No other baitfish sparks the initial start of fall madness like mullet.
Welcome to the fall run!
Finally, the brightly colored umbrella crowds have left the beaches and the post Labor Day chill is now in the air.
Surf waters are alive and kicking as baitfish exit the backwaters and spill out into the mix, prompting stripers and blues, (and maybe even a weakfish or two) to get into the buffet line. And no other baitfish sparks the initial start of the madness like mullet. The tasty treats school up in pods and packs, rippling and finning around the back bays and into the surfline as they search their migratory path southward.
It’s time to work the mullet madness.
The Run
This is the time of year the fluorescent orange mullet styrofoam float rigs fly off the tackle shop shelves. Freshly cast netted mullet are bagged and ready to be sold. Bass and blues key in on the predominant bait, but the question always remains just how strong will the run be this year? In recent history, mullet runs have been fairly thin, not like decades past where black pods would choke the surf thick and heavy from sometime in the middle of September into the first few weeks of October. But any presence of the bait will spark wanting any blues and bass around to feed aggressively in the suds.
A telltale sign of the striped mullet is to sit back and notice rippling on the water’s surface as mullet have a unique rippling pattern with v-wakes that betrays their presence, kind of like they are fanning just under the water’s surface. Adept cast netters can score a bucket full in one throw in the surf to procure as fresh baits.
In New Jersey and Delaware we get the run of striped mullet, different from our southern states that can also have the much larger white mullet genus. Most mullet we get in our waters are finger mullet of 3 to 6 inches long but some years they can reach the corncob size of 8 to 10 inches long. Mullet schools generally flush out of the backwaters around the first full and new moons in September, and if you sprinkle in a stretch of chilly nights that dip into the 40s or low 50s, expect the first real wave of fish to exit the backwaters then.
On The Chunk
Bluefish absolutely devour mullet and they are opportunistic to eat any cut up chunks. If using fresh, dead whole mullet, the go-to rig is of course the two pronged-hook mullet float rig, inserting the thin metal rod through the mullet mouth and out the vent where the hook is reattached then cast out. Those targeting bluefish solely can cut the mullet into 1- to 2-inch chunks and lance them on a Gamakatsu size 4/0 Baitholder hooks on a hi-lo rig.
Live baiters searching out stripers will switch over to a 4/0 circle hook if gunning for stripers, or a regular Mustad Octopus circle hook rigged on fishfinder slide egg sinker rig if winging them out to liveline. A usual liveline rig consists of the 4/0 Octopus hook, a 30-inch section of 30-pound Yo-Zuri or Seaguar fluorocarbon leader tied to a 75-pound barrel swivel with a half- to 1-ounce egg sinker above the barrel swivel on the running line. The bass will inhale the bait freely where the circle hook plants itself in the jaw.
Since you’re using circle hooks when targeting striped bass with mullet as a natural bait, allow the fish to peel off some freespooled line before engaging the bail and coming tight.
Fake Out
The most aggressive, and in my opinion effective fashion, to fish the mullet run is by casting artificials. Mullet tend to hug the coastline, where bass and blues will push the mullet into the undertow, circling them up and corralling them against the shoreline, making surfcasting a prime opportunity. Matching the hatch is a key component when fishing plugs and poppers. As most mullet are of finger to hand size, top choices are long slender plugs in the arsenal such as Bombers, SP Minnows, and Island X Sidewinders.
Plugs should be drawn back at a moderate pace. Poppers and darters such as the Stillwater Smack-Its, Tsunami Tidal Prop IPOP, Super Strike’s Little Neck Popper and Yo-Zuri Mag darters can be popped or darted slowly around the edges of the mullet schools, where bass and blues pick off the weak and wounded mullet. Short, stubby metal-lips will also get the job done.
Nighttime anglers will also have luck with the long, slender plugs, though it’s not as much a visual bite, but going to the areas where mullet were seen during the daylight hours and working that section of water over.
Going Mobile
Mullet schools can move quickly down the coastline and it’s an advantage to be able to chase the schools as they run the beaches. Buggy permits for the towns offer the ability to run and gun from beach to beach. While blindcasting can be productive with a little luck, the ability to spy the rippling schools and chase them will up your hook up ratio immensely. On good days, you can see the bass and blues blowing up the schools, spraying them but nervous schools can also be telltale signs of gamefish presence. The key is to read the waters and anticipate the direction of the schools as they get pushed both north and south.
It’s tough to determine just how good or bad the mullet run will be. In the “old days” the mullet run would coincide with generally cooler temperatures in the 60s in September, which was enough to bring the northern migratory stripers and blues to usher them down into New Jersey waters to feed, but warm water trending of the past decade or so seems to have the run disjointed with the bass and blues.
That’s not to say this year won’t be productive as we have seen steady south winds throughout the summer that have kept the surf temps in the high 50s and low 60s, just barely cracking 70 degrees some days. That could mean the mullet and striper migration could line up perfectly.
Time will tell by the time you read this. Cross your fingers and hope for a solid run!
