8Lb 6oz Mullet & other antics

[Sunny]

A catch up on my Mullet antics

So the headline fish first..... 8Lb 6oz puppy, my best so far this season; full story below



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First session it was seriously windy, so I was constrained to pontoons and very sheltered spots. I knew this meant that I couldn’t go exploring new ground…sticking to what I know. I managed 5 Mullet in the session and a far few Bread-Thieves. Some of the photos are timed and some were by the *Volunteer Photography Corp*; unfortunately some are destined to fail the photography course !!!













Interesting lip deformation on the first Mullet of the session….not sure what has happened here… but it reminded me of those guys you see with lip piercings - don't do it ???





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Next session, I was off to try out some old marks and try to explore a few new spots around the same area…stuff I hadn’t considered before but needed to evaluate. The first spot came up trumps with a nice plump (Mr Tubby) fish that obviously likes its food.

The appointed member of the public for these pictures was – believe it or not – a professional photographer …amazing luck )



Onwards to several other venues but not even a sniff of a fish. I returned to the original mark and just as the light was going I was in…and a decent reel screaming run too. Unfortunately this puppy was heading towards a line of boats and I had to put the brakes on. It was the wrong tactic …. In hindsight I might have been better off letting the line go *easy* and hope to keep her head-banging out in the open; but hey-ho, I stopped the line and the rod went hurtling full round as the fish decided to pour out a massive burst of speed for the cover of the boats….. !!!!

Good grief…what a pickle; fish under the first boat, but with the rod tip plunged to the sea bed I managed to keep the line clear of the keel. I was forced to ease off on the clutch – fearful of the slightest touch of the boat – but this just played into the fish’s strategy and another set of reel screams had me under more and more boats. This was undoubtedly a lost cause….and a shame for it felt a reasonable fish. I kept gentle pressure for ages…. perhaps 20 minutes before the stalemate broke; the fish crashed the surface 4, maybe 5 boats down !!!


At that point I knew I wouldn’t land the fish. I moved left and right along the shore – constantly feeling the line for rubbing against the boats – until finally she broke cover and kited to the left off the back of the boats. Now I could crank the pressure up, but mindful that I had probably suffered some damage to the length of the line. Still she was conceding ground and then it was back under the boats *expletives*. Another 4 minutes of gentle pressure and inch by bloomin inch it came out from under the boats; game on again and this time despite several attempts to get back under the boats I held my nerve with the line and maintained maximum pressure…it worked and the battle was won. My best sized Grey this year.



The falling tide meant I needed to get to deeper water to avoid being stranded….but because of this fish I couldn’t get back on the slip for over 2 hours still she was worth every minute.

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Then it was the 3rd session of that week and off to Lymington. I managed to land two…much to the pleasure of the dog....can't do the sound, but watching the fish recovering in the net he was shaking maniacally and whining )



Licking the fish...dirty dog !!!

[cuckoo]

Another brilliant blog nick , well done mate reports dont come much better than this and those mullet are amazing

[Noel]

Fantastic report. Thanks for sharing.

Very inspirational.