Mullet on the Fly

The flats around Pine Island are covered with huge schools of mullet. Everywhere you look, especially at low tide, you'll see them launching themselves out of the water like small tarpon. No one is exactly sure why they do this but it makes them an ulikely but inviting target for a fly rod. The only problem is that they're strict vegetarians.

The trick is to tie a fly that looks like a hunk of algae. This isn't very tough but it requires small hooks and a material called Krystal Dub. Wrapping a thumbnail sized piece around a dry fly hook will be convincing enough. The technique is to simply cast into a feeding school and wait for the fly to mistakenly get inhaled. Once hooked they put on a great fight, especially on a 6 weight or lighter rod.

Mullet are great to eat when smoked or fried. They were once commercially caught by the ton throughout Florida with huge gill nets. This practice was banned in 1995 and since then the mullet populations have exploded. You can't go anywere on the shallows of this coast without seeing them by the hundreds. Even better news is that all of the really prized fly rod targets, such as snook, trout, reds, and tarpon, feed heavily on mullet. By finding the prey, you'll usually find the predators. And if the predators can't be hooked, you can try fishing for the prey.