Algae Fly for Mullet!?

[Ryan Weaver]

Howzit guys. I'm VERY new to the saltwater fly scene and heard recently of an algae fly tied with olive marabou that works well for mullet. Anyone know anything about it, how to tie it etc?

[Scythe]

Easy really.

Take a streamer hook, tie in some olive/snot coloured marabour as a tail, then dub the marabou by spinning it around your thread to the hook eye, whip finish & voila. What also works is to ad a bit of foam on the hook shank prior to doing the body out of marabou. This helps with getting a neutral density fly which doesn't sink too fast. I've seen that if your fly is dragging on the bottom they give it a fat ignore.

You can also tie the shaggy shrimp in similar colours or even tie it in pink, basically the same design, just add two stems of burnt mono facing the hook bend after tying in the tail.

I'm sorry to have to say it, but the bread fly, as ethically dubious as it may be, is probably still the easiest way to catch mullet on fly.

[Jason]

Easy really.

Take a streamer hook, tie in some olive/snot coloured marabour as a tail, then dub the marabou by spinning it around your thread to the hook eye, whip finish & voila. What also works is to ad a bit of foam on the hook shank prior to doing the body out of marabou. This helps with getting a neutral density fly which doesn't sink too fast. I've seen that if your fly is dragging on the bottom they give it a fat ignore.

You can also tie the shaggy shrimp in similar colours or even tie it in pink, basically the same design, just add two stems of burnt mono facing the hook bend after tying in the tail.

I'm sorry to have to say it, but the bread fly, as ethically dubious as it may be, is probably still the easiest way to catch mullet on fly.

Ditto. I have found that a bread fly without chumming with bread first is a bit iffy.

[chris williams]

The marabou one works, also a great one I've used over the years is to use olive (or right coloured) seal's fur with as much crammed onto the hook as possible. Tease it out with velcro or a dog comb into an ugly Afro and this with the natural oil in the fur sits nicely in the surface. It can be compressed a bit to sink case need. If you were to use angora goat or a seal sub you may need to grease it if required. This is also a killer for grass carp and common carp if the latter are sucking on weed. This also worked well for me in Oz with a fish called luderick in the estuaries/bays which were basically algae/weed eaters

[Ryan Weaver]

Awesome, thanks guys! Will give it a bash and report back hopefully on Monday!
Fishing tactics? Dead drift in line with the cruising fish?
Ever put flash in or anything to attract attention?

[chris williams]

To be quite honest I've only used dead-drift with the ofdd twitch to maybe entice a bit of interest. I've never bothered to try using flash, not to say that something out of the ordinary might spark their interest?

[Jason]

Mullet can be very curious. A bt of flash, very little though might just be what is need to make them zone inn on your green flyand ignore the tons of natural weed lying around.

[Scythe]

I once caught a 3Kg mullet on an olive clouser ... being stripped for Leeries ...

With the algae fly, shaggy shrimp or bread fly I'd offer a static drift on a really long leader.

[Ryan Weaver]

Ahh...after all of that the breede was pumping down full force and sight fishing was out of the question. I spent a lot of time on the flats chasing tailing grunter with various enticing versions of mud prawns to no avail. The other guys got a couple of nice fish on bait, but I was being stubborn believing that even one on fly would be worth 20 on bait...no joy...next time though.
Cheers and thanks for the advice!

[chris williams]

Maybe you should've dipped your fly in a tin of John West prawn sauce!

Anyway better luck next time!