LA River Mullet

Secret Spot Exposed :ROFL:



I was wondering if anyone target's them.
Seen some tattooed shirtless longhair tweeker type dude a couple times fishing for them in the LA River at Anahiem St.

If you turn at West Coast Choppers and park by the river there is a cement burm that is exposed at low tide and usually a bunch of gulls and pelicans there.

Keep in mind that the river tends to run backwards as the tide comes back in creating a mixture fresh/salt/toxic polluted mixture :Angry: Nice.

VEGANS ??? Never fished for them but heard they are vegetarians.
Bait ??? Peas, Moss ??? I Dunno ???

I have checked this spot several times and you can see them school at times.



DANGER !!! WARNING !!!

DANGERS REGAURDING THIS SPOT READ BELOW !!!

1st THESE FISH ARE CONTAMINATED !!!

LA RIVER IS NASTY WITH TONS OF STREET POLLUTION FROM LOS ANGELES.

I WOULD NOT EAT THEM SINCE THEY LIVE IN THIS NASTY CESSPOOL !!!

2nd THIS AREA HAS MANY HOMELESS PEOPLE LIVING BY THE RIVER

( WATCH YOUR BACK )

3rd YOUR CAR MAY GET BROKEN INTO SINCE YOU CAN'T SEE IT WHEN DOWN BY THE RIVER


Good Luck


DR

lol saying they arent contaminated wont stop people from eating them.


I see people keeping the croakers from the lower part of the san gabriel river. If only they would travel up about 5 miles and see whats flowing into there. YUCK.


Mullet are hard to catch, but ive caught a few off the newport pier using tiny tiny sandcrabs on a tiny tiny treble hook.

boarder brothers snag those out at the jetty near seal beach when the schools go past. I've never seen them caught with bait, but if you could get them to bite. they are a hell of a fight

there is also tilapia in various areas too.

Dude , mullets are bitchin man !!

Anahiem St is about 3/4 mile up river from the launch ramp by the Queen Mary. I had seen a snagger once on the burm there at low tide.
Some homeless are camping out off Anaheim on the N side of the river.
Gonna be nasty as the S Central flush comes with the rain.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tpfishnfool

Dude , mullets are bitchin man !!

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DR

Mullets are an awesome fish on light tackle! They are so strong and fast. Hard to get them to take a bait though.

if you want to try and catch them whats your best bet? besides snagging

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Originally Posted by samgann93

if you want to try and catch them whats your best bet? besides snagging

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Those Vegan Mullets will go for Peas or Moss wrapped on a hook.

Some guys use 'Moss Flies'
Here is a bad pic.



At Anahiem St on the LA River at low tide you can see them school.



Mullet Article;

This sums up the Nasty LA River

The very best spots for mullet fishing are where sewer pipes and discharge pipes enter directly in to the sea. Mullet are foragers and will capitalise on any food source that is constant. Such pipes bring food directly to the mullet and they will often swim up inside the pipes a little way to feed. You'll often see the mullet feeding with their tails poking above the surface slick where pipe discharge directly falls in to the sea.

BAITS
Top baits for mullet are bread flake both sub surface and fished floating on the surface, small bits of ragworm, mackerel flesh with the skin removed, cheese paste especially Dairy Lea, plus they can be weaned on to pasta, cat food, sausage meat, and pretty much any other food stuff for human consumption.

They also occasionally take whole small ragworm and tiny bits of lugworm, plus will take maggots and are especially vulnerable during the July to September period when the weed on the shoreline has the blow fly maggots in it that wash in to the sea as a natural groundbait and lure the mullet in.

PREBAITING
The discharge pipes and the wash off from boat decks does some of the pre baiting for you and concentrates the mullet. Even so, it still pays to put ground bait in the water.

The best way when fishing harbours and marinas is to use the small mesh bags that washing powder tablets go in and fill these with a mix of fish type cat food, bran and pilchard oil, or plain white bread. These can be lowered in to the swim and tied off to keep a constant trickle of food going in to the water to get the mullet feeding.

The small bags can also be replaced easily, use minimal groundbait but are fully effective, plus are easily repositioned if need be. Have the bag just touching the surface water to slowly leech the food out.�

You can use the same tactic from piers and breakwaters.

In estuary creeks look for rocks that jut out in to the creek. Try filling the cracks in the rock with bread and groundbait at different levels. As the tide floods, the bread and groundbait leaks out at a constant rate and will hold the fish in the swim.

Anglers from the Channel Islands also use Chervy, a mix of minced meat, sweet corn, sometimes bread and mackerel. This is made in to a thick soup like consistency and is added by hand intermittently with a large spoon or ladle. Again it is very effective wherever you use it.

http://www.worldseafishing.com/shore/shore_mullet.html


DR

Wow! Pretty nasty creatures they must be.

Mullet fishing is like Carp fishing. Mullet are underrated, spooky, and requires stealth to catch. My 2 cents.

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Originally Posted by Ifishtoolittle

Mullet fishing is like Carp fishing. Mullet are underrated, spooky, and requires stealth to catch. My 2 cents.

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Just to 'clear my name'

I don't fish for Mullet, but I might try that spot.

I fished alot at Big Bear as a kid and never caught a carp.
We would see them.

Guys would shoot them with bow and arrow for the 5 cent bounty for carp tails. We used a rowboat and a pole spear for them.
In the 1960's they had too many carp in the lake so they paid people 5 cents for every tail they brought in.

Another tough to catch fish is Corbina. 2 years ago I was surf fishing alot till I fine tuned the art of Corbina fishing.
22" was my biggest after about 40 after work trips.

DR

I live about 5 min from the anaheim st/ LA river spot. Anyone wanna try it out next week?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bradakas

I live about 5 min from the anaheim st/ LA river spot. Anyone wanna try it out next week?

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Not sure how long it will take the water to clear up and the Mullet regroup?

You can see the spot down river about 200' from Anahiem St. Turn at West Coast Choppers
and go around and back towards the river. Park in a visible spot.
There is access and a bike path above then you go down to the cement burm.
Your shoes will get wet unless you go at low tide which is better for sight fishing them.
I didn't see any 'No Fishing' signs during the couple recon outings there.

Don't go with any open cuts on your hands since the river water is nasty.
The river runs backwards on incoming tide so it is a fresh/salt mix.
Always alot of birds and pelicans there. Bait Spot ?
Get some green thread and wrap the moss on a #6 worm hook.
A old timer at the marina told me he cuts 6" pieces of red thread and wraps mussle that way for bottom fishing.
I wouldn't eat them.
Bring a camera for your post. :LOL:
Good Luck, DR

Never got a strait answer as to what these folks were fiehing for back on 2/17/08 when I posted these pics of them fishing the river all the way up at the I-5 and SR-2 in Glendale.


Way to far up for mullet?

Steve

Look like they might be fun to catch, kinda like opaleye, hard to get to bite but fight like trains...

in hawaii we use casting nets to catch mullet near the white water. I've never caught one on rod and reel. Should be interesting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DockRat

Just to 'clear my name'

I don't fish for Mullet, but I might try that spot.

I fished alot at Big Bear as a kid and never caught a carp.
We would see them.

Guys would shoot them with bow and arrow for the 5 cent bounty for carp tails. We used a rowboat and a pole spear for them.
In the 1960's they had too many carp in the lake so they paid people 5 cents for every tail they brought in.

Another tough to catch fish is Corbina. 2 years ago I was surf fishing alot till I fine tuned the art of Corbina fishing.
22" was my biggest after about 40 after work trips.

DR

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Why do you feel as if catching Mullet is a bad thing? Fishing is fishing and what ever pulls one should take it. Either way congrats on the catch.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by flyngby

Never got a strait answer as to what these folks were fiehing for back on 2/17/08 when I posted these pics of them fishing the river all the way up at the I-5 and SR-2 in Glendale.
Way to far up for mullet?

Steve

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Carp ? Cats ? Bluegill ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ifishtoolittle

Why do you feel as if catching Mullet is a bad thing? Fishing is fishing and what ever pulls one should take it.

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I guess the idea of fishing Mullet on the LA River sounds kinda foul.

I will have to give it a go. I like fishing other junkfish like Batrays and Smooth Hounds in the Port.

DR

Ask.Com says;

A side note- Chum the area with bread crumbs mixed with mud. (Mix mud & Bread crumbs together, make baseball-sized balls, distribute around your fishing area.) Also, toss out some bread mashed up into a ball.

The Mullet will start hitting the bread. When this begins, cast out a cork rig with a size 6 hook & bread-dough ball for bait.

Fish about a foot deep.

Fresh Smoked Mullet is excellent eating!

You have to get a baitfish net and that will work the best. (I'm not exactly sure that that is the correct name for the net it is the one with the weights around the edge and you throw it on the school) the reason they don't bite hooks is because they are vegitarians

sure you can use a fishing pole, they are ground feeders so you need some weight on the line to get that hook and bate to the bottom. Try bread, roll it into a ball and hook it, I used some cut up catfish to catch mine.


You can catch lots of them in a trailer park...

The best bait you can use is an old Poison album, a can of cheap beer and a big fat bleached blonde lady....


Try the old method of tossing a drop light into the pond, that will float them. Other wise a mullet is a bad haircut. GOOD LUCK!!!

get your fishing pole and put some dynomite on the hook .. Light ... lower in water ... and you'll catch quite a few .. they might be in pieces but its okay

Mullet Article Sounds like Mullet fight very hard and should be considered ' Sport Fish " and not just bait.

Reminds me of Corbina. A 3 lb Corbina fights like 8 lb Trout

Mullet Musings
Solving the jumping enigma with flies.
By Steve Kantner


When you think about it, the "game" in gamefish says a lot about a fish. It helps explain why one man's grunting and sweating aboard a drifting sportfisherman seems so far removed from another's grilled swordfish in a restaurant. Perhaps the lowly mullet deserves similar consideration. Once these shiny critters lose their bait shop image, what's left is a scrapper that's certainly more fun to catch on ultralight fly gear than it is to stack in a Cedar Key smokehouse. Anyway, before anyone contemplates such leaps in consciousness, they'll want to stock up on a few groceries. But this time, it won't be for dinner.

Okay, skeptics, let's look at mullet a little more sympathetically. Certainly these mid-sized dynamos don't have a reputation for destroying tackle but I suppose if you tallied all the soft-tissue injuries attributable to say, catching bonefish or seatrout on fly gear, you wouldn't have much of a list either. So if you intend to go after mullet with a drag-equipped reel, go easy. There's plenty of pinpoint casting involved and more than a few broken tippets, but what goes on beyond that transcends pure technology.

What's it like to catch mullet on flies? You won't hear that question asked very often but who among us hasn't watched these fish jump and wondered?
For your information, catching mullet happens to be a hoot. Supposedly, fly fishermen in other countries pursue various mullets that strike flies aggressively but local anglers consider our domestic species lock-jawed due to some curious eating habits. Nonetheless, it's time to strip away the scales of ignorance since nowadays, thanks to the introduction of ummm..."vegetable nymphs," even beginning fly casters can catch mullet until they're sick and tired of it. Incidentally, I don't have to remind anyone that this is break-through stuff.

You'll find two mullet species in Florida. Both hit flies. The black variety grows slightly larger than its streamlined silver cousin and if you ask any Florida cracker, you'll learn that black mullet are for eating while silvers are bait. Personally, I like catching the bigger, hard-hitting blacks. That doesn't shed much light on the mystery, though.

In a word, mullet are weird. Their unique behavior discourages anglers from the get-go. If I'd had something fancier to fly fish for early on, I'd probably be doing it instead. Mullet are considered prey rather than predators. Something you catch in a net to catch something bigger and better. Let's face it-we think mullet jump because they're being chased, though at times, they seem to be having fun. Whatever the reason, nobody ever considers getting one to jump at the end of a fly line.

I've tried to learn more about the habits of these enigmatic fish. In the end, it hasn't amounted to much. Give it a chance. If you're still with me, let me set the scene. It's sunset in suburban Fort Lauderdale. The daytime horn honking and hustle are finally beginning to melt onto a morass that teeters visually between condominium stucco and the ersatz rainforest landscaping. The breeze puffs, sending leaves to the surface of my backyard canal, which happens to be one of the few natural drainages left behind by the developers. The ocean's a dozen miles away, but the water here is slightly salty. In spite of its tidal influence, my canal conjures visions of paddlewheels rather than counter-rotating props. Before I surrender to the daydream, a fish plucks a blossom from the film.



The Mulleting Hour has finally arrived.

Quietly, K.C. Smith tosses a handful of oatmeal in the canal after spitting in his palm so some will stick together and sink. Meanwhile, I tear bread slices into quarters. Swirls erupt as fish attack floating crusts. Then, a mullet free-jumps near the opposite seawall. Perhaps he's reconnoitering. No one knows exactly why mullet do this; perhaps it's pure whimsy or maybe just fun. We pick up our rods. Within minutes, mullet schools race around between crusts. We cast ahead of the splashes in an attempt to lead the school without success. Even in such syrupy settings, it seems frustration has its place. At first, the fish are too engrossed to pay heed to small flies, so we quit casting and wait. The bread will be gone soon and hopefully, the mullet will become more amenable to our offerings. The swirls finally subside, and we cast.

Tense seconds pass before K.C.'s strike indicator plunges beneath the surface. It's a powerful hit, by something legitimate. K.C.'s little rod bends, line slips through his fingers, his reel screeches and the mullet jumps. It's only then, while he remains oblivious to several dumbfounded gawkers, that K.C. finally laughs.

Mullet fishing with flies, at least with any hope of success, is a fairly recent preoccupation. According to rumor, several of fly fishing's early legends may have caught one here and there but since these catches were supposedly made with wet flies, I'd wager most were accidental. As a point of interest, I once nailed a monster black mullet squarely in the mouth with a 4-inch Phillips Multi-wing. No kidding, he completely swallowed the streamer. Yet if you managed to count the mullet that saw my flies over the years, that catch equates to a single confirmed strike out of ten million presentations. And tales of mullet banging big Deceivers meant for snook under bridges have bounced around, too. Accident or opportunism? Whatever, the secret to catching mullet is cutting to the chase by finding out what they eat then matching it.

Mullet feed like any other fish, via the front end. If you had the inclination to follow a mullet around, you'd eventually see him sifting through the bottom ooze for organic matter and maybe when the light was low, grabbing a few leaves off the surface. He feeds, certainly, but his choice of diet makes him a vegetarian. This in turn means that if you want to catch him, you'll need a different sort of fly. Plant life isn't exactly flashy. If you sit around waiting to attract mullet to some sort of inert green thing, you'll end up with a good case of fanny fatigue. Mullet nip rather than tear at vegetable matter, so you'll need a small fly. If you carry this argument to its conclusion, you can see that locating a No. 14 Plantmaster in a cloudy ditch is like finding a cracker crumb in a shag carpet. In other words, you'll need a little help. Like you'll get via the miracle of chum.

Once you understand the mullet's basic diet, plan the menu. However, before heading to your lawn mower or your grocery's vegetable counter, consider what canepolers have known for years: Oatmeal, bread, and batter mix were all plants at one time. They also happen to be a lot easier to store, and to imitate, than St. Augustine grass clippings. Evidently, the mullet agree and that's why our canal "professionals" turn to ordinary bread, oatmeal, or even good ol' Bisquick whenever they want a few mullet for the skillet.

Ah, Dixie! There's something to be said for sleepy rivers and lazy days. And since nothing fits the canepole scenario better than floats and doughballs, it follows that similar logic works for fly fishermen, providing that the most effective fly patterns imitate milled vegetable products. From a design standpoint, my favorite mullet flies imitate dissolving bread. I fish them beneath strike indicators but unlike conventional bobber-lobbing, I make pinpoint casts.

Long ago, I learned that mullet schools migrated south along our beaches, or in the Intracoastal Waterway at certain times of year. I also recognized that these were nervous fish, far too agitated to feed. What I didn't understand was that once mullet get wherever they are going, serious feeding commences. Every winter after their migration, schools of 1- to 6-pound mullet invade the canals and creeks near Everglades National Park, parading up and down the banks in plain view. Take a look at the Tamiami Trail canal from Ochopee to the Port of the Islands; if you watch the individual fish, you'll get the impression they're basically chewing away at nothing. If you ask me, these white-lipped sippers are actually vacuuming microscopic plant matter from the water. That's feeding in a sense, which means they can be caught.



Local fishermen definitely have their number. Whenever I'm poking around after snook and tarpon, I watch the canepole fishermen fill their buckets as oatmeal boxes empty. In defense of this type of sport, fishing over chum isn't any different than working a hatch except that here, you control the "bugs." Yep, if they'll rise to grain, they'll strike flies. That's providing, of course, that the flies are properly tied. Whenever you toss bread upon the water, it breaks down. Avid trout fly tyers know that synthetic fibre antron has a refractive index similar to that of water. In the drink, antron looks like dissolving bread. Or a milled oat. Using antron for mullet flies is a natural, considering that in addition to its more esoteric properties, the fibre sinks. I tie my Yeastie Beasties (like the name?) by simply wrapping antron yarn around a No. 14 Sproat hook. In order to present my flies at the proper depth, I suspend them approximately a foot beneath a typical strike indicator. Just for the record, I tie two other carbohydrate patterns-one with a tail and "thorax" I call the Bisquick Nymph (brand-name infringement?) and an-other, whose name for the sake of delicacy, I'll omit. Both are similar to the Beastie, except one is tied from polypropylene in order to float (for use just before dark).


I arrived late one day for an hour's fishing. The sky was overcast so the fish came up immediately. Within a few minutes, I was into my first black mullet, a fat 3-pounder. Afterwards, several others like it followed in quick succession. After an hour, I decided to take a breather. It was during this break that I noticed several unusually large boils that I originally discounted as the work of turtles. Eventually I decided to return to fishing. The mullet began swirling again in response to more bread and once again, I cast. I didn't have long to wait. I raised my rod to set the hook, and the fly line literally shot through my fingers. To my surprise, whatever I'd hooked proceeded to run off all the fly line and an appreciable amount of backing. Since I was using a 4X tippet testing at six pounds, I wasn't worried. But a few minutes later, after being forced to shimmy around a chain-link fence and stumble over a picnic table in order to keep up, I started having my doubts. It became a carnival of errors. My fly line caught on an overhanging tree branch but I managed to work it free after some fancy footwork and continued chasing after a mullet that by now, I was convinced I'd snagged. But unlike most foul-hooked fish, the mullet didn't slow down. By now I'd run a hundred yards from the fence to the guest parking lot, only to discover that this baitfish still had plenty of moves left, at times refusing to budge. In the end, I got him close enough for a look. There beneath me lay a fish coal-black and as big around as a child's football. A true leviathan of his species. I popped the leader in order to set him free, not knowing exactly how much he weighed, except that it was a great deal more than the 6-pound tippet could hoist.

I don't hook monster mullet like that every time out. However, enough infiltrate the bread line to keep me on my toes. Sometimes other fish come too, which reminds me of the time I lost an entire fly line to a monster sheepshead we'd named Bis-marck. That's another story of course but for now, let's get to the specifics of this one, which includes the wherefore of catching mullet on flies. My best advice would be to find a location where mullet gather unmolested and try chumming. Incidentally, wherever you see them foraging with sand grains spilling from their gills is a sure bet. Give it a shot at twilight. You'll find out soon enough whether you've picked a winner.

Would-be mulleteers don't need fancy tackle. Just about any light rod matched with click-drag reel will do. However, long leaders tapering to 6-pound test or less are a required item, as are fine-diameter floating fly lines. Mullet evoke freshwater fly fishing's folksy side but casting accuracy is just as critical here as it is while bonefishing. So is the ability to get off a quick cast. Keep in mind that there's nothing easy about catching mullet on flies. It's just a lot of fun.

Admittedly, fly fishing for mullet is a personal addiction. I don't suspect anyone will open a mullet camp, or if you'll pardon the pun, a mullet school in the suburbs. Or that "Mulletwear" will show up on the canal banks. I feel, however, that the thousands of fly fishermen who either reside in or visit Florida might consider mullet as a viable alternative when all else fails, or when you only have an hour or two to kill. I think you'll agree that with a little imagination, one man's baitfish can easily resurface in another's sportfishing bacchanal.


Tying the Bisquick Nymph

Ready to give this craziness a try? This is a top fly and a cinch to tie. And it doesn't need refrigeration! First, lay a strand of white antron yarn (ask your local fly shop to order it) along the shank of a No. 14 Mustad 3906 Sproat hook. Allow a short length to extend beyond the bend. Tie the rest down by wrapping white 8/0 tying thread forward to a point directly behind the hook eye. Wind the antron around the hook shank in order to form a football-shaped body. Bring the antron forward and pull down in order to form "legs" before tying off behind the eye. Trim the tail and legs to 1/16-inch length. That's it.

Good thread !



Here's another good link

http://www.gofishing.co.uk/Sea-Angle...d-Grey-Mullet/

May I know whts the exact address for this point?Wanna give a try this weekend.....thanks

its in long beach. take the 710 south, exit Anaheim St. go left (south) and you'll cross the LA river where it dumps into the bay. and don't bring a cast net (the one with weights around the perimeter that DockRat mentioned)

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Originally Posted by lurk 182

its in long beach. take the 710 south, exit Anaheim St. go left (south) and you'll cross the LA river where it dumps into the bay. and don't bring a cast net (the one with weights around the perimeter that DockRat mentioned)

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Any hook set or lure....u recommend?:LOL:

Yah, good point. No throw nets are legal except a regular fishing net if you want. Bring peas or bread. Low tide is best.

Turn at West Coast Choppers on Anahiem St as seen in pic then go around and backtrack to the river,
then turn right at the river and park on the street before the bridge where you walk up and over.





This is Mullet net fishing. Legal in some states.
Real nice getting the truck all salty too :Smack:

So when is the FNN mullet masters invitational?

Hopefully soon! lol
:ROFL: