GREY MULLET Marina mullet can be wily creatures. Have you ever considered fishing for them under cover of darkness? They’re far easier to target, as Dave Barham explains
This fish, approaching 5lb, was caught at 1am – what a belter!
D
uring the summer months I get to do a little bit of mullet fishing at the various marinas I visit. Quite often I’ll travel down to the venue the night before with my friend, Jim Midgley, in readiness for an early start. In some cases, we will sleep on board the boat that we’re fishing on the next day to help keep hotel costs to a minimum; that’s when we get to fish for the mullet that inhabit the marinas. In recent years it has become quite apparent that fishing for mullet under cover of darkness has a lot of distinct advantages, as I will try to explain.
night these birds go home to roost, which takes one of the main obstacles out of the equation. I’ve also discovered that most marina mullet become extremely confident on a warm, calm summer’s night. In fact, I’ve caught my fair share of fish literally underneath my rod tip ‘off the top’, carp fishing style! What’s more, they take the bait without hesitation, and take it properly – you miss very few bites and don’t lose many fishing at night.
SIMPLE FISHING
For the most part, I try to catch mullet in the dark off the surface whenever possible. With all of your senses heightened under cover of darkness it makes for some really exciting fishing. Most marinas have some form of lighting, albeit often quite dim, but there’s usually enough light to be able to see ripples on the surface of the sea within the confines of the marina. The visual aspect of mullet fishing at night is exciting itself, but the real winner for me is the sound of mullet breaking the surface and ‘slurping’ up the free offerings of bread. That’s what really gets me going. Unlike during the day, these marina mullet will readily take bread that is floating on the surface, and quite often they will venture really close to the back of the boat in order to do so. That means you can get away with freelining for them. There’s something about freelining for any species of fish that brings you one step closer to the ultimate fight. With no lead or float on the line, you get a true fight from a fish, and you’re able to feel every nod of its head and beat of its tail throughout.
You’ll find that mullet become quite confident at night and you’ll rarely miss a take
PESKY BIRDS
Most marinas have resident bird life, usually in the form of seagulls, ducks, geese, and swans. During the day, these birds are quite active, and it can be all but impossible to keep a steady flow of bread going into the water to tempt the mullet without the birds causing havoc and wrecking the swim. It’s infuriating to know that there are mullet around the boat, but you can’t cast a bait to them for fear of hooking into a swan or a seagull. Mullet are frustrating at the best of times, without this added hindrance. However, at 96
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