Rock Mulleting

We've been here properly in Kilcrohane a week. I've had a few short fishing outings and have caught a few smallish mullet at different marks, but now with the worst of the unpacking done it was time for a serious session.

I chose a rock mark on the north side of the peninsula I'd fished before, and arrived a couple of hours before low water. There was an easterly cross-breeze blowing which was rippling the surface, but as I fed a little mashed bread in close to the rock face, I thought I could already see mullet moving down deep.

I set up with a sliding float set at about ten feet, and started fishing. Almost straight away I was getting bites but they were unusually timid for this mark and I missed a few before connecting. It was a decent fish about 3lbs and fought strongly in the clear water but all seemed under control till I thought about reaching for the net, at which point the mullet gave a twist and was off!

I was mentally cursing because I've had this swim die on me before in response to losing a fish, but this time bites resumed after five minutes or so and I was soon playing and landing a smaller mullet, weighed at 2:05.

Soon after I was in again, a fish that stayed deep and repeatedly tried to get into the kelp. It proved to be the day's biggest at 3:14

After a lull of half an hour or so, another bite came out of the blue and proved to be this chunky 3:01. By now it was just about dead low water, and things went very quiet.

I kept occasional loose feed going in and about an hour up the tide I saw a mullet come in shallow and start gulping bread down. Then another and another. I retreated back from the edge, fixed the float to fish about four feet, and dangled in just over the rock edge. Bites came almost immediately. Again I missed a few but the mullet were feeding well and I soon hooked one. It fought above its weight as all these rock fish do, and went 2:12 on the scales.

Slightly to my surprise, as soon as the fish had been returned and I started feeding again, the mullet were straight back in to the swim, as shallow as before. I was soon latched in to a better fish that really did go.

It weighed 3:13. Maybe I could have had more but five is a great session mullet fishing and it was getting late, so as I returned the fish I decided to call it a day.