freshwater grey mullet

I am lucky enough to be living in Spain on the Costa Blanca, although not a generally good area for fishing. If anybody fancies a holiday in Spain they should look at Extramadura ( unless you are catfish mad )

Anyway, we have available an area known as the Pego marshes and there are 2 little rivers with carp, barbel ( few ) and a lot of Mullet. These things leap out of the water and generally shoot about all over the place.They can be caught on float fished bread flake and give a spectacular fight which actually exceeds these wild carp in ferocity. A mate hooked a big one yesterday which careered all round the river before breaking his 5lb line although he did nothing wrong --- you dont have time to do anything much as they are lightning fast and powerful.

Does anybody have experience of these phenomenal fish and can advise on methods ? Another mate reckons the only comparator in fight is a Salmon ! Be good to hear from

I fish Port Talbot docks in South Wales. The water is heated from the steel works and mammoth catches are the norm even on the coldest winter days. Its a wonderful fishery loaded with quality roach, large skimmers and some thumping great hybrids that tend to go like stink along with all sorts of other species .

As if we arent spoilt enough with that it is also full of grey mullet and bass and there is absolutely no question that the instant you hit a mullet you know exactly what has taken you long before you see the fish in the very deep but very clear water.

Nothing in there fights remotely like the mullet. They go ballistic and Im sure they are on steroids of some description.

Wonderful fighting fish but unlike some guy,s I have never experienced this soft mouth and hook dropping thing they are known for.

Once they have got it to pinch a Matt Hayes quote "Dont they ever ang on".

Delighted to hear this but do you ever catch them on other than bread?

Maybe try the expander pellets but bread seems to be the old faithful bait from what most people say.

"Wonderful fighting fish but unlike some guy,s I have never experienced this soft mouth and hook dropping thing they are known for"

Risque , I do a spot of mulleting andI thinks its a myth.In fact the hook, normally a Kamasan B983, can bee a b..... to get out sometimes.

The docks sound fantastic.Do the mullet stick around all winter or disappear like with most estuary type marks?

I think I will move to Port Talbot !

Hi Peter, Due to the depth, averaging 8 metres at 8 metres /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif. I never fish the docks on bread mate.

You get battered with all the millions of nuisance 8 oz roach on the way down (lol I kid you not). They hold 2 oz groundbait feeders up.

Sweetcorn is my favoured bait on there because it stands more chance of getting down to the big skimmers and hybrids or red maggot but whatever you put in there it would seem the mullet will come along.

During the summer a lot of people fish whips and they contact a lot of small mullet around the pound mark and then it gets funny.

I would love to target the mullet but its not possible I dont think because there are hordes and hordes of silvers that will take anything the mullet will take and its just not possible to feed them off.

P.S If you ever do get chance to fish Port Talbot be prepared for the biggest breakfast in Christendom at the cafe on site as you go in.

I mainly fish the docks during the winter so I suppose the mullet must hang around as Ive caught loads of them over the last 5-6 years.

Ive never caught bass over 10ozs but if you fish the whip in the summer its a fish a chuck even at 1 metre to hand and there are loads of bass mixed with them so I guess mummy and daddy are around too.

Peter, if the water is predominantly fresh it is likely that the mullet you are catching are thin-lipped grey mullet. The soft mouth thing is a myth. They can be caught on all kinds of baits at times, but baited spinners seem to be the most consistent approach. The technique involves modifying a mepps type spinner by removing the treble and replacing it with two singles an inch or two apart (the upper one is just a bait holder really). Thread a worm (ragworm is best) onto the singles, cast and retrieve at a steady pace. When a mullet starts to follow keep the pace of the retrieve steady and do not strike. Remember they are not a predatory species and are not trying to eat the mepps, they are trying to steal the worm from a smaller fish. They will nibble at the trailing end of the worm, but if you keep the retrieve steady they will eventually hook themselves, usually on the bottom single - and then all hell breaks loose! There are one or two videos around showing this in action - Mike Ladle has been pioneering the technique in the UK. I am sure there will be mention of it on his website (Mike Ladle Fishing). Tight lines!