Gear prep and eyes to the beach! Yep, it’s that time of year. The mullet run is primed and ready, so will you be. For those of us that have witnessed the fish feeding mayhem that rolls down our coast it’s easy to understand the excitement. For those that haven’t, it’s a spectacle you don’t want to miss. The mullet run is actually a migration of both mullet species from their summer homes on the south east coast (Georgia and the Carolinas) to their wintering grounds off south Florida and beyond. The lagoon has its share of mullet run activity, but the main focus is on the beach and inlet/port fishing.
As pulses of mullet stream down the coast predators of all shapes come to feed. One of our premier targets is snook. They can be caught by foot, boat or kayak and are always game for a good fight. Live baits work great and mullet is the predominant food for them at this time. Of course your croakers and pinfish won’t last long in a hot bite. But the ticket is those readily available mullet that you can catch on site. Any number of hard and soft plastic lures will also have you hooked up. One of my favorite tactics is to walk the beach with a Slayer Inc. SSTxl (soft plastic) on a jig head or a floating lipped plug of any brand. Fish your baits and lures in the trough where the mullet are present and hang on! The best part of this is catching big snook with nothing for them to cut you off on. Light tackle fun for big fish. The mixed bag of species feeding should give you plenty of opportunities at different fish.
As I guide, I typically look to the last weeks of August for the “run” to start. It can last for weeks or even a month plus. Though it is predictable, there is no guarantee. Be ready to hit it as many times as possible for these prime weeks through September.
Be sure to catch my seminar sponsored by Spacefish and held at Boater’s Exchange in Rockledge this Tuesday, August 7th at 6pm. I will be covering snook fishing the mullet run in great detail.
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