Barra (and others) on live mullet???

[surftravel]

Moved to Weipa about 3 months ago and yesterday I finally bought a boat (off a mate).

He was good enough to show me a good spot, but I (and he) have one problem ...
We get all sorts of crazy runs on live mullet, but can't seem to land one!

After letting the fish have a good run (10 secs to sometimes up to 60 secs) when I pull back on the rod to try to set the hook, I just end up pulling the whole mullet out and I get the mullet back - minus scales!

What am I doing wrong?

What is the secret to catching barra on live mullet? (I presume that's what is taking the bait and running).

Please help!!!

Thanks in advance,
Mick

[Kendall249]

Hi mick, when barra start mouthing thd bait it sometimes hard to hook them. But if that happening your in the right place. Usually barra hook themselves. Not sure what rig your using,but I would try leaving thr rod in the holder with the the drag on. Use wide gap hooks so that when the fish strike it hopefully hook its self. When the rod loads up they should be hooked. But like I said when they are tentatively hitting baits, sometime through a terratorial instinct, they are hard to hook and its gets annaying when they start killing all your good baits. I dont know the answer how hook them when they are mouthing the bait, its bloody frustrating. Could try fishing with lighter gear, different hook size or different bait maybe (maybe live prawn), but just a thought. I think they hold the bait in the front of the mouth, I mostly commonly experience this when there is slack water with little run and haven't found a way to get them to strike properly.

Cheer kendall

[Stan53]

With live bait - particularly mullet the barra will run for a short distance then stop. This is when they usually swallow the bait. Prior to this they are just holding it in their mouth. Then when the second run starts this is when to set the hook. It is rare to get a hook up on the first run.

With other baits they can be a bit more aggressive such as live prawn and herring. Unfortunately I can't use live prawns.

I still miss a few but am getting better at it. Hope this helps a bit.

[ozbee]

if your fishing near the pillions they probably are jewies they love to suck on a mullet for up to twenty minutes before swallowing . if in doubt get a slab of catfish skin on jewies love them just have to be patient though those big ones sure can pull. its pretty hard not to catch a barra in thirty minutes up there never mind three months just work the hard bodied lures right up into the gutter and snag shallows bigger the plop the better.

[surftravel]

Hi mick ... Usually barra hook themselves. Not sure what rig your using,but I would try leaving thr rod in the holder with the the drag on. Use wide gap hooks ... When the rod loads up they should be hooked. But like I said when they are tentatively hitting baits, sometime through a terratorial instinct, they are hard to hook and its gets annaying ...

Cheer kendall

Thanks for the reply Kendall!

The rig I am using is overhead baitcasters with 30lb Tuff Line XP braid and a 40lb mono leader with a small running sinker and I have tried both wide gap and normal (beak style) hooks (oh, and today I even tried a 3-gang hook set-up ... and still no luck after a good run!).

I was given the tip to leave the reel in free-spool and let the fish run as much as possible.

Well, I've tried everything with this rig and fishing style ... let the fish run for ages; tried to set the hook straight away; applied just a bit of pressure; waited for after the 'second run'; skull-dragged; etc ... and every time I get my mullet back (sans scales!).

if your fishing near the pillions they probably are jewies ... its pretty hard not to catch a barra in thirty minutes up there never mind three months ...

Not fishing near any pylons, and I never said I haven't caught barra - just not on livies yet! In fact, at the very spot I am getting these aggressive runs on live mullet, I am also getting barra (between 61 and 76cm) on poppers!!!

I'd just like to know how the hell to get them with the livies that they so readily take, play with and then ... spit out?!

Cheers,
Mick

[snatch]

Maybe you need to go up a couple of sizes with your hooks? Barra have a mouth you can park a truck in. I usually hook my live mullet across the eyes when fishing for Barra. That way the hook is a little more free to turn. I have hooked a few in the past. Usually around the gills.

[JRJR]

I just got back from a trip up North near Ingham. Myself and a few others couldn't even get a bite on Mullet. All the Barra were being caught on live Herring and they too were all hooking themselves.

I was standing talking to some guy one day and within 30 seconds 3 of his rods went off while I stood there. Because there were only 2 of them I got to catch one and I wasn't even fishing at the time.
We had 3 Barra on the banks within 3 minutes ranging from 75cm-95cm!

All on live Herring and all hooked themselves.
It made catching Barra look very easy. I went back the next day to the same spot and caught one on live Herring again. Used live mullet and ended up with a big Flathead instead.

One of the locals reckoned you only catch them on Live Mullet and they won't touch Herring. Haha. Makes me laugh all the different opinions you get off everybody when it comes to fishing.

Maybe smaller bait would be better so they just swallow the bait.

[Luke G]

Try leaving the reel in gear, or start trolling lures through the area.

Cheers

[nidrac]

Many people have different tequniques as you have probably found out so far, another one to throw into the mix is instead of putting the sinker on the mainline put it inbetween the hook and the swivel. Theary is that the fish feel the weight of the sinker and are forced to swallow more of the mullet (and hopefully your hook) to stop it from loosing it, but the preasure isn't as great as trying to hook the fish yourself so they don't completely let go of the fish. This is also good when fishing in shallow waters, it stops the mullet from swiming to the top of the water, you wouldn't believe how many times a hawk or something tries to have a go at your bait when its ontop of the water. Another way of doing it is slowly applying preasure to the spool when its in free spool with your thumb.. you can generaly feel the change when the fish are actually hooked this way.

Cheers Nidrac

[Local_Guy]

nothing beats a good ol stick of dynamite...

on another note. how are you hooking the fish. incase i've missed it in this thread.... but a few ways to do it.

1. 1 hook through the nose of the mullet and another one through the back of the fish.....
2. 1 hook through the back of the fish
3. 1 hook through the nose of hte mullet and a stinger hook with a treble floating.
4. 1 hook through the dorsal fin area of the fish.

experiment and try a few different hook locations out. 1 might work for you better than others. and something else i read somewhere. have 2 or 3 rods out all with different hook arrangements so you know which is having the best catch rate.