I fished around Station 26 on Sullivan’s Island from about 11-2. The mullet were thick right in the surf. I caught about 3 dozen nice ones and kept them for future bait, gutted, salted and put in the freezer. I caught about 25 small whiting on cut shrimp and a couple small trout on live mullet. Not my favorite spot to fish, but I my wife and granddaughter were with me and they like that area for swimming. I’ll be glad when the swimmers are done for the summer.
Saw lots of bait Sat. on IOP as well, no mullet, pretty sure they were Menhaden.
Little Jack didn’t want to fish?
Jack didn’t want to go,so his sister was with us.
She was busy boogie boarding with a friend she made on the beach. There were a few menhaden mixed in with the mullet. I also caught a couple of small pompano in the cast net. I was surprised that there were no bluefish chasing all that bait.
Jack Taylor
How are you catching the mullet?
I went saturday by station 20 and it was a lot of lady fish cutting through menhaden down there.
Caught the mullet with a cast net. 1 throw = about 3 dozen mullet. I could have filled my 5 gallon bucket in a few casts. I went back today around Station 30, and the NE wind was blowing pretty hard. I caught a bunch of small whiting again. Not near as much bait that I could see today.
Jack Taylor
What is the best way to preserve fresh caught mullet both large and small?
Mr Taylor, I saw the same thing hoards and hoards of bait pods moving in a decent distance off the beach for hours. I also caught hundreds of tiny mullet in one cast which actually sucked cause I had to pop the heads off each one because they were stuck in the net. The mosquitoes loved me for the rest of the day.
The mullet I caught were bigger than finger mullet, but not the big ones either. I gut them and cut their heads off. I put them in a bucket with some sea water for a while then put them on ice inside a plastic bag. When I got home, I put them in freezer bags. Sometimes I gut them and bring them home and salt then freeze them.
Like most everyone I prefer fresh bait, but gutting them and salting or brining seems to keep them from getting mushy when they’re thawed. Much better than those frozen whole mullet you buy.
Jack Taylor
Thanks for the info
Pretty sure I was offshore that day. The schools of mullet went from horizon to horizon about 1 mile off the beach. It was pretty cool to watch. saw what either was a king mackerel or a tarpon jump out of the water twice while chasing them, but no bites as we slow trolled around them.