Targeting mullet (for bait)

[Q1Stevens]

Good day,


I would just like to know if you have ever caught your own mullet for bait and how did you go about it. I've been interested in catching karanteen but I haven't seen any being caught this side. I have however, seen anglers reeling in mullet at Harbour Island, or I think it was mullet. So, I've decided to give it a go.
I'm thinking about using a high low rig with two small size 10 hooks.

[RiyadhEd]

Have only ever used a throw net to catch mullet.

[Lofty]

You can use a very light rod with very light line and setup a drift line for Mullet as they usually feed on the surface,only weight coming from a cork or perhaps one of those white and red floats...Use "slukhoekkies" with small pieces of pilchard...To attract them to your spot you can use old bread,some sand and anchovie oil to create a paste that's thrown into the water every now and then to keep them interrested...Colored guys in Mosselbay use dipstokke(long piece of bamboo with a piece of mono attached to the tip...) to catch them off fairly deepwater spots...

[Q1Stevens]

You can use a very light rod with very light line and setup a drift line for Mullet as they usually feed on the surface,only weight coming from a cork or perhaps one of those white and red floats...Use "slukhoekkies" with small pieces of pilchard...To attract them to your spot you can use old bread,some sand and anchovie oil to create a paste that's thrown into the water every now and then to keep them interrested...Colored guys in Mosselbay use dipstokke(long piece of bamboo with a piece of mono attached to the tip...) to catch them off fairly deepwater spots...

The lightest rod I have is an 8ft Adrenalin combo, spooled with 20lb Kingfisher mono.
  slukhoekkies? Will size 12 bait holders do? Nice tip, can I use breadcrumbs too?
That's really interesting. You said I should use no sinker, so I can do it right in front of me? Or maybe I can use a light weight with floated hooks?

[Lofty]

You can use a very light rod with very light line and setup a drift line for Mullet as they usually feed on the surface,only weight coming from a cork or perhaps one of those white and red floats...Use "slukhoekkies" with small pieces of pilchard...To attract them to your spot you can use old bread,some sand and anchovie oil to create a paste that's thrown into the water every now and then to keep them interrested...Colored guys in Mosselbay use dipstokke(long piece of bamboo with a piece of mono attached to the tip...) to catch them off fairly deepwater spots...

The lightest rod I have is an 8ft Adrenalin combo, spooled with 20lb Kingfisher mono.
  slukhoekkies? Will size 12 bait holders do? Nice tip, can I use breadcrumbs too?
That's really interesting. You said I should use no sinker, so I can do it right in front of me? Or maybe I can use a light weight with floated hooks?

I'm not sure what size hooks we use,but they're tiny,the whole hook will fit on your fingernail...Yes,depending on your spot,but deepwater spots are easier(not much breaking white water/sand etc...)even a light weight  will drag the bait down depending on water depth(Mullets are mainly surface feeders)unless it's split shot but then you still need a float,you can add some weight if you notice small Blacktail or Karanteen in your chum area and want to target them...I have mainly used a cast-net to catch Mullet for livebait,but the methods mentioned above I've used when playing around with the kids on the rocks...Mullets can be shy,so you might battle at times to bring them in close enough,so a slight weight like float should give casting distance(10-15m is usually far enough)..20LB mono is a little heavy I think..20lb braid is probably better if you have some spooled on a small grinder...Old pap Pilchards is never just thrown away after a session,I keep that to chum for livebait like Mullet,Strepie,Gorrie and Blacktail

[Kwade]

I remember when I was younger we caught mullet with bread on a small hook 10 or 12 maybe and a cork float about 30cm above it, in the lagoons when we went on holiday... But the most effective way of catching bait fish (I've never used any as live bait to be honest) but I've caught plenty of black tail, karanteen and stone bream on small hooks again. With a piece of prawn same rig as mullet, only the distance between hook and float is about 1m and you throw it right by the rocks so it actually gets pushed on and pulled off the rocks by the white water... Even more effective is using only the hook with a piece of prawn, since you don't need to cast far (just depends how close you can get to water)

[Q1Stevens]

You can use a very light rod with very light line and setup a drift line for Mullet as they usually feed on the surface,only weight coming from a cork or perhaps one of those white and red floats...Use "slukhoekkies" with small pieces of pilchard...To attract them to your spot you can use old bread,some sand and anchovie oil to create a paste that's thrown into the water every now and then to keep them interrested...Colored guys in Mosselbay use dipstokke(long piece of bamboo with a piece of mono attached to the tip...) to catch them off fairly deepwater spots...

The lightest rod I have is an 8ft Adrenalin combo, spooled with 20lb Kingfisher mono.
  slukhoekkies? Will size 12 bait holders do? Nice tip, can I use breadcrumbs too?
That's really interesting. You said I should use no sinker, so I can do it right in front of me? Or maybe I can use a light weight with floated hooks?

I'm not sure what size hooks we use,but they're tiny,the whole hook will fit on your fingernail...Yes,depending on your spot,but deepwater spots are easier(not much breaking white water/sand etc...)even a light weight  will drag the bait down depending on water depth(Mullets are mainly surface feeders)unless it's split shot but then you still need a float,you can add some weight if you notice small Blacktail or Karanteen in your chum area and want to target them...I have mainly used a cast-net to catch Mullet for livebait,but the methods mentioned above I've used when playing around with the kids on the rocks...Mullets can be shy,so you might battle at times to bring them in close enough,so a slight weight like float should give casting distance(10-15m is usually far enough)..20LB mono is a little heavy I think..20lb braid is probably better if you have some spooled on a small grinder...Old pap Pilchards is never just thrown away after a session,I keep that to chum for livebait like Mullet,Strepie,Gorrie and Blacktail

I remember when I was younger we caught mullet with bread on a small hook 10 or 12 maybe and a cork float about 30cm above it, in the lagoons when we went on holiday... But the most effective way of catching bait fish (I've never used any as live bait to be honest) but I've caught plenty of black tail, karanteen and stone bream on small hooks again. With a piece of prawn same rig as mullet, only the distance between hook and float is about 1m and you throw it right by the rocks so it actually gets pushed on and pulled off the rocks by the white water... Even more effective is using only the hook with a piece of prawn, since you don't need to cast far (just depends how close you can get to water)

Thanks guys, I'll definitely make use of these tips.
This is my rig that I'll be using:
cork wrapped with foam, and I'll wrap sard fillets around it for chum (thanks for the tip Visenvryheid)
size 12 hooks
rig is about 25cm in length.

[Kwade]

That looks exactly like the rigs we used (we just ended up going with 1 hook to avoid tangles) we used bread with ours though... But we didn't know about the chumming idea so I think you're well prepared by the look of things so I'm sure you'll do well... Let us know how it goes... And best of luck

[Q1Stevens]

That looks exactly like the rigs we used (we just ended up going with 1 hook to avoid tangles) we used bread with ours though... But we didn't know about the chumming idea so I think you're well prepared by the look of things so I'm sure you'll do well... Let us know how it goes... And best of luck

That's good to hear
I see, I hope it will increase my chances of catchig more.
I'll try bread too, and sard as bait. I'm hoping the chum on the float will give me a bit more casting weight as well. Thanks man, I'll try it out as soon as the weather here in Cape Town calms down.
Will do🤞

[Visenvryheid]

Mullet have very good eyesight if they can see your line you wont have much luck.

[Kwade]

Mullet have very good eyesight if they can see your line you wont have much luck.

Good point... We caught them on ultra light tackle (we were still kids so think those kiddies combos type tackle), not sure the line strength but I'm assuming 5lb? Maybe 7lb? so it was thin, and the mullet gave 1 hell of a fight once hooked, I think a few broke off due to the line being too thin and us being inexperienced... But luckily these days we have fluorocarbon which bends the light the same way water does so they don't see it as easily as normal mono, and stay away from braid because it stands out like a sore thumb in the water... Unless you use finesse braid, but use flouro or light mono on the hook links

[Q1Stevens]

An update:


So I went out to the harbour, wrapped bread and fillet around the cork and cast it out. The line was so full of twists. When I reeled in the hooks would be twisted too, sometimes hooked onto the cork chum. I went on like that, later on I decided to add a small weight just to prevent so much slack line. I got a couple of bites, nothing took and when I reeled in, my rig would be twisted and bait (bread and sard) gone. Afterwards a local came to fish next to me. He said I should remove the rig and tie one like his. Just a simple high low rig. Then he started reeling in small stumpies. He also gave me an effective way to put bread on those small hooks, just to ensure the bread stay on after the cast. I had to leave at that point, I wasn't sure if he caught any mullet but he was confident he would catch, because he always does.


I threw my bread crusts into the water. Five minutes later the smallest of fish came to peck at it, it was a good sight, but no bigger fish came. Also, there's always a seal swimming there in the harbour.

[emjay]

I've caught karanteen and mullet using small inline spinners (no. 1 size spinners) on a light rod and 8lb line before there at Harbour Island. Also caught them on bread. I enjoyed the spinner more tho. There was less pecking and more grabbing done by the fish

[Q1Stevens]

I've caught karanteen and mullet using small inline spinners (no. 1 size spinners) on a light rod and 8lb line before there at Harbour Island. Also caught them on bread. I enjoyed the spinner more tho. There was less pecking and more grabbing done by the fish

Thanks Emjay I'll def try out those spinners

[ianf]

Something I was shown many years ago, to keep the bread on the hook, was to mix it with a bit of cotton wool. Try it and see.

[Lenny]

Mix some sard oil into your bread ....