I’ve been thinking about how to catch those annoying garfish and mullet that so often follow poppers but rarely have a go. Next time I’m out on the flats, I’m going to try tying a small fly on a short length of light line behind the popper. The theory is that the fish will be attracted to the commotion, and when they see the little fly dangling down behind the popper, they’ll find it irresistible. Hopefully they think it’s a piece of prawn leg or something…which gives me the idea to use a fly that looks like a bit of prawn or nipper…although I have seen gar and mullet going bezerk eating flying ants on a warm evening’s hatch…
With this and the tenkara, we should be able to turn those frustrating sessions on the flats into some fun fishing!
If all this fails, I’ll definitely be bringing some cheap and nasty white bread and some small longshank hooks with me. Berleying up, literally at your feet, and watching garfish, mullet and bream sip bread off the surface is a lot of fun.
We’ve figured out a little technique for casting unweighted bread baits far enough so that they sit on the surface, without a float. If you take a small piece of doughy bread and mould it around the shank, but leave a ‘fluffy’ bit around the hook, you can get enough weight in your presentation to cast it a few metres and have it float on the surface for a few minutes. This is more than enough time when you’ve got hundreds of hungry mullet in the trail! The tenkara will be AWESOME for this…
Smoked mullet are delicious…
Anyway, looking forward to seeing if the popper/fly combination is successful. Watch this space!
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Thanks June. Keen to give them a go. I’ve sent you an email to see if we can review them for you and help promote them in Australia…if they work over here!