Today’s blog is all the annual mullet blow signaling the start of the fall fishing season here along the Crystal Coast. Whether you visit here occasionally or live here full time, knowing about the mullet blow is a story worth telling. Before I begin, please subscribe to my blog now, or at the end of this article.
What is a mullet blow you ask? Cool breezes, a blast of northeast wind, a drop in water temperature below 80 degrees and the finger mullet and the hardhead mullet decide it’s time to head south for their winter spawn…it is the start of the fall fishing season here along the Crystal Coast. “Mullet blow” is the cry. Over the years this biological migratory phenomenon has taken place from late August to early September. Not fall you say, well don’t tell the fish that. The massive migration of these forage fish out of our creeks and sounds, rings the dinner bell for fall to begin, and the drum, flounder and speckled trout are following their tails out the inlets and along our beaches. The other day, on the beach, I watched a fellow throw cast nets into the surf and pull in net after net of finger mullet. In another week or two, the hardhead mullet will follow.
So who are these fish of forage you ask? First of all, they are NOT in any way related to the sea mullet, a.k.a. kingfish, whiting, also called the Virginia mullet. Those sea mullets are actually in the drum family. The foragable mullets are actually in the Mugilidae (Mew-Gill i dye) family, which contain nearly 70 species of fish worldwide. North Carolina is home for two of these species, which make up some of our most favorite and widely used natural baits. The striped mullet, also known as hardhead, Popeye, or jumping mullet, are the celebrated stars at the annual Swansboro Mullet Festival. The other and more diminutive member of the family is the silver or white mullet, most commonly known on the beach, as the finger mullet, as they are finger food for many drum, flounder and trout.
Named for horizontal stripes that run laterally along their body, the striped Striped (Jumping) Mullet can be found along the west Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Brazil and often grow to three pounds or more, with a maximum of three feet and weighing in at an astonishing 12-pounds. By the way, the finger mullet are NOT juvenile striped mullet; they are silver and have no stripes, do not have a flat head or pop-eyes and only attain a diminutive stature of inches and not feet. Since both these fish feed on bits and pieces of living and/or dead vegetation (detritus) neither of these mullets are routinely caught on hook and line. This being the case, nets are the primary mode of mullet fishing.
Commercially, the striped mullet have been harvested via a “stop net” fishery from the ocean beaches or by seine (sen) netters. Stop nets are defined by the NC Division of Marine Fisheries as “a stationary net (not intended to gill fish) whose purpose is to impede the progress of schooling fish so that they can be harvested with a seine (sen).” Here in Emerald Isle, you can see these stop nets looking like a lazy “L” running out from and along the beaches each October and November, and the dories to set the seines and the 1940s vintage tractors to haul in the fish laden seines. The rest of us toss cast nets into the surf, assuming you’ve mastered throwing one like the angler I mentioned earlier.
Earlier in the season, finger mullet and striped mullet are readily found in the sound, along the piers and docks, along the marshes, particularly on a falling tide and up in the local canals and creeks. For use as bait, the mullet can be readily cast netted from the docks, and banks of the sound or on a boat, drifting along the marshes or in the creeks. Although large striped mullet are often used live for king mackerel baits, most often they are cut into chunks for cut-bait fishing for drum, or Hatteras blues or for trophy flounder. These days, since all of the citation drum fishing is catch and release and much of the puppy drum fishing is similarly a release fishery, many anglers have switched to circle hook fishing while targeting drum with natural baits to minimize gut hooking, and promoting safe release of our state fish.
Small striped mullet (3 to 5-inches) and finger mullet can also be used as cut-bait or more often they are used live for flounder, puppy drum, speckled and gray trout, big Spanish mackerel and blues, and even ladyfish. The mullet themselves also can provide good eats. Some locals pickle or can the finger mullet much like herring or sardines, and of course the striped mullet is famed for its succulent roe while the whole fish is often butterflied and grilled or smoked.
Mmm, mmm, mullet! Whether you prefer fried, broiled, grilled, smoked or stewed, you can get mullet any way you like it at the annual Mullet Festival of Swansboro. The festival began in 1954 and is the oldest festival in the Crystal Coast. The Swansboro Mullet Festival offers a glimpse into history that is combined with a celebration of all things mullet. The 2021 edition of this family-friendly festival kicks off on Saturday, October 9th, in downtown Swansboro with a parade down Highway 24. Afterwards, enjoy the sounds of beach music and live bands coming from the Harry C. Pugliese Pavilion. And the kiddos will love the children’s area that includes games, a climbing wall, inflatables and the always popular “Mullet Toss!” Return on Sunday October 10th and listen to more beach music favorites while you walk the downtown Swansboro streets and visit with craft and food vendors and sampler the famous Rotary fish fry. To learn more about all things mullet at the Swansboro Mullet festival and other fall fishing festivals, go to www.EmeraldIsleHomesforSaleNC.com and sign up for my blog. Ready to buy or sell? Call me at 919-308-2292. Explore the video tab for my weekly uploads to my YouTube channel. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and receive free donuts at my Flip Flops Donut shop. Text your email address to 919-308-2292 and subscribe to my newsletter. My book, "Live Where You Vacation" is available on Amazon.com.
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