The fighting ability of these fish never ceases to impress. Afterwards I viewed shots of the action on the screen. They were not so much photos as works of art.
Saturday 28th July - With the heatwave rapidly coming to an end and cool temperatures, rain and strong wind forecast for next few weeks, I squeezed in a couple of lunch time hours at a local mark. Water temps would now be at their peak and feeding activity would hopefully match. I fished the last hour of the ebb and the first hour up. Strong sunshine greeted my arrival on the flats, in tandem with extremely clear water conditions and the shallows appeared bereft of fish. Ten minutes before low tide, a large area of cloud drifted over head. At precisely low tide, a single fish broke surface and close inspection hinted at the presence of companions. The flies were sent with the current to investigate and the line tightened within seconds. A powerful fish streaked across the flats before stopping to commence some extremely vigorous head shaking. The fish continued to head bang its way through the shallows for the next ten minutes, sometimes with such force that the rod was audibly 'knocking'. The clear water allowed me to follow the progress of the fish and watch its every action. Eventually the head shaking stopped and I tired the fish out on a short line. The fish made various attempts to throw the hook, including projecting its head above the surface with the fly plainly visible in the lower lip and shaking its head violently. Further escape attempts included 'tail slapping' the line and a behaviour which I have witnessed in the past but could not figure out, whereby the fish turns head down in shallow water with its tail standing proud of the surface. In the clear water I could see precisely what the fish was doing....pushing its head into the shingle and attempting to rub the fly from its lip!
Ten further minutes were required to bring the fish to the net. This time a 3lb thick lip had fallen for the charms of a sparse Diawl bach, the fifth fish this same fly has claimed in six sessions.
Charlie wrote:Collin, Whats the Orvis in the top pic ? And what reels are you using for salt ?
Hi Charlie.
The rod is an Orvis Hydros, with a Hydros reel and line to match. I also have some Zanes which are lovely reels for the salt but also frequently use Vision Komas and Koma plus reels which have served me well for several years, handling bonefish and mullet up to 11lb without problem.
Hi Paul,
I fish both ways: let my fly drop or retrieve it depending on the situation.
Letting my fly drop works best if I can see the fly and the fish. That way I can hit it immediately when taking the fly.
Without being able to see fish taking the fly exactly I mostly will retrieve in order to get them hooked much better.
Some days the retrieve works best and on others they will take the fly while it just drops down.
Mostly the retrieve worked best for me.
Greets
Bernd
From last week
Paul Arden wrote:Fantastic. Do you work the fly, or fish the drop? You seem to be on top of these fish, Colin. Incidentally how hot did it get?
Cheers, Paul
Hi Paul.
The water temp peaked at 21c (altough substantially higher on the flats on the flood tide) and the air temp reached 32c in nearby Southampton.
The technique I use is to locate a feeding shoal and dead drift a team of flies to them with the current, maintaining a tight line. A gentle strip strike at the slightest hint of interruption to the fly lines passage will normally result in a hook-up.
I normally fish in water of less than a foot in depth, so do not get the opportunity to fish on the drop.
Bernd wrote:Hi Paul,
I fish both ways: let my fly drop or retrieve it depending on the situation.
Letting my fly drop works best if I can see the fly and the fish. That way I can hit it immediately when taking the fly.
Without being able to see fish taking the fly exactly I mostly will retrieve in order to get them hooked much better.
Some days the retrieve works best and on others they will take the fly while it just drops down.
Mostly the retrieve worked best for me.
Greets
Bernd
From last week
That's a very nice fish Bernd, healthy and with a whacking great tail!
Which part of the world were you fishing in and do you fish with nymphs or bread flies?
Hi Colin,
I fish at the Baltic coast, Germany mostly (Denmark sometimes as well).
Here is the fly I took that one with (as well as most of the mullets):
Interesting you fish more than one fly. I tried that, too but too often ended up in fail hooked fish yet.
Does that happen to you sometimes, too?
Greets
Bernd
Fantastic - thanks Colin. That's very interesting, I'll have to have another go at mullet soon - would love to find consistency there. Do you ever get them sipping off the top? I've seen shoals of them doing this in Australia. I've had them take dries - I think - but they could also be foul hook-ups because I've yet to land one doing this!
And yes that certainly is hot. Christ it's even warm enough to swim!
Hi Paul,
I see them quite often just "lying" below the surface and having their mouth right at the surface. They open and close it all the time in these situations. Yet I never managed to force one to take a dry fly or anything else here. But easily I get a wrong hooked one in such a situation.
I have taken a mullet on a dry fly but it was swimming more activ some inch below the surface.
Now these days when I see them lying on the surface I don't cast to them anymore cause it never worked and instead I search for another swarm to be more activ.
Best
Bernd
Bernd wrote:Hi Colin,
I fish at the Baltic coast, Germany mostly (Denmark sometimes as well).
Here is the fly I took that one with (as well as most of the mullets):
Interesting you fish more than one fly. I tried that, too but too often ended up in fail hooked fish yet.
Does that happen to you sometimes, too?
Greets
Bernd
The Baltic coast looks superb!
A very interesting fly. The mullet are definitely showing a predatory instinct to take such a pattern. No doubt any passing sea trout would also show interest.
You are fortunate to see the fish take the fly in the waters you fish. Only very occasionally is the water at my mullet mark clear enough for me to observe the mullet's movements. It certainly adds to the excitement when you can see a mullet engulf the fly!
I normally fish three flies on the cast (must be my trout fishing background). The flies I use are size 12 nymphs, which have proved to be the most productive size. Patterns tied on size 10 hooks are generally ignored. Because I drift the flies amongst a feeding shoal, rather than retreive, foul hooking is a rare occurence, with perhaps one fish in every thirty being foul hooked, normally in the tail.
Cheers
Paul Arden wrote:Fantastic - thanks Colin. That's very interesting, I'll have to have another go at mullet soon - would love to find consistency there. Do you ever get them sipping off the top? I've seen shoals of them doing this in Australia. I've had them take dries - I think - but they could also be foul hook-ups because I've yet to land one doing this!
And yes that certainly is hot. Christ it's even warm enough to swim!
Cheers, Paul
Hi Paul.
Yes, I have witnessed mullet 'sipping' at the surface. Golden grey mullet often ingest 'foam' from the surface to remove trapped food particles. Thick lips also feed in the surface film, again feeding on trapped particles. An approach worth trying for fish feeding in this manner is to place a team of size 16 soft-hackled wet spiders, such as a partridge and orange, in the path of advancing fish.....ultimate sight fishing!
I have caught surface feeding mullet in Spain on Klinkhammers (see pic below). The Mediterranean bass also took a liking to the klinks!
Hi Colin,
very intersting stuff.
The only fly which worked for me on the surface was a size 12 Klinkhammer (green body).
Yes we have clear water and quite often I see the fish take the fly. Or I can see them chasing the fly and then refuse in the very last second. Sometimes they chase the fly about a distance of 5-6 meters and more.
It looks like the mullets here are much bigger? Avg. size here is clearly above 60cm (few fish below 60cm). 3,5-4,5Kg is normal.
We have taken them on serious streamers, too. But so far those green marabou patterns worked best for me.
Most fish I release. But I know others who like to take them home. Yet I don't know of anything else than green or brown algae inside (+ sand).
I don't think we fool them to believe they take algae though (cause of the wrong smell). But it seems as if we can produce some "jealousy about food" - especially if more than one fish are swimming in a row.
I had a few days in which they took the fly exactly like a sea trout does. Those days I could land more than one fish. But this happens in one out of 30 days maybe.
We had this one on streamer while sea trout fishing:
Hi Bernd,
Yes, the Baltic fish do look larger than the mullet here on the south coast of England.
Here, the thick lips average 4 to 5lb. The largest I have caught were 6.5lb. I have seen and lost fish of 10lb or more but they are rare.
I also enjoy sport with Golden grey mullet (up to 3lb) and thin lips (up to 3.5lb). They are much more predatory than thick lips.
I agree, the chances of catching are greatly increased when mullet are feeding as a shoal. An element of competition makes them less cautious. Individual fish are very difficult to catch, although the fish in the first picture above was travelling alone and attacked a size 12 Red tag from 5 metres distant.
When does your season start and end? My earliest catch was a GG in April one year and a 5lb thick lip on 12th November last year.
Tight lines,
Colin
Hi Colin,
season starts usually around June. But the first fish showing up are always very shy first.
Good fishing (if we ever can call it good fishing ) starts around the middle of June and ends in the end of August. Still we have some fish til the end of September though.
July and August are back for the Baltic sea.
I have fished the north sea, too. For example on island Helgoland. There it starts in April, too. I have seen very big ones out there of around 85-90cm (7-9Kg). Yet I have to catch one of the real big ones. Biggest ones which (I know of) have been taken here (Baltic side) are around 8Kg.
I agree the single ones are mostly hard to catch. But there is nothing better than seeing a single fish in very shallow water swallowing the fly...
Greets
Bernd
