Grey mullet
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Saltwater Flyflingers
Forum Description: A forum for saltwater fly fishing enthusiasts
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=84686
Printed Date: 30 Jul 2026 at 6:03pm
Topic: Grey mullet
Posted By: Jwest
Subject: Grey mullet
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 6:19pm
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First post on the swf forum and to be honest my 6wt has never seen the sea but.....I was walking around Rangitoto the other day and came across a couple of cool little bays and inlets that were full of big grey mullet, they looked like they would be pretty fun on 'ultra light' spin gear or even better a fly rod. Have also seen good numbers in the Orakei inlet that could be reached with a fly. Has anybody here ever targeted them or have any ideas on what might tempt them? Cheers
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Replies:
Posted By: C A
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 7:08pm
| a shotgun |
Posted By: matto
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 7:56pm
here we go again 
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Posted By: Snuffit.
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 8:06pm
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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo
There's no such thing as a grey mullet, so there. They are just things that god sends to send perfectly happy and well balanced fly anglers to a dark dark place.
------------- You cant eat my toast fish |
Posted By: Snuffit.
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 8:07pm
------------- You cant eat my toast fish |
C A wrote:Posted By: Pole Dancer
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 8:15pm
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Craig Worthington is a Grey Mullet's best friend. What he doesn't know about catching one on a fly rod isn't worth knowing... he even has a tattoo of one in a very intimate place... he'll be along shortly, trying to be modest about his grey Mullet achievements, but he will be along.
------------- http://www.clarkreid.co.nz" rel="nofollow - www.clarkreid.co.nz FFF Certified Casting Instructor / Umpqua Designer Tier 
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Posted By: matto
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 8:53pm
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Posted By: FishMan
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 9:16pm
There is no emoticon for hiding in a dark place with a pillow on your head .. 
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Posted By: Jwest
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 9:16pm
| Intriguing to say the least, almost as much as seeing them dart around the shallows........ should I quit before I start then? |
Posted By: Ahab
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 9:22pm
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He he! I have tried a lot of techniques for getting these buggers, including dropping boulders on them out of trees as they pass below! They are dead bloody sitting ducks for a throw net, but the regs for catching them means you can't use fine-meshed nets. Yoshi at Rod and Reel reckons you can get them by slapping the fly in front of their noses so they snap at it out of aggression. I've also heard that a well-presented maggot (not fly, a live maggot) can get them hot and bothered. |
Posted By: C A
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 9:26pm
did you use solids? |
Posted By: Snuffit.
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 9:35pm
3"#2 goose loads!  ------------- You cant eat my toast fish |
Posted By: Jwest
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 9:51pm
| Maggots or projectiles then........ |
Posted By: C A
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 9:56pm
try solids, apparently they work well 
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Posted By: Troutzilla
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 10:07pm
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Stacks of mullet around the Westmere, Point Chev shallows at present. Perhaps a weed fly as with milkfish? ------------- It aint no use if it aint chartreuse! |
Posted By: part-timer
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 10:22pm
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there will be something that gets them.. its just a matter of finding it.. |
Posted By: [email protected]
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 11:03pm
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I think it takes approximately 20,000 casts per mullet hook up - eh, Craig ??
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Posted By: C A
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2012 at 11:08pm
good luck with that
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Posted By: Norseman
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2012 at 4:43am
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Found this web site on fishing for mullet. Notice I didn't say catching! http://www.snookfoundation.org/news/fishing/134-catching-the-lowly-mullet.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.snookfoundation.org/news/fishing/134-catching-the-lowly-mullet.html Have to say the only time I caught mullet was using a snag line with 4 or 5 large treble hooks attached and a sinker on the end. It works!  |
Posted By: Mike.Thomas
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2012 at 6:17am
They are, shall we say "Difficult" fish to catch, but they do catch mullet on fly in the UK, a slightly different mullet but quite close in looks and habitat so I think some of the UK tactics might work.
The most popular method over there is to cast a small Diawl Bac with a red head well ahead of the spotted fish and leave it, no retrieve, just let it move with the current. Even then I think the hook up to fish ratio is low, maybe as low as 1 in fifty shots!
I have not given this a go over here but I think it might work.
All the best.
Mike
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Posted By: FishMan
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2012 at 10:27am
| Yep Mike. I think that technique as described in Sexyloops probably has the best chance of success. |
Posted By: Davo
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2012 at 10:41am
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a speargun works well
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Posted By: Jwest
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2012 at 5:39pm
| Cheers for replies fellas, maybe dough will work |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 13 Nov 2012 at 9:05pm
| There was guy on these forums years ago who said he caught them on the Kaipara regularly using a fly like a small yellow glo bug from memory. |
Posted By: Millsy
Date Posted: 14 Nov 2012 at 7:23am
Can someone lock this thread now before people get carried away with the mullet fantasy again. "You can go about your business, there are no mullet here..."  ------------- http://www.revoflyfish.co.nz/" rel="nofollow">   |
Posted By: JonnyBlaze
Date Posted: 16 Nov 2012 at 10:24am
| Yoshi did get some. I have seen the photos. More than one as well. |
Posted By: Snuffit.
Date Posted: 16 Nov 2012 at 10:41am
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Oh I have 'caught' 2 on fly so I'm sure it can be done... one ate a silicon smelt and the other a weed fly meant for a parore... its just that every time I've set out specifically to catch them I've retreated a broken man. ------------- You cant eat my toast fish |
Posted By: Xtoad
Date Posted: 19 Nov 2012 at 9:48pm
| I got one on my second go and have wasted about 200 hours since. Beginning to wonder if it was a dream. |
Posted By: FishMan
Date Posted: 20 Nov 2012 at 8:26pm
| Yes, it's a worldwide mullet conspiracy designed to enrage and confuse budding mullet fly fishers by giving you some hope early on. |
Posted By: Snuffit.
Date Posted: 22 Nov 2012 at 7:42am
Gotta admit Stu that when I saw your post back then when you caught it that I thought the mullet mesiah was walking amongst us mortals  ------------- You cant eat my toast fish |
Posted By: Pole Dancer
Date Posted: 22 Nov 2012 at 10:57am
This mullet talk MUST stop. Mental Health reports show a marked upsurge in suicide among anglers in recent weeks and I, personally, blame this thread..... 
------------- http://www.clarkreid.co.nz" rel="nofollow - www.clarkreid.co.nz FFF Certified Casting Instructor / Umpqua Designer Tier
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Posted By: FishMan
Date Posted: 22 Nov 2012 at 7:25pm
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I'm actually considering organising a get together where there will be a dead mullet hanging by its tail on a rope off a tree. We can all take turns hitting it with a stick.. |
Posted By: Millsy
Date Posted: 22 Nov 2012 at 9:35pm
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Maybe it is the MEK paint thinners in action.... ....but THIS is a mullet  There is no other... ------------- http://www.revoflyfish.co.nz/" rel="nofollow"> |
Posted By: Pole Dancer
Date Posted: 22 Nov 2012 at 9:45pm
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Do not post any more pictures of my kin please!
------------- http://www.clarkreid.co.nz" rel="nofollow - www.clarkreid.co.nz FFF Certified Casting Instructor / Umpqua Designer Tier
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Posted By: Jwest
Date Posted: 22 Nov 2012 at 10:42pm
| quite hard to catch then aye? |
Posted By: Snuffit.
Date Posted: 23 Nov 2012 at 10:15am
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Yes Joel................. ------------- You cant eat my toast fish |
Posted By: Xtoad
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 11:26am
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I have a new spot to try - private water - like goldfish in a barrel.
Will report back, hope I don't waste another summer...
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Posted By: FishMan
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 12:17pm
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Very brave Xtoad. I just read sexyloops again. The suggested technique is a size 12 to 16 fly. Simple brown nymph or chironimid pattern. Fly is unweighted or very lightly weighted. Fished on a light fluorocarbon tippet beneath floating line and indicator. The idea is to find an area with a gentle current and drift the fly over the bottom. Getting the fly to drift along naturally without getting hooked on the bottom is the tricky part. Apparently the fly should be just skimming along slowly over sand mud and stones. This is after you've got near the mad mullet without spooking them. Good luck! |
Posted By: FishMan
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 12:24pm
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This thread has a pic of a successful mullet fly and a grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) it caught in Spain. Scroll down the thread to the picture of the very skinny 'Pardete' he caught. This is the same species as ours. Ignore the mullet at the top of the thread - a different species we don't have. http://www.sexyloops.co.uk/cgi-bin/theboard_07/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=6;t=13999" rel="nofollow - http://www.sexyloops.co.uk/cgi-bin/theboard_07/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=6;t=13999 |
Posted By: SvenC
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2013 at 12:48pm
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Yeah, they're a difficult lot. We did not have them in Sweden until they managed to survive around the warm water outlets of our coastal nuclear plants around 20 years ago. I have targeted them and caught a few, including a record 6.12kg fish on a size 16 dry fly. I often see them cruising along the shore, showing dorsal fins and upper lips as if they are engulfing things on the surface. Whether they sometimes take a small dry fly by mistake, I don't know. Over the years I've probably spent 40+ hours per fish caught. I was in contact with a guy in the Channel Islands who said he used small "lumis" at night successfully. I have not tried it. I know there are people who use scented green algae-like flies. Success??? |