Maybe it was a mulloway?

[Leonard]

Hi all,

I've been trying for a mulloway for a couple of months now and feel like I may have gotten a step closer today. I was at a popular spot on the Yarra fishing with a dead mullet from a previous session. As the sun went down and the bottom of the tide came I had a quick run on the mullet. It came back absolutely smashed headfirst, and scaled. I've heard that mulloway are notorious for scaling baits, so I wonder if the collective wisdom here has any more insight.

I know it could have been anything at the end of the day, but what do you think?

This has been at least my 8th attempt. I'll post here if I get closer in the future!!

[Sebb]

Yes, it could be mulloway. Did it pull straight fast and hard then drop?

Mulloway hits from behind, swim out fast and hard then they spit the bait out (usually scaled) to turn the bait then they're back to hit/shallow from the head, and a second run towards back and structures. Eating from behind means having the scales and spikes pointing to the throat, eating from head first is easier to go down.

There were times I did mulloway hunting, hooked 5 times, landed only once. They all did the same unique way of hitting, spitting and back.
Winter slack tide after sunset was my favourite time to look for metro mulloway.

Did you use circle/KL hook btw? Live mullet is best.

[Sebb]

Probably 5-6 years ago.

[Leonard]

Cheers sebb, that’s exactly how it went! Opposing arcs along the body of the fish suggest that spit out and suck back in routine you me mentioned. Had it on a size 1 circle octopus as it was a smaller mullet ~12cm. Also had a livie out but not a touch!

[Sebb]

Cheers sebb, that’s exactly how it went! Opposing arcs along the body of the fish suggest that spit out and suck back in routine you me mentioned. Had it on a size 1 circle octopus as it was a smaller mullet ~12cm. Also had a livie out but not a touch!

They are temperamental, hard to tell when they're going to bite (or not), even with log book records, the pattern is hard to tell, other than usually it was slack tide.

Try bigger circle/KL hook maybe, hoping it'll hook on that first hard run and stay on during the 'drop'.

[Seniorfisho]

Did you have a 2 hook rig? The best by far is when you have a snelled second hook that slides up and down the leader so you can adjust the length according to the size of bait you are using. For me, a fillet of fresh mullet on that rig has always produced

[Seniorfisho]

Did you have a 2 hook rig? The best by far is when you have a snelled second hook that slides up and down the leader so you can adjust the length according to the size of bait you are using. For me, a fillet of fresh mullet on that rig has always produced. And as Seb said, low tide change after dark seems to be the best

[Leonard]

Nah mate that’s the one thing I didn’t have. I often wonder if that increases gut hooking which I’m a bit adverse to given mulloway are a vulnerable species in the first place. I can see how it would work really well though and have certainly picked up my fair share of double shelled hooks that people leave behind on the bank. If I have a big livie die then I might got for the fillet idea.

Cheers,
Leo

[Sebb]

When I did mulloway hunting, I picked full/new moon slack tide at night about 1-2 hr after sunset.

I would spend the afternoon collecting live mullet with breadcrumbs burley, put in a bucket. Then as the sun gone down, put the live mullet out.

You can get them with fresh dead bait too, but I found live mullet was the best for metro mulloway. When I couldn't find the mullet, I used dead bait.
I have never tried fishing for mulloway outside metro though, so no idea if they're diff.

It's a lot of work but worth it when you get one (or two!).
Get them to bite is hard enough, hooking and landing are another hard task.

Good luck hunting the elusive ghost fish!