June was a month of two halves, the first half was very productive despite having to fish Ebb Tides, Temperatures were creeping up nicely into the upper teens and the odd twenty plus day. The second half was a lot less prolific, sudden rises in pressure, and a jump in temperatures gave way to stronger winds making things very tricky for Fly casting. A slight detour saw me having a dabble into some coarse Fishing which went quite well, but the return to the Salt hasn't been as kind and We have in truth struggled a bit lately to find the right venue for the conditions on the given evening. ( still learning and evolving the process ! ).Hopefully July will provide us with a few Fish, and some better Tides to try catching them on. Who knows maybe even the wind might be kind as well!
A new Target..
A new species has caught My attention for targeting on the Fly,..Mullet. An obvious objective to some maybe, but not for Me, captivated by the sporting prowess of the Bass, I had largely ignored the Mullet and filed them to the back of My mind to investigate 'later on'. It seems later has become sooner, because lately We have been noticing the Mullet more and more on our travels, as the venues we have been fishing seem to hold vast numbers and it's very hard to walk past them without stopping for a look!
As I mentioned in the summary above, the second half of June has been tough for Me on the Bass front and despite the elusiveness of the Bass, the Mullet were ever present regardless of Wind or Tidal state. The more We talked about the idea of attempting to catch one of the 'Grey Ghosts' as they are known, the more We liked the idea, and many hours have now been spent accumulating as much information as is possible about the Feeding and behaviour of the various species of Mullet and methods that have been used to catch them. Obviously the main aim is to catch them on the Fly rod as this lends itself nicely to a stealthy approach around these ultra spooky fish. Also many Trout Fly's imitate some of the tiny invertabrates, Weed, and Seaweed Maggots that the Mullet include in their diet. Sounds simple doesn't it? Unfortunately it isn't, as they are renowned for their finicky tastes and refusal to take a particular bait one day and then seemingly can't get enough the next, which is one of the the main reasons many Anglers don't bother fishing for them, because they are a difficult species to catch, this gives the Mullet an almost supernatural status as a sportfish, and indeed those that have been successful at catching them report that they do indeed have incredible fighting qualities, akin to the legendary Bonefish of the Florida Flats and are occasionally referred to as the 'British Bonefish'.
Despite the reputed difficulties associated with trying to get these elusive fish to take a bait, I am always up for a challenge, and as usual have immersed myself in the task at hand, fully and completely. I am still in the process of collating the intel as regards suitable patterns of Fly but feel I am beginning narrow it down from the vast array of possibles to a particular few that will mimick some of the dietary delights that the Mullet may regularly feed on. Once armed with these samples I will begin presenting them to the Fish and see just how they react to the offerings and take it from there. Another evolution has begun towards hopefully successfully realising the challenge of banking a new species, as it has so many times before with all the other
specimens I have aquired over the years, each requires a basic approach to start with, and as I inch forward in my quest, certain aspects will be adjusted and tweaked until the ambition is achieved, then once that happens, some more refinements will take place until I am satisfied that I have got the best and most solid approach I can get.
Mullet Territory
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