Mullet have a small mouth, so remember to use small hooks and small pieces of bait (size 8-12 hooks are ideal). When fishing with soft plastics or bait, use scents such as S-Factor or Procure. We find that this kind of thing makes them a little crazy and in an aggressive mood. Also do not forget to use small baits with slow and steady recovery. Locally, the most common mullet is the yellow-eyed mullet. They are small, thin silver-colored fish and darker backs and bright yellow eyes. They train in large numbers in estuaries and hang out in calm structures and waters such as moorings, docks and marinas. Mullet responds very well to Berley. Therefore, we highly recommend fishing for secluded drinks if you can fish with your own mixture of bread, tuna oil and bilge pellets or buy prefabricated Berley pellets and electricity from your local fishing shop. Make sure you rely on this area every 10-15 minutes for them to hang around. Mullet can be caught most of the day year-round Victoria – Indians (management methods) A person who identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is exempt from the requirement to obtain a Victorian recreational fishing licence, provided they comply with all other rules that apply to recreational fishers, including equipment regulations, catch limits, size restrictions and restricted areas. Traditional (non-commercial) fishing activities conducted by members of a traditional ownership group under an agreement under Victoria`s Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 are also exempt from the requirement to hold a recreational fishing licence, subject to the conditions set out in the agreement.
Holders of national titles are also exempt from the requirement to obtain a recreational fishing licence under the provisions of the Commonwealth Aboriginal Title Act 1993. Tasmania – Recreation (fishing methods) In Tasmania, a recreational licence is required for fishermen using line or longline fishing gear, as well as nets such as gillnets or beach seines. The species has a minimum size of 250 mm. Mullet (all species) are subject to a bag limit of 15 individuals and a possession limit of 30 individuals. Mullet fishing requires lightness and finesse. We recommend a graphite rotation bar of 1 to 3 or 2 to 4 kilos about 7 feet in length. Coupled with a size 1000 or 2000 coil with 4 pounds of string and about a rod length of 4-6 pounds of fluorocarbon guide. Bait fishing uses a 2 to 4 kilo rod about 7 feet long.
Coupled to a roller of size 2000 or 2500, either a float or a small fee, a swivel and very fine guide. Good rigging options include either a small running lead platform (lead from polka dots to a swivel, a 50 cm fluorocarbon guide to a small tree hook 8 to 12 long) or bait suspended from a float. Mullet eagerly takes small pieces of fresh bait such as silverfish, shrimp and pilchards. They also react very well to maggots and sandworms. Berley will be the key to bringing the mule and keeping it nearby. Remember to use very small, thin hooks. Keep in mind that the mullet has a small mouth, so do not forget to cut these baits into small pieces. In recent decades, effort with mesh nets and seines, the predominant commercial gear for attacking yellow-eyed barbel, has decreased in all commercial fisheries in Victoria [Conron et al. 2020], now that it has been abandoned at Gippsland Lakes and will also be phased out at Port Phillip Bay until 2022, after all commercial net licences have been acquired to improve access to recreational fishing through hook and line methods.
In Victoria, a total of 29.14 tonnes of yellow-eyed barbels were caught in 2019 by commercial fishers operating in Corner Inlet and Port Phillip Bay [Conron et al. 2020]. Annual catches have ranged from 28 tonnes to 68 tonnes over the past decade, with a long-term downward trend since its peak in the 1980s. Over the past four years, catches have remained constant at around 30 tonnes, about two-thirds or less than the annual catches in the period 2009-2014. In the past, mullet has been regularly targeted by commercial net fishers, but not in recent decades, with other higher-value species being preferred. Yellow-eyed beards are caught by recreational fishermen, but recent catches are unknown. Whiting can be fished in Port Phillip Bay and Western Port. Some well-known hotspots are Corner Inlet is now the mainstay of the commercial fishery, the majority of yellow-eyed barbel are caught with, the rest with mesh nets [Conron et al. 2020].
The mesh CPUE is considered a less reliable indicator of biomass than the purse seine CPUE because the previous gearbox type is not typically used for yellow-eyed barbs. Overall, the CFS time series are highly variable and have been influenced to an unknown extent by changes in the degree of crop retention and reporting. It is thought that yellow-eyed beards have often been discarded in recent decades due to their low value and, therefore, the reported CPUE may have underestimated abundance, possibly also fishing mortality to the extent that there is some degree of mortality after release. Despite these considerations, the Yellow-eyed Calf transport CPUE in Corner Inlet has shown an upward trend over the past decade, close to the 1986-2015 average. This trend is part of a recently stable reduction in catch levels [Conron et al. 2020]. The main measures of biomass and fishing mortality are total catches and targeted EUCPs of commercial gillnet fishers. Commercial landings of mullet in South Australia peaked at 519 tonnes in 1989/90 and gradually declined to 155 tonnes in 2003/04.
This long-term decline reflects a reduction in targeted efforts due to a combination of MSF licence buybacks and low wholesale prices rather than a decrease in biomass, with fishing quotas for the main types of fishing gear (gillnets in the LCF and trawls in the MSF) stable at relatively high levels over this period. Since the 2000s, catches have been higher in most years, due to an increase in the targeted effort and CPUE of gillnets. The total catch of 301 tonnes in 2018-2019 was the highest national catch since 1994-95 and was associated with a record rate of CPUE in the gillnet [Earl 2020]. The 2013-2014 National Recreational Survey estimated that 100,876 mullet were caught, of which 71,278 fish were caught [Giri and Hall 2015].