Mullet Here & There

My mullet fishing has also been patchy recently. I missed a potentially good week for a family visitor staying with us, and the mullet themselves seem a bit unsettled by some up-and-down weather.

Down at Rosscarbery, I had a very pleasant time tucked in my own world under the brolly on a dank day with horizontal drizzle carried on the west breeze.

The session didn't get off to the greatest of starts with a massive take on my left hand rod that snapped my trace before I could even pick the rod up. That was a pity - but the mullet were obviouly in the mood today and I had three out over the next couple of hours before the feeding spell ended.

The biggest was this chunky 5:03, and a little later on my Facebook friend Jason had one exactly the same weight fishing off the wall nearby. My other two fish were both over 4lbs ...

The next week I was back and by contrast it was warm and bright and calm ... the few mullet moving were well out and the session turned into a real struggle. My only bite came an hour in, a couple of nods on the tip then slack line. I struck and connected but the fish was obviously small. Instead of the expected little thicklip, the mullet proved to be a golden grey - my first in Ireland and it's always a joy to see these pretty little fish.

More recently I've been back at Rosscarbery with Eddie Baker who has been over from UK on holiday there with his wife Suzanne.

The fishing has been less prolific so far than on his last visit a couple of years ago, but the size of fish he's been getting has been impressive. He started with a wonderful 6lb 9oz specimen on float on his first day - see photo right. He had other good fish over the next few days on the float before being forced to switch to legering on short tides ... resulting in mullet of 6:02 and 6:00. He's only half way through his stay as I write with the best tides still to come.

Typically, the mullet chose not to play fair on the day I visited. Eddie blanked legering from the wall, though he had one bite that had his rod butt off the ground. I didn't fare very much better fishing from the grass, but at least my fish held on. It fought really well and I expected it to go over 5lbs, but it was a lean 4:10. Eddie was packing up for a break at the time and arrived just in time to do the photo ...

A little later we fished down the west side of the estuary over the high water. There were very few mullet in evidence by this stage and most of those we saw were small. Eddie had some interest on float but only a couple of better bites, missed. I had some knocks on leger but only one proper take, lost. One of those days.

I've had a few of sessions on the rocks in Bantry Bay on calmer days, getting one or two fish each time. Most of these have been smallish. On the Saturday of the NMC Rover weekend I had a 2:13 thicklip, nice fish but disappointingly smaller than the chunky 4:07 I'd had one evening in the week.

I've been researching one or two easy-access marks for when my friend Steve is back over again soon. This pontoon looks promising, there were some decent fish moving around underneath the deck and the boats tied alongside, though on the day the only ones I hooked were rather on the small side!