Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire mullet

does anybody fish for mullet?

Not lately, but when I lived in Florida we used to cast net them by the cooler full. Take a bunch and put them in the smoker, and the rest we would fillet and roll in corn meal and deep fry , with some hush puppies and cole slaw on the side. Boy, do I miss those days. . You can also take the roe, and deep fry it, and we used to take the gizzards out of them and fry them up too. I never had much luck using a fishing pole on them, except snagging them as a kid. The colored folks were pretty good at getting them with a cane pole, and using dough balls out of corn meal for bait.

We used to go out at dark and throw nets till we thought we had enough.

I am right handed but was taught by MR Creel,he was left handed,now i can throw with both.

It sure makes one feel good being in chest deep water and throw a silver dollar.

Most of mine were something less.

The fry was usually the next day and the ones not fried were put in the freezer for the next time.

Smoked is good also,

We still cook on Y shaped stainless rods next to a camp fire. Split head and back from top side and clean where they make there own plate to eat them. Holds oils and fats in to baste themselves while cooking.

Great bait.

I have a book named "Ocracokers", written by a resident there that talks about 2 old brothers who grew up on the Island and had developed their own method for catching mullet. As he described it, they would paddle around in the shallows of the Pamlico Sound until they saw some jump. Then they would wade out with a large, circular net and more or less corral the entire school of mullet inside it,...then slowly close the net into a smaller circle until they had all of the fish contained in a small area that they could grab them out of. Some would get entangled in the net, some would just be trapped within the inner circumference of it.

They didn't have fancy equipment,...3 little old wooden skiffs. One was powered by a 6hp outboard. They would tie them together and use the powered one to pull the other two. On a good day they would catch 700 lbs of fish which they would sell to the local fish market.

They had been doing it since they were kids, and as old men they had mastered their technique.

It was an interesting read. The chapter was titled, "The Art of Mulleting".

they are great fresh they don't freeze good turns to mush quick

Yes fresh and off sandy bottoms. The method Bristoe is describing is called purse seining and with the much larger boats called Haul netting. My home is only 24 miles by boat from Ocracoke. we make the run in summer and fall quite often.

I thought this was going to be about haircuts.

this

Anyone wearing a mullet while casting for mullet? It’s said to be twice as effective.

There's a nickname for a big mullet bait. Hog leg.

Hog leg is a pistol.

I'll have ta mull-it-over...

Yes good bait.

Smoked fresh mullet is good, fried too. If it's been frozen it's fair worthless.

Good times with Yankee guests........take 'em out on the skiff at night and run the shallows under light of the moon. Last one to get smacked with a flyin' mullet wins!

Oh hell yes! That's the way I like 'em.

I still throw a net every now and then. It was a lot more fun when we gill netted. We will do a few fish fry's a year. Ben talkin' about building a smoker for years. Gonna mullet over some more.

Our local Road Kill Cafe has AUCE mullet every Friday. Quite the spectacle during snowbird season. When the little place fills up the owner will bellow, "If ya'll are sittin' there bumpin' yer gums, ya gotta get up and get out, we got folks waitin' in line".

Everything eats mullet. Live, dead, fresh, frozen or rotten. One of the marina's had shirts and bumper stickers for a long time that read, "In Mullet we trust".

How many know that mullet have a gizzard? They can be fried too. The yellow roe commands a premium in season. You can squeeze their belly and see if the roe is white or yellow.

Ahhhh, yes. Fond memories of cast netting, smoked mullet, dip netting shrimp and crabs under a Coleman lantern, wading for clams, raking sand fleas, and many many other joys of coastal living.