Getting in some practice with mullet

[sebastiaan]

Hi

I can almost never get a chance to do any fly fishing for trout, hopefully this will change when i turn 16 (in august) and get a bike, but until then i am stuck.

Until i had been inspired by the recent mullet flyfishing articles in TCFF. So i am planning on going out to zandvlei on this weekend with my friend and his inflatable boat (which, by the way, was donated to him by andre, thanks).

Other than foul hooking a mullet on a 03 clouser while fishing for leervis i have no experience in catching these guys, does any one have any tips not found in a TCFF especially about zandvlei mullet? Are there any stripped mullet there?

So i was thinking of using my 3# but the only thing i am worried about is destroy my expensive drift fishing line in the salt water, i assume i won't but is their a chance?

Also i can't get hold of any chartreuse material, would olive work? What flies have worked for you?

Thanks

[damage]

olive will work if you dont have chart
there is no chance of the salt damaging your line just keep it outa the oily patches and maybe give it a wash once you are done

for mullet

use small whitish "dry flys " and sight cast to them
if you have no success then throw a bit of bread to get them in the mood to eat off the surface

good luck
ps there are also carp avalible but dont use the three weight
/d

[deewy]

I wouldnt go with a 3wt to target zandvlei mullet, I got run into backing on a 7wt and Rols got taken deep into backing on his 8wt. They are monsters, and you have to find the school and dead drift it in there. They tast anything in the water, use an indicator fly.

the results can be awesome

[sebastiaan]

that looks great, i will defiantly take my 5#. Looking forward to it and will post pics if i can convince my friend to come with.

[Morne]

How would you guys target big mullet that seems to sit deep and dont school around. I am going to a spot on the Garden Route again in a few weeks time where there is plenty of monster mullet. They seem to sit quite deep under the cliffs though and I havn't seen them swimming around. Occasionally a big one will jump clear out of the water but otherwise it is mainly the small ones that chase around.

We took a throw net the last time we were there and stood on the cliffs above the pools and thrown it in and pulled some big ones out. You can also feel the really big ones when they hit the net, but just couldn't catch the buggers.

I have tried with my fly rod but havn't gotten any interest from them.

The local folk use "dipsticks" to catch them but use the small fish for bait. They however only seem to catch the smaller ones as well.

Any advise?

[deewy]

How would you guys target big mullet that seems to sit deep and dont school around. I am going to a spot on the Garden Route again in a few weeks time where there is plenty of monster mullet. They seem to sit quite deep under the cliffs though and I havn't seen them swimming around. Occasionally a big one will jump clear out of the water but otherwise it is mainly the small ones that chase around.

We took a throw net the last time we were there and stood on the cliffs above the pools and thrown it in and pulled some big ones out. You can also feel the really big ones when they hit the net, but just couldn't catch the buggers.

I have tried with my fly rod but havn't gotten any interest from them.

The local folk use "dipsticks" to catch them but use the small fish for bait. They however only seem to catch the smaller ones as well.

Any advise?

Try for something else rather...its easier to catch

[will101]

Bas, also try the following with the Zandvlei mullet: use a sinking line with a fly that is slightly boyant on a short (1m) leader. A place to try this would be the South eastern side of Park Island, casting towards the houses on the other side (towards the channel)

Reason I'm suggesting this is that I have spent time with 2 of the locals there one day and the method they use to catch live bait is similar, except they use bread. I think you might have to get a bit of chum going to get them feeding as suggested.

I might even see you there I'm thinking of going Sunday morning (with my 9wt! cos my 6wt is lying somewhere on the bottom of the Breede river)

The fly I would use is the b&g low floater (one of my fave freshwater flies) O, yes almost forgot = pray you don't get picked up by a 6kilo carp. That might well happen with the fly I mentioned!

[MarkK]

How would you guys target big mullet that seems to sit deep and dont school around. I am going to a spot on the Garden Route again in a few weeks time where there is plenty of monster mullet. They seem to sit quite deep under the cliffs though and I havn't seen them swimming around. Occasionally a big one will jump clear out of the water but otherwise it is mainly the small ones that chase around.

We took a throw net the last time we were there and stood on the cliffs above the pools and thrown it in and pulled some big ones out. You can also feel the really big ones when they hit the net, but just couldn't catch the buggers.

I have tried with my fly rod but havn't gotten any interest from them.

The local folk use "dipsticks" to catch them but use the small fish for bait. They however only seem to catch the smaller ones as well.

Any advise?

Morne, I spent a few years on the Garden Route and I have a good idea of what you're talking about. I got some intriguing leads from the local artlure guys, but never had a chance to test the theory on fly... Those mullet are big flatheads, and the artlure boys catch them by ripping - and I do mean ripping - a 5cm mullet-coloured sinking rapala past them. The strike is out of aggression, almost as if the big fish don't tolerate small ones amongst them. I think there's something to the theory, because I've often had big mullet chase after a stripped Clouser and even peck at it. When I get around to it, I'd like to try a small mylar minnow with the hook right at the tail, fished fast on a sinking line. Who knows?

[Morne]

Morne, I spent a few years on the Garden Route and I have a good idea of what you're talking about. I got some intriguing leads from the local artlure guys, but never had a chance to test the theory on fly... Those mullet are big flatheads, and the artlure boys catch them by ripping - and I do mean ripping - a 5cm mullet-coloured sinking rapala past them. The strike is out of aggression, almost as if the big fish don't tolerate small ones amongst them. I think there's something to the theory, because I've often had big mullet chase after a stripped Clouser and even peck at it. When I get around to it, I'd like to try a small mylar minnow with the hook right at the tail, fished fast on a sinking line. Who knows?

Thanks Mark

Very interesting. I will definitely give it a bash in a few weeks time.

[poppernel]

Hi

I can almost never get a chance to do any fly fishing for trout, hopefully this will change when i turn 16 (in august) and get a bike, but until then i am stuck.

Until i had been inspired by the recent mullet flyfishing articles in TCFF. So i am planning on going out to zandvlei on this weekend with my friend and his inflatable boat (which, by the way, was donated to him by andre, thanks).

Other than foul hooking a mullet on a 03 clouser while fishing for leervis i have no experience in catching these guys, does any one have any tips not found in a TCFF especially about zandvlei mullet? Are there any stripped mullet there?

So i was thinking of using my 3# but the only thing i am worried about is destroy my expensive drift fishing line in the salt water, i assume i won't but is their a chance?

Also i can't get hold of any chartreuse material, would olive work? What flies have worked for you?

Thanks

HI Boet!! Think the locals will gather you and teach you a lot. If not, what a waste.