# Castnetting Mullet



## patindaytona (Jun 17, 2006)

Can anyone give me pointers on castnetting mullet? Tides..? When is the best time to look for them(seems like they don't come close to shore until the sun starts to warm the water). I've tried looking for telltale signs of them..breaks in the water surface, but it doesn't happen often..is it better to just start blind casting?


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## MBsandflea (Jun 27, 2004)

Most important thing if you're going to stand near the surf is to make sure you have polarized sunglasses to cut the glare.


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## smallie53 (Sep 3, 2005)

*surf mullet*

My, though very limited, experience is that blind casting is only good for practice. On an incoming tide you may see mudd minnows running back to the surf and fill a net .And they are not the worst bait . Go out a little deeper and watch for something breaking the surface on the face of a wave or just behind it. One cast may give you a 10" mullet or ten mullet. But blind casting [at least where I have tried it ,Hilton Head,] is good for only the very rare fiddler or shells. Practice your casting on the beach.It is much less work. Steve


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## patindaytona (Jun 17, 2006)

*Mullet*

Do you always get your own bait, or do you end up buying it? My last experience getting bait real early in the morning was really bad...it's a real pain if you look and cast and look and cast without seeing anything...a real shot in the dark.


smallie53 said:


> My, though very limited, experience is that blind casting is only good for practice. On an incoming tide you may see mudd minnows running back to the surf and fill a net .And they are not the worst bait . Go out a little deeper and watch for something breaking the surface on the face of a wave or just behind it. One cast may give you a 10" mullet or ten mullet. But blind casting [at least where I have tried it ,Hilton Head,] is good for only the very rare fiddler or shells. Practice your casting on the beach.It is much less work. Steve


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

patindaytona said:


> Can anyone give me pointers on castnetting mullet? Tides..? When is the best time to look for them(seems like they don't come close to shore until the sun starts to warm the water). I've tried looking for telltale signs of them..breaks in the water surface, but it doesn't happen often..is it better to just start blind casting?


I've only cast netted mullett in Va and NC and the polorized glasses are a must. Most times they dont bust but ya can see a wake. Best places I have found is on a dock where you are above them and can see them better.


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## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

patindaytona said:


> Do you always get your own bait, or do you end up buying it? My last experience getting bait real early in the morning was really bad...it's a real pain if you look and cast and look and cast without seeing anything...a real shot in the dark.


If you blind cast for mullet, you'll have about the same chance of catching any as you do of winning the Florida lottery if you didn't buy a lottery ticket. 

The surf is THE worst place to try and catch mullet. Find a creek, a river, a dock, a pier, a bridge, whatever. When you see a school, throw the net at them. If you don't see any, don't bother....


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## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

I got lucky once down near Apache Pier, had my cast net in the surf right up close to the pylons and blindly throwing into the receeding wave, filled up a 5-gallon bucket with finger mullet before I stopped.

But like everybody says, that is a rarity. best way to do it is get up on the pier and wait till you see little pops in the water. That generally means the fish are thick enough underneath to push a fish up above the surface for a second. Throw to the pops and land a full net of fish.

As far as your best chances for trying to catch them in the surf, I'd say stand on the beach where the incoming waves only cover your feet with water and about 4-6 inches of clear water runs over the sand. With polarized glasses on look into the water and try to find little fish zooming around in the shallows (they usually leave ripples, so look for those first). Little fish up that high can indicate schools in the surf.


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## MBsandflea (Jun 27, 2004)

On a pier, look in the two to three inch deep water for schooling and circling mullet. And in the surf or on a pier, look for the light wake trails left by moving fish. This is only good for finger mullet, but look for the trailing wakes in the shape of a "V." Mullet usually travel with one in the lead, this creates a V looking wake in the water because they swim up top if they aren't threatened.


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## poppop1 (Feb 16, 2004)

*finger mullet*

To me cast netting for bait fish is as much fun as fishing with them, it's kind of like fishing and hunting put together. Some tips I've found over the years,polarized sunglasses a big plus, stand still at waters edge and just watch, finger mullet tend to see much better than we do, I'm always amazed at how they sense my presence in the water, I tell my granddaughters that they smell our feet, they laugh. In the morning sun, look as the sun shines thru the waves, many times they are there and just a little deeper feeling safe at that time from predators, that is a good time to blind cast. Also a nice flat area on the beach where the tide rolls a long distance with only a few inches of water, you can see them swimming back out, that is probably the easiest way of catching them. Remember, it's more like hunting than fishing and making your net open properly and accurately is just a matter of practice, don't give up, it's the best bait you can use, good luck.


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## bigphil (Jul 9, 2006)

I catch them all the time in the surf off St Simons. THey are usually jumping out of the water at some time or another. Some days its closer to sunrise and sunset and other days its all day long. Some days the schools are bigger and somedays you just catch onesie twosie's. Some days they are in the surf and others they may be 20-100 yards out. That is for mullet in the 8-14" range. Finger mullet you have to look for the V's in the water or places in the water that almost look like they are vibrating. Watch that area and if the vibration area starts to move it's a school of something.

I can go down the coast just a mile or two to Jekyll island and not catch any. In fact, most times I am out there looking for baitfish they are scarse or you may catch some pogies. I talked to a neighbor that has family that lives on a tidal creek and they have mullet constantly swimming in the creek. You may have to do some hunting to find good locations.

Polarized glasses help, but our water here is muddy to say the least. On occassion you will see a mullet swimming across a wave. Most of the time I wait to see them jumping before I throw. I usually try not to blind cast, but if I'm not seeing alot of baitfish I will to try and catch something. That's why I try and freeze leftover bait, to have something to get started with the next time out.


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## derekxec (Apr 26, 2006)

hit up your local spillway...every spillway ive been to has all sizes mullet and thats where we go when we want them


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## patindaytona (Jun 17, 2006)

*Spillway*

You mean like creeks, etc?


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## derekxec (Apr 26, 2006)

where the fresh water dumps into the saltwater


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## gzeke33 (Aug 18, 2006)

*Casting nets*

Here in N E Fl the time of year seems to make a difference. End of August and in Sept finger mullet will be in the surf. The water is warm then. You can tell where they are by watching for what looks like rain drops hitting the water. i've got 30 or more in one cast. I get most of my mullet in the small streams and creeks around here and get them most any time of year. You do not need a big net to get a lot of bait.


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## justinfisch01 (Feb 19, 2006)

When I first learned to use a castnet I was blind casting, but after about the 5-6 blind cast I netted about 40 nice finger mullet. I threw my net into about 6 inches of water in the surf. It looked like a bag of shiney nickles, I loved it!!!!! Plus it is good practice, But it will definitly wear you out. I did catch some cool ooking crabs which I should have used for black drum but didn't think of it at the time


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## Fishbreath (Nov 11, 2004)

patindaytona said:


> Can anyone give me pointers on castnetting mullet? Tides..? When is the best time to look for them(seems like they don't come close to shore until the sun starts to warm the water). I've tried looking for telltale signs of them..breaks in the water surface, but it doesn't happen often..is it better to just start blind casting?


Hey Pat, 

As for the best times on the surf, look for long flat gradual sloping beaches with a little water in them. I like the high tides best but a waning tide is good too. 

Cdog mentioned standing on a dock if you have canals nearby. That really is the best way unless you have a boat to tool around on in the back water. Then you can look for the V ripples. If you're on the dock, night time at high tide is the absolute best!  

FB


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