Mullet

Here's a report by someone who had success. Apparently you're not the only one to get frustrated by them!

http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/content/mullet-madness

I sight fished some in the Gulf last winter.  They were right under a dock so getting my bait in their face was the easy part.  I used a chartruse painted hook with a chunk of nightcrawler.  They would come up and nibble, almost like they were grazing on it for micro organisms or some shit.  It was a timing thing for sure.  Missed a ton of them and foul hooked a few before getting a couple in the mouth.  These ones were striped mullet as well.

Used a small gamakatsu, like a size 10 or 12, and a small split shot.  Just a nub of crawler, just enough to cover the hook.  Fight was great, they are tough as hell.  I would love to catch some of the bigger ones we saw.  Seen some that must have been all of 5 lbs.  I think for the most part our timing was just good cause we seen them before just milling around, not even feeding, or they come thru real fast and are super skitish.  And they did jump from the water, right when we hooked them.  Their a real weird fish, with all that crazy jumping they do.  Good luck!

I've caught striped mullet in freshwater using wads of algae for bait. They eat the algae at the base of rapids where it's been washed off the rocks upstream. They didn't jump when we hooked them, but they fought harder than any exclusively freshwater fish I've ever caught. But, anyway, they'll eat aquatic plants.

Also, a lot of people who mullet fish use #10 gold treble hooks, sometimes even bare, with no bait. Supposedly they bite the hook just to see if it's good to eat.

The only mullet I caught on a worm, I raised the hook to about 2 inches below the bobber. Sometimes the mullet will come up to a bobber and try to knock or pull off any little tidbits it thinks might be attached (I guess they do this routinely to anything floating in the water). When they feel the resistance of the line, they're not spooked, because it' just an extension of the bobber. 

But all that's been in freshwater, when they make their summertime runs up into the rivers. I've heard they're harder to catch in saltwater. Maybe some of it will help. They're definitely fun to catch, when you can get 'em hooked.

The ones that come over here to taunt me are Thicklip Mullet. We get Thinlips too, but I've never seen one.

Bread is a proven bait for Thicklips. Bring plenty of bread and a bucket. I like to bring brown bread and white bread. Put somode brown and somode white bread in de bucket, add local water and mix mix mix, y'all, til it's a nice mash. Toss handfulls in the Mullety area and hope. There should be clouds of breadmash suspended and sinking. Some floating pieces, too. If the Mullet have a day where  they'll do stuff, you might start to see some activity. You might even see them attack the floating pieces. That's a good sign.

I use as subtle a float as conditions will allow. Usually a little 0.6 gram waggler type deal. Line: mono, as thin as I dare. between 20/00 and 25/00 mm. Hook: size 10. Bait: a small pinch of white bread. Bites (IF they come) are usually pretty agressive, with the float zipping under and away. Hooking up is not easy. Wait too long and the fish might let go, be too quick and you'll miss. Haven't figured that out yet AT ALL. Sometimes, they'll very confidently feed on little floating pieces of bread. But then they're usually very quick, too, so the angler needs to be quick as well. I've only managed to get two from the surface. That was so cool.

No idea if this information is any good at all for your Striped Mullet, but it might be worth a try. I should be trying for them again on sunday. Will it be frustration or glory? Or both? Once you get a nice one, it's all worth it, though. Soopercool fish and they fight like hell on floatfishing tackle!

I'm on 1 fishing forum.

I have caught a ton of striped mullet by hook and line but only during mullet runs.   I did a big type up on all the fine details on my blog here   http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/boundlesspursuit/2011/06/24/fishing-the-clam-release/

However... I have seen videos, and tv episodes of guys doing a cool trick where they use salt blocks (you can buy them at pretty much any local feed store or tractor supply)  and if you submerge them in the flats where teh mullet frequent, they congregate tightly around it.  I am not positive why but they are infatuated with the salt block.   The fisherman used small red worms I think and were catching the mullet left and right like it was nothing.    I have used the salt trick in the past when castnetting them for bait it is extremely effective for the mullet that have made their way into fresher water but the only time I tried it in saltwater it was pretty ineffective.