Particularly on bright calm days, and when there is a lot of activity going on above the water. If you want to be catching big fish in future years, put back the smaller fish you catch today, and remember that when you do finally land that remarkable specimen, it’s likely been caught and returned by one or more conservation minded anglers in years gone by. Two or three loaves will usually do.
The sight of a string disappearing into the water is just too much for their curiosity and, having investigated what is below, what good fun it is to cut the string and let it drift off to join the life-belt thrown in for a laugh earlier.
But beware any tears that sometimes mysteriously appear in the sack. Some of this is used to fill my swim-feeder, when I’m using a swim-feeder rig on my second rod. It’s the criticality of the size and construction of the mesh that really amazes me. Fill a two-gallon bucket about a third full with seawater, and then add the bread, squeezing it between your fingers to reduce it to a mash. (Work on conditioning bass to respond to a feeding bell show that the conditioning still works even after six months of not feeding them. ), now is the time to add your own secret additive. This method particularly appeals to those strange folk who really don’t like the satisfying sensation of squishing handfuls of wet bread through their fingers, but try as you may, you won’t get such a good discharge of particles from this method as from bucket hand-mashed bread. Before fishing, throw in a few chunks of the bread bait and see how fast mullet will go and suck up the bread. These can be made by mullet feeding below the water line, or crabs that seem to enjoy bread even more than lugworm.
Far better to keep moving, and come back to it again and again. Even if you are not using flavour or smell enhancers, the bait will absorb the creamy water from the mash, making it more attractive than bread-flake that has absorbed mere seawater (for a while at least).
w, slowly forcing it through the mesh and into the tide.
(Though during a lengthy session, it’s sometimes necessary to lift the sack, when most of the finer particles have been washed out and to give it a good squishing using the method of your choice).
Breathless moments with a decision to be made; all part of the thrill of mullet fishing. They seem to wander aimlessly about, feeding on the mud and venting small clouds of mud every now and again. Fortunately such holes are easily repaired with some fishing line and no need of a sewing needle. Well that isn’t necessarily so. Processed Food as Bait. If it’s not possible to wade out, then attach the whole lot to a strong cord (‘anchor’, filled bread bag and marker buoy) and sling it out as far as you can! It seems to be a cosmological rule that things that do the job best are usually considerably more expensive than the alternatives. (It’s usually at this point in the proceedings that I discover that, once again, I’ve left my hand towel in the dryer, back at home!). Easy enough to wade out at low water and place the bag beneath a heavy stone. DepthThough I usually prefer to position the bread bag at the surface, where I can keep a good eye on it and on what’s happening immediately around it, sometimes the fish are reluctant to come near the top. It’s best to do this close to the water’s edge so that the creamy white run-off runs into the water to form its own mullet attracting cloud, rather than drying into an unattractive pool of mashed bread debris to the annoyance of other users of the pier or dock. One problem with this is knowing exactly where the anchored bag is when it is out of sight, held to the bottom or floating some way beneath the surface.
Jim, a member of the Medway Mullet Group, tells of a fish hanging onto a bag that he was trying to lift clear, determined to win the tug of war, and almost coming out of the water with the bag. It doesn’t seem to happen like that with mullet. If the bread bag is at all accessible they will work hard at tearing it apart, sometimes assisted by gulls, and the mud-rats that scamper across the mud at night, from their hidey-holes along the shore. But put the same angler on a riverbank and there would probably be nothing to distinguish a mullet angler from a chub angler. A chop on the water will rock the net and lap at the mesh, emptying it quite quickly (but it should last most of the session). With a float fished bait, close to the net, do you wait for the feeding fish to find your hook-bait, or do you move the bait, knowing that the movement of the rod overhead may spook the fish away, but also knowing that a bait lowered down next to the bag often provokes a take?
Whilst it’s true that the experienced bread bag user has a repertoire of tactics available for different situations and conditions, it’s more usual that the angler concerned has not really thought through what they are trying to achieve, or how best to go about it. The colour doesn’t matter at all, but the soft multi-strand mesh is the kind to look for. (Is there a better feeling than that of squishing wet bread between your fingers on a hot summer day? Though they will repeatedly return to a baited area during their meandering, feeding as they pass by, They are perfectly happy to leave the baited area, and resume their meandering, even though there is plenty of food still around.