# Changing times for mullet, etc.



## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

A morning to ramble a bit, so hope this is not boring. Had a good day yesterday with Billy B. at a Choctaw mullet hole. We nailed 50 last Friday and 34 yesterday. This is about all I have done for months. Not like me, but I simply did not seriously get into bream and catfish this summer like I always have starting in the Spring. Using an unstable river as my excuse all summer I secumbed to frequently just sitting at a mullet hole. I still fish a good bit by myself and it's less work than fighting river currents, etc.. Anyway, in recent weeks it has been difficult finding crickets that will stay alive. The local supplier is having a problem with a cricket disease . 

We are now in the roe season for mullet whereby the limit has been reduced to 50 per boat. This will last until the end of January. They always increase in size as the spawn progresses. Two pounders plus are becoming more frequent. I tell you catching a big mullet on a crappie rod can easily become addictive. I have friends that don't like them to eat, but they sure like the catching part.

There are six mullet holes I know of that can be reached out of Black Creek Lodge. A couple of them have gone dormant due to lack of fisherman/bait activity, but the others can be hot from time to time. It's sort of strange how one day a spot is hot and the next day it's not. I think sometime a spot will go sort of dead and mulleteers stop fishing and baiting and go search other spots. That actually make the spot worse simple because no bait is being tossed in the water. Just my theory. But, then again for whatever reason they show up again and so do the fisherman.

Right now one particular spot has been hot as a firecracker for the past several weeks and is being fished hard almost every day. That puts a lot of chum in the water and the mullet hang around. When this happens and the flotilla shows up the race is on to put them in a cooler. Yesterday there were nine boats ganged up at a spot, but the first two boats that arrived (we were one) caught probably 90% of the fish, at least during the time we were there. That's simple mullet fishing. It can be feast of famine....very frustrating to the non-catchers. In fact many times I have seen one guy in my boat do the majority of catching and the partner fishing maybe 5 or 6 feet (or less) from my spot twiddling his thumbs for the most part. It works both ways. I remember one time my partner caught 26 and I did not catch a single fish, but there's a story on how this happened. It has to do with the little gold hook technique. (That day started the little gold hook phenomena that is sweeping the local mulleteer community right now). 

New BCL Owners: For those of you familiar with Black Creek Lodge near Freeport the new owners are hard at work updating the faciity. New pilings are being set to replace part of the boat sheds and the old motel is being renovated. Heard the old bait shop will eventually be opened. River fisherman were really concerned the place might become a private resort like Live Oak Landing (old McDaniels Fishcamp). However it appears the operation will stay the same, at least for now. Launch fee has gone up to $5, and overnight parking is $4. 

That's my ramblings for today. EAT - SLEEP - GO FISHING


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## Corpsman (Oct 3, 2007)

Are you at liberty to share your chum recipe?


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

Corpsman said:


> Are you at liberty to share your chum recipe?


It's a commerical feed called Chum N Get-it manufactured by Harrell Milling Co. in Hartford, Al. 50 lb. bags. I buy it at a local ACE Hardware and a local bait shop. It's available to various bait shops, farm feed stores, etc. in the general area. Not sure how wide the distribution is but probably within 75-100 miles of Hartford. Any dog food pellets or farm pellets like Cowboy Range Pellets will work. Most farm supply stores have general purpose farm pellets that work jgood. Just make sure it's pellets that sink. Some people use rabbit pellets, and some make up their own exotic fermented concocktions. Some use plain white rice and others cook it to give more volumn and mix that with regular pellets. i take the easy way out and just toss from the bag..


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## jack2 (Mar 19, 2010)

in my younger years, we would bait up with a cotton seed meal cake in a croaker sack. we put one in the pea river or white water creek in coffee county in elba to catch redhorse sucker. mullet were baited down at choctaw somewhere south of freeport, we would bait up in the rivers around there (i think it was called blackwell's fish camp and ramp.)
we used cane poles and biscuit dough. good times in my youth.
jack


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

jack2 said:


> in my younger years, we would bait up with a cotton seed meal cake in a croaker sack. we put one in the pea river or white water creek in coffee county in elba to catch redhorse sucker. mullet were baited down at choctaw somewhere south of freeport, we would bait up in the rivers around there (i think it was called blackwell's fish camp and ramp.)
> we used cane poles and biscuit dough. good times in my youth.
> jack


Folks did the same thing here in the Choctawhatchee for suckers and catfish with cotton seed cake . My dad owned a feed store and sold a ton of it to fishermen every year back in the early 50's. I remember baiting at that time was supposed to be unlawful, but no one paid any attention to it. But now and the 'the man' would strike. I can remember hearing the elders talk about those occasions. 
I don't recall Blackwell's Fish Camp, but there could have been one. I just just a young kid..


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## MaxxT (May 9, 2015)

Becareful, soon they will limit mullet to 2 a day


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## jack2 (Mar 19, 2010)

don't recall Blackwell's Fish Camp, but there could have been one. I just just a young kid.. 

i just looked on a map, jb, and it was somewhere on jolly bay. i maybe wrong about the name.
jack


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

jack2 said:


> don't recall Blackwell's Fish Camp, but there could have been one. I just just a young kid..
> 
> i just looked on a map, jb, and it was somewhere on jolly bay. i maybe wrong about the name.
> jack


I do remember a fish camp on Jolly Bay with big cypress plank rental boats. these things were big. Neighbor bought a brand new 3 hp Johnson and took me fishing to Jolly Bay. I was maybe 12 or 13. Wind was blowing like crazy and the bay was white capping. He really wanted to run his new motor for the first time, so we struck out. into unsafe conditions that I didn't understand.c... That little kicker would hardly push the boat in the wind and water was spashing inside the boat. I remember being a little scared. I don't remember having a life jacket. He became a little spooked himself and turned the boat around. I remember a wave spashing over the side as we made the turn around and really scared me, and I think he was shookup as well. Have never forgotten that experience although some of the details have faded.


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## jack2 (Mar 19, 2010)

yep, when a shower pops up on the bay, there's no way to run. just get under the biggest tree you can find.
i was about the same age when we fished choctaw. we used to call 331 bridge long bridge. that's when 331 would dead end in freeport and turn left then right to go over the bridge to phillips inlet. used to be a damn good food place on the right just as you went over the bridge. and you mentioned the old bait house in freeport? is that the one you had to go up a tall concrete porch?
jack


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

jack2 said:


> yep, when a shower pops up on the bay, there's no way to run. just get under the biggest tree you can find.
> i was about the same age when we fished choctaw. we used to call 331 bridge long bridge. that's when 331 would dead end in freeport and turn left then right to go over the bridge to phillips inlet. used to be a damn good food place on the right just as you went over the bridge. and you mentioned the old bait house in freeport? is that the one you had to go up a tall concrete porch?
> jack


That was the old Harvey Casey ice plant with the steps and concrete porch. He had bait and stuff.


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