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casting and would therefore do a bit of wandering about, particularly in any surf. And amazingly, I saw
mullet in excess of five pounds as a result.
My personal best ever mullet fishing was over in Gibraltar. I was going to cover this fully in Part 2
looking at the foreign fishing venues, but have decided to extract the mullet component from it and
discuss it here, exploring two stand out incidents which may well carry over to home waters.
Both took place in Gibraltar's main harbour which is no longer accessible due to it having been
converted into a plush waterside marina from which angling riff-raff it seems is now barred.
The first incident of interest was a late evening session. It was pitch dark in fact, with just a couple of
harbour side lights shinning on the water. We'd been encouraged to give it a try by our local guide Tony
Triay. So, fishing small bubble floats with attached tails of a couple of feet of light mono, a size ten
hook, and a piece of bread flake, we decided to give it a go.
I can't honestly remember if we threw in any loose feed, though I feel sure we probably would have.
We couldn't see the floats either. But providing you kept a tight line, you sure as hell could feel the
mullet pulling at them.
I've never heard of people mullet fishing after dark before. The fish however didn't seem to mind, and
we finished up the session with literally dozens of the things, which in terms of conditions is in complete
contrast to my other Gibraltar mullet session which was in broad daylight under a blisteringly hot sun.
I'd been badly bitten and
hospitalised by a moray eel the
previous day and therefore
couldn't go out with the others in
the boat. Bored out of my skull, I
decided to take a walk around the
harbour where I saw lots of small
to average mullet out in open
water.
Gibraltar Harbour
Always the absolute monsters
would be lurking under boat
hulls, either out of the sun or
grazing the weed and algae off
them. So, as you do, I nipped
back to the hotel for my gear
then to a small supermarket for a
loaf.
Again I was fishing the bubble float rig to give me range with the bread on the top, and initially, as you
would expect, the action came from the smaller fish. But eventually, all that activity would draw some
of the bigger fish out too, which would bully their way to the head of the queue.
That so called 'rest' day saw me take dozens of mullet to over seven pounds, with a bonus speckled bass,
again on bread, which was the last thing I expected to see.
That is pretty much my total thick lipped grey mullet experience, though I did once try for them in the
traditional ground bait and shotted float rig style inside Christchurch Harbour, where all I could catch
was freshwater bream.
Not a hint of a mullet throughout my stay, which doesn't surprise me, as while I don't think mullet are
as difficult to catch as most sea anglers tend to think, unless you are prepared to adapt, locate prime
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