Bait for catching mullet

tjensen

We are near Marco with a 12 year old new to fishing and he really wants to catch some of these very large Black Mullet he sees feeding on a light spinner. What can he use on a small hook, bread? Should we do the Chicken Mash & Oatmeal dough for chumming? These are some good eating size Mullet. Thanks!

4WARD

Mash and oatmeal then toss a bream hook with a small piece of white bass worm or similar into the chum.
Or stand back and let him go at it with a treble.

Turner River Terror

Biskit Dough from the can...after you chum them up ...
Small bobber , small hook. They fight pretty darn good, Most likely not good table fare as their Black Mullet .
Catch one and cut it into chunks for sharks.

tjensen

These are the large [20 inch] stripped ones. I was thinking these are the ones for smoking. Am I confused (not unusual)?

Pilchard

The local Clinton supporters do as 4ward suggests above. They eat them too. But then again, they also eat catfish...

fish_stix

Excellent for smoking and good fried too. Just don't freeze them and expect them to stay fresh as they turn rancid in a short time.

ovid

I had a lazy afternoon catching mullet recently. I tried cooking them up and eating them.
Pretty bad....Not totally inedible, but not good either.
Oh, I used Pillsbury biscuit dough......Poppin fresh!!

Reel Teal

ovid wrote: »

I had a lazy afternoon catching mullet recently. I tried cooking them up and eating them.
Pretty bad....Not totally inedible, but not good either.
Oh, I used Pillsbury biscuit dough......Poppin fresh!!

There's more than one kind of mullet. A lot of people eat what I call a "mud mullet" and they don't like them. Get a nice 18" striped mullet and they are very good, hence a commercial industry for them, not just the roe. As said before, they need to be eaten fresh. I was always raised if they're dead they're not fresh. So they get filleted for smoking or frying alive.

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Turner River Terror

Canal Mullet..Mud Mullet..
Get's up to 6 or 7 pounds, most about 2 or 3. Schools up a dozen to 20 at a time, lives there all year.
Silvers are Sea Run and come by me in schools of Hundreds maybe more..
Smaller and fast movers. Good Smokers and Fryers.

floridanative

At 12 yrs old you should be teaching him to throw a cast net.

tjensen

floridanative wrote: »

At 12 yrs old you should be teaching him to throw a cast net.

he can throw a 4 footer like a pro now but we think castnetting them is "to easy". The power of them is evident so that's why I asked the question.

duckmanJR

Turner River Terror wrote: »

Canal Mullet..Mud Mullet..
Get's up to 6 or 7 pounds, most about 2 or 3. Schools up a dozen to 20 at a time, lives there all year.
Silvers are Sea Run and come by me in schools of Hundreds maybe more..
Smaller and fast movers. Good Smokers and Fryers.

TRT knows....

You can use a small piece of white flannel or a little piece of old tore up white plastic jig while you chum.

Reel Teal

Turner River Terror wrote: »

Canal Mullet..Mud Mullet..
Get's up to 6 or 7 pounds, most about 2 or 3. Schools up a dozen to 20 at a time, lives there all year.
Silvers are Sea Run and come by me in schools of Hundreds maybe more..
Smaller and fast movers. Good Smokers and Fryers.

I may have had the striped mullet mixed up then....Either way one is definitely better than the other.

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fishdish

Bleed them and ice them immediately and they come out pretty good. Its all in how you handle and prepare it. Fried or blackened is my favorite.

duckmanJR

Silver mullet are tasty...and what many Florida charity "fish frys" are done with..

Blacks...well...not so much.

Turner River Terror

Black Mullet are Nasty.
Friends spear gunned a bunch not long ago and we had a fish fry. One bite of Mullet for me and I was done...nasty..nasty..

terrapin

Growing up in south Florida, we used to catch mullet with a small hook and a bobber, using bread or dough as well, fishing in canals. Some of these were close to five pounds. I even caught a couple on fly (hook was tipped with bread). We mostly caught them just for fun and sometimes gave them away to women who were fishing in the same area with cane poles and they were glad to have them. We used to call the mullet bait.
After I met my future wife, we went to north Florida, for a family get together and they were frying mullet for dinner that looked very similar to the ones that I caught as a kid. Well, let me tell you, they were good eating. When the mullet are running here, I will sometimes bring some home to fry up. I only eat them fresh, not frozen.