This Mullet Rig Will Have Your Bait Finding The Fish For You!
- By: Joseph Simonds
- on
Predator fish are usually sitting in one spot, waiting for an easy meal to swim by.
If you’re using artificial lures, you’re making a ton of casts and covering lots of ground, so chances are you’ll eventually get lucky and find that one spot.
But what if you’re using live bait?
Most people just throw their bait out and hold on, waiting for a bite.
If you’re in the right spot, you might catch some fish, but you’re probably missing out on a lot of BIG fish.
Instead of tossing your bait out, closing the bail, and waiting for a bite, you need to get your bait to go out and find the predator fish for you.
So how do you that?
Check out the video below where Capt. Peter Deeks will show you how.
How To Rig Live Mullet [VIDEO]
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There are two parts to getting your mullet to find game fish for you:
- Rigging them the correct way
- Training them to swim away from you
When you’re rigging them to swim away from the boat, rig them in the tail and be sure to not weigh them down with too heavy of a hook.
In this video, we used a 3/0 octopus hook with a 5″ mullet.
Now the real magic comes by you training them them to swim away from you.
By rigging them in the tail, they’ll naturally swim away from the boat.
And to help them cover as much ground as possible, open up the bail and feed them line.
When they’re swimming away from the boat, line will be coming off of the reel, but if line stops coming off of the reel, then that means they’re swimming back toward the boat.
If you reel in tight to the mullet and put some tension on his tail, that will cause him to turn around and swim against the tension.
Therefore, he’ll start swimming away from the boat again.
Once he does that, resume feeding the line out so he can freely cover ground and find his way into the jaws of a big, hungry fish.
Why This Technique Catches So Many Fish
Yes, this strategy is great because it lets your bait find fish for you, but there are several other reasons why it works.
For one, you can reach areas that you could never cast to.
Capt. Deeks will let his mullet swim out 100 yards away from the boat where the fish are much less aware of you.
They’re less spooky out there and are way more likely to hit your bait.
Also, working them this way lets your bait look more natural.
Big fish are smart and if something doesn’t look right, they can often tell and might not eat your bait.
And finally, this technique lets your bait survive a lot longer.
If you’re keeping your mullet in one spot and the current is beating against it, it’s going to get really tired and eventually drown.
But if it’s swimming through the water like it normally would, it’ll be much healthier.
Conclusion
This strategy of tail-hooking mullet and letting them swim away from you can let you cover a ton of ground that you would not normally be able to cover if you were just casting and retrieving your bait.
Also, it lets you get into the distant areas where fish are less aware of you and more likely to eat your wandering mullet.
Want more tips about how to catch fish with live bait?
Keep an eye out for our new course, Underwater Bait Forensics, which shows exactly how different live baits act underwater, and how you can maximize your time fishing.
It’ll be available on August 19th at SaltStrong.com/Products.
Have any questions about rigging live mullet?
Let us know down in the comments!
And if you know someone who needs to see this video, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
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I see lots of mullet, but how do I catch them?
Hey Bill, the best option is a 7-12 foot cast net (as you can’t catch mullet on normal hook and line)
This underwater footage is amazing!! Thank you Salt Strong. Join the Insider Club if you all haven’t – you won’t regret it.
Thank you, Amanda! You Rock! We’re blessed to have you in the Salt Strong family.
Incredible video! Can’t wait to see the rest of videos that go with this! Everything from Deeks is incredible!
Thank you for the awesome feedback Christian!
Great video! I employ a similar method using bluegills and creek chubs to fish for large and smallmouth bass. I can’t wait to get started watching the Underwater Bait Forensics course that was just released.
Thank you for the great feedback William! Yep most rigging techniques will apply for many baitfish. However, there are some differences based on the “type” of baitfish, which you will see in the course.
Great Vid. we follow them all in NZ even though many are not specific to our fishing methodes and species. Your can never learn too much? We ‘live bait’ with mackerel, sometimes with mullet. Never seen what happens underwater, can only guess!
Good stuff! It’s always nice to learn new techniques, especially with fishing. You never know what could work!
great video. Love the underwater footage. It helps a lot.
Thank you for the great feedback Ferdinand!
Where do you place the hook??
Hey Gary! If you look closely in the video you can see the hook in the mullet. It is placed just under the rear fin on his back.
Enjoying these short but highly informative videos. Thanks Captain Deeks!
Glad you are enjoying the videos Jonathan!
Awesome video. What size hook would you recommend on a 3 inch mullet? Right now that seems like the size I am finding.
3″ mullet? That’s tiny! I bought some size 4 Owner Mutu light circle hooks a while back that should work. I use them for catching bait or fishing with shrimp.
Capt. Deeks, Excellent ideas. Thank you. Tom Watts, Naples, Fl.
Glad you enjoyed the video Tom!