MULLET MAGIC
I’m mad about mullet…I just love the way they treat us anglers with total disdain gently cruising past our delicately placed bread baits only to suck in the very next free floating one they come to as if its their last meal.

I tend to treat mullet as opportunist fish. If I come across a situation where I see mullet feeding, I’ll try for them. On my recent trip to Cobh in Ireland Mike Hennessey, Angling Information Officer of the Southwest Regional Fisheries Board, and I noticed mullet feeding by a pipe in the harbour, and there were some good fish amongst them too.

We started flicking bits of cheap white loaf above the mullet using the tide flow to trot the bread back down to the fish. Although preoccupied with the pipe, they quickly started to lift in the water and suck in the bread. Two middle aged kids frantically started setting up gear to have a crack at them.

We decided on small clear bubble floats with a 6ft trailing hook link of 8lb Fluorocarbon and a size 10 hook. The knack was to let the bait precede the float and watch the bread, not the float, striking only when the fish visibly sucked the bait in and turned away.

We both missed early fish then I watched Mike as he muttered something about “go on you b****r” and suddenly his arm lifted and the rod tip curled over as line fizzed off the reel. There were boats and a floating pontoon nearby and he had to really hustle the fish to keep it away from potential snags. We netted it and it made just over 4lbs.

I kept my bread dry just watching the fish as they cruised up and down feeding near the pipe. Only when I saw a bigger fish come out of the feeding shoal and move forward to intercept the bread did I drop my bait in to the water.

Eyes glued to the bread it slowly washed down until a dark grey shape rose underneath it and a faint ripple appeared where the bread had been. I struck and felt a satisfying double thump on the rod tip as the hook sank home and the line tightened. The fish didn’t quite know what had happened at first, but a few seconds later realised things were not as they should be and took off downtide taking maybe 30yds of line in two fast runs.

The fish was now behind a boat and I was struggling to control it. Then it chose to bore back uptide taking a fair bit of the line I’d just gained back out again.  Another change of tactics and it went deep holding station in the tide. Pressure told and the fish tried one more charge downtide but was finally netted. It weighed 4lb 10ozs and was just below the Irish specimen qualifying weight at 5lbs.

It would have been so easy to walk past those mullet, but they will feed and are well worth a go if you see the “opportunity”. It’s magic!

COD GALORE
While in Ireland I also noticed huge numbers of small codling about 7 to 8-inches long in Cobh Harbour and further east inside Waterford Harbour. We have the same class of fish in good numbers too off the North Wales coast and I had a few during a recent session on Holyhead Breakwater. Is this a good omen for future years?

I’d like to be positive and say “yep” the numbers of small cod will give us good fishing in the next three to four years, but what really happens is that many of these juvenile fish are eaten by predators, but the bulk are killed as unintentional catches by commercial trawl nets and prawn pots as just two examples.

On the bright side, I can’t remember seeing so many of the little blighters and it might just be this time that enough will make it to give us some half decent fishing here on the west coast of the UK over the next few years to rival the fishing the southeast of England enjoyed last winter. Fingers crossed!

ROSSLARE SMALL BOATS FESTIVAL
The Rosslare Small Boat Festival begins the weekend of the 11th September and I’m aware quite a few WSF members are towing their boats over to the southeast of Ireland for the event, plus Mike Jr will be there fishing with WSF Deputy Admin, Cascars aboard his Quicksilver 21.

There’s over 40 boats registered to fish and given good weather you’re going to have to have well over 30 qualifying species to be in with a shout of winning. Believe me that takes some doing over just 4 days of competition, but the ground feature here is so varied over 40 species is possible.

I’ve never been keen on competition fishing myself, but this is one event I’d dearly like to fish as I love species fishing in all its forms and so many good mates fish the comp and as the Irish say “the craic will be mighty”. But it always coincides with a busy work period and the beginning of the Pure Fishing trade shows, so I’ll be on the road and in sunny Gatwick with just a touch of the green eyed monster evident.

I just wanted to wish everyone fishing the event, especially all my Irish mates and everyone from WSF that’s taking part, good luck in the comp and enjoy the nights in the bar! I’ll be thinking about you, lads!