Mullet Down West: Review of 2019

This year got off to an early start with the first fish coming on 2nd Feb and continued late into December making it the best year to date once again. The highlight of the year was, as usual, the annual visit from my lifelong pal and fellow mullet addict, Mark Bennett. 5 days of laughs, fast food and mullet fishing - what could be better than that? Although the weather wasn't great, in fact probably some of the worst conditions I've endured, we managed to catch fish every day. Read the full story in 'The Tempest - Devon 2019', GG45. A change of jobs last year has meant that my fishing is now restricted to weekends so I have to take whatever the weather and tides throw at me.

Successes

The early part of the season saw a lot of smaller fish but a run of larger fish towards the end of the year meant that the overall average size came out just above 2018 at 2/08 and equal to the best ever of 2016. A fairly even distribution across the size ranges with a slight peak in the 2-3lb range. Consistent catches throughout the year with almost every month exceeding previous bests added up to a total of 56, far ahead of the 2018 total of 40. (All values quoted consider only fish over 1lb).

Fish were caught from 3 new venues this year making a total of 10 productive locations, the best ever. These included some quality fish with mostly 3lb+ fish from one location and a lovely 4lber from another. It's always good to have extra options and I'm keen to progress this further by identifying more Low-Water opportunities next year.

Some excellent fish came to the net with a total of 20 over 3lb including 3 fours the best of which was 4/03. This gave a best ever top 5 of 19lb 12oz adding 10oz to last year's figure. One noticeable change has been the number of fish coming to leger tactics, an area where I have previously lacked success.

Failures

I don't like to dwell on negatives, preferring to look upon these as opportunities to improve and adapt.

The biggest disappointment has been the lack of the 5lb fish that has eluded me for so many years. It seems that fish of this size are becoming harder to find in this area so it will be especially sweet when I finally manage to get one on the bank. I'm sure they're out there but just very few and far between.

Another target which I set myself continues to elude me - to catch 3x3lb fish in a day. I narrowly missed out on this with fish of 4/00, 3/00 and 2/11 on 17/8/2019.

Particularly disappointing is the demise of one of my most reliable venues which produced only 2 fish compared to 9 in 2018 and 14 in 2016. On a more positive note, the 2 fish were both of decent size at 3/12 and 3/09.

No thin-lips or golden-greys this year although I have not put a great deal of effort into these quests, so not altogether surprising.

Lost fish has again been an issue with a total of 22 managing to evade the net. This represents a success rate of only 71.8% which is a little below my expected value of 75%. We all know that lost fish are inevitable in this game, but keeping these to a minimum is my aim. Sometimes events just transpire against you and you have to 'roll with the punches'. C'est la vie!

Despite my best efforts, I failed to get a fish in January meaning I just missed out on the 'Full Bluett'. However, with what I've learned this year, I'm hoping to rectify this in 2020.

Tackle

I'm a great believer in the 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' philosophy, so I rarely change the tackle I use. However, this year I have experimented with a new mainline for my floatfishing operations, Drennan Floatfish in 5lb B.S. to be exact. The results were somewhat mixed. I found that it did lie well on the surface and was easier to lift off on the strike leading to better hook-up rates, particularly at long range. However, against this, I found that it did not last well in the salt water and silt of the estuaries. This meant that it quickly became twisty and problematic after only a few sessions. I have now reverted to my ever-faithful Maxima. I'm Old-school I guess, but you really just can't beat this stuff.

Another change was one forced upon me after I stupidly left my net head behind at the end of a session. Following a recommendation from Mark, my 22" oval net has been replaced by a 24" Dinsmore triangular net. This has the advantage of being foldable, so it fits neatly in my rod bag and doesn't have to be carried separately. It's slightly less maneuverable than its predecessor for one-handed operation but so far has served me well. Thanks mate.

Last updated 24.12.20