THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

and Joe Gomez at Guernsey, who while they weren't seeing red mullet regularly back in the 1980's,
were certainly still getting their share.
So with me a none shore angler, and them both ardent shore match specialists, who better to team up
with. And while red mullet were very much at the top of the my visit list, that wasn't necessarily the
expectation that first evening when we fished from the rocks at Havalet Bay just to the south of St.
Peterport harbour wall.
I remember it well. It was quite late in the year and therefore dark fairly early. I don't recall what Peter
and Joe were after, but I can remember them telling me to fish small and hard on the bottom with
ragworm. I can also remember Joe climbing down the rocks with his head-light on to lift up what until
that point could well have been anything, then shouting back up "I don't bloody believe it. It's a red
mullet".
I couldn't bloody believe it myself either. But there it was. I'd done it. Not only a species I had long
wanted to catch, but the completion at long last of the main strand of my bucket list project, the catching
in home waters of one hundred species of fish listed by the various record fish committee's.
Since that time, red mullet it seems have not only become more regularly caught, but also more
widespread, though the south coast is still the place to be, with the north coast of the west country across
into South Wales running it a close second.
Odd specimens have even turned up as far north as Scotland. On the other hand, in some areas such as
Falmouth Bay, commercial fishermen are now targeting them with small mesh monofilament gill nets,
though these reportedly kill more un-wanted by-catch species than red mullet, and should therefore
under the regulations be classed as illegal.
Percentages there depend to no small degree on sea conditions, with warmer summers on into autumn
producing more than in cooler years.
Also working against good codes of practise is the fact that as they grow larger, red mullet appear to
prefer deeper water, making the smaller, possibly immature fish most vulnerable. The same is probably
also true of angling, as most specimens are caught from the shore in areas of sand, mud, and gravel in
that order.
Don't however assume them to be restricted to large areas of open clean ground. Any soft substrate,
even patches between rocks will do. Even so, their availability to anglers is not easy to assess. With
shore fishing in the most productive areas more widely practised there than at a lot of other locations,
plus the fact that where there are boats available, these tend to fish out deeper and for bigger stuff, then
this is perhaps an unbalanced view.
As regards tactics, simply placing the baits hard on the bottom is going to be in with as good of a chance
as anything. My choice was for a two up short dropper rig with size 1/0 hooks and ragworm, though
without doubt other baits would also catch. Live shrimp for example would be an item from the fishes
regular diet.
THE MACKERELS AND TUNA'S
Mackerels and tuna's do have anatomical differences which set them apart from each other, though not
enough to take them out of the same family, which is scombridae. Tuna's for example have a lateral
keel either side of the body which the mackerels lack.
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