I have some frozen finger mullet and plan on fishing the surf. Not really fishing for anything in particular, just for fun. Should I use the whole mullet, hooked through the eye? Or cut it in chunk and use it as bait that way? I am using a carolina rig and surf fishing.
Thanks guys
I would cut it up into small chunks for whiting on a 2 hook dropper rig (small hooks) but would keep another rod out with the whole mullet on a slider rig (large circle hook) for large reds (and sharks) that are starting to move closer to shore toward the mouths of inlets.
I don’t surf fish , but when I fish structure for big reds and am using frozen finger mullet I like to cut the tail off on a slant. For some reason using this technique out fishes using a whole finger mullet just about every - at least it does for me .
If you do get on to a whiting, they make for excellent redfish bait. Biggest red I’ve caught to date was on a big whiting chunk
when I was a youngster, the family would do spring break in New Smryna Bch FL. I used to get up with all the old retirees and got surf fish in the AM. We used whole finger mullet rigged like so:
cut off head, take a long shank hook (don’t remember the size), and insert the eye through a small hole cut in near the tail. Push the eye in through the body so it comes out where the head should be and then turn the hook, push it back through the body so it comes out the other side of the tail area. This helps secure the bait from sliding on the hook. We’d rig that on a tie wire leader (we caught mostly blues) and about a 2-3 oz pyramid sinker. Just casted it out as far as we could into the surf.
We got some nice blues, 6-10 lbs in the surf, sharks, don’t ever recall catching a red or trout back then.
2014 Key West 203DFS
1987 Landau
Dear Jason…If you are fishing multiple rods, I would follow Rad’s advice about putting out a 2 hook bottom rig with small baits, and a larger surf rod rigged with a sinker slide and a large chunk of mullet. The small fish caught on the 2 hook bottom rig will act as a fresh bait alternative to the frozen mullet. Remember that whatever is swimming in the surf zone is feeding on what you are catching…a fresh cut chunk of bloody, oily blue fish is a magnet for big spotails, black drum. and of course the sharks. I would not waste a whole frozen finger mullet as a bait…cut it in half. Frozen baits get soft in the salt water and are easily pulled off the hook by crabs, etc. so don’t waste a whole one when 1/2 of one will do just fine. Good luck.
Sol Mate
Mako 20B
225 Optimax