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mullet before. But we'd seen pictures, and around the mouth, these mullet didn't look anything like what
we had expected them to look like.
With some unfortunate individuals having been deeply hooked, and always willing to try new culinary
challenges, we took a few back to the caravans with us to eat.
There was no Internet back then to refer to, but I did have Alwyne Wheelers classic fish identification
book 'The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe' with me at the caravan for guidance, and
very quickly we established that they were in fact thin lipped grey mullet.
We then began theorising as to how and why our earlier failures had suddenly been transformed into
success, the gist of which was to put only a small piece of ragworm onto the hook to ensure they could
get it down without first nipping bits off it; keeping the spinners working high up in the water at a
reasonable pace, and be there over the low water period which would concentrate whatever fish were
present into the tightest band.
So back we went again, only this time straight to the spot just before low water with half inch pieces of
worm retrieved at a greater pace to get the lures up closer to the surface, and this time we must have
had twenty or more fish.
As you do, we were constantly refining the technique all the time. After a visit to the local tackle shop
for example, lighter bodied Jenspin lures which came up in the water better enabled us to make an even
bigger jump forward, though fish nipping at the baits but not taking the hook was still a frustration.
What we did start to notice was that the vast majority of takes would come towards the end of a retrieve.
This could have been due to the lure being closest to the surface at that point. But equally, it could also
have been a sub-conscious speeding up towards the end to make another cast, or the fish thinking the
bait was about to get away. Possibly even a combination of all those factors.
Whatever the reason, by the last weekend when Steve came back down for the boat, we were averaging
forty to fifty fish per morning in just a couple of hours. More still when he joined us.
Pleased with the result, back home I started looking up everything I could find regarding thin lipped
grey mullet. As I've said, there was no Internet, so information was hard to come by, and getting it took
time.
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One snippet I did come across
was the fact that the boat slot on
the British record fish list was
open to claims at two pounds, a
weight which most of the fish
we'd caught that summer had well
topped.
The problem was that those which
weren't kept for eating had all
gone back, so the evidence
required to make a claim and put
a tick at the side of British record
on my fledgling bucket list was no
longer available. But the
Thin Lip on baited spinner
following summer it would be.
And this time, Trevor Housby,
who in the intervening period had been up at my place to do some char fishing, asked if he could join
us.