Witnessing a school of mullet in a state like this means you're in the zone.

“I like to throw into the middle or outside edge of the school of mullet with a 1⁄8- or 1⁄4-ounce jerkbait, let it fall to the bottom, and then jig it back very slowly trying to puff the sand,” he explains. “The redfish or snook will be there to see the disturbance and feed on the bait. They are usually either tracking right with the mullet if the school is making lots of turns, or they will be just behind them if the mullet are moving in a relatively straight path. If the mullet are sticking to different sand holes, the reds and snook may be just on the edges.

“Larger trout behave similar to redfish and snook near the schools of mullet, but small trout aren’t interested in being around the muds,” he adds. “I believe that they are afraid of being eaten by the larger snook and reds if they are mixed in with the mullet. In the past three years, I’ve caught several 7- to 9-pound trout from the muds on the flats of the Indian River.”

In the Mosquito Lagoon at Titusville, Page and a friend came across a muddy trough with a series of white sand holes in extremely shallow water. The wind had blown all the water out of the lagoon, but Geoff discovered a 200-yard area just a foot deeper than the rest of the flat. It was full of mullet and redfish. The two anglers each tossed a soft-plastic glow shrimp with an 1⁄8-ounce slip sinker ahead of it to keep it down in the mud and the mullet. They caught 60 reds up to 9 pounds in two days.

In Pine Island Sound, big pushes of mullet move across the tall turtlegrass and tailing reds will move in behind them. With minimal sand holes available, the forage cling to the grass, and the quality-size reds follow the mullet schools and clean up what they tear up. In these conditions, you have to rig weedless, according to the guide. He uses a 5/0 offset hook, sans weight, and rigs a slow-falling jerkbait weedless, Texas-style. Another effective option in the grass is jiggling a soft-plastic shrimp rigged backwards with a rattle in its nose and a weedless hook in the tail.

In winter, darker-color baits seem more productive. Root beer, avocado/red glitter and the alewife are all prime hues for success then. The green, gold glitter and rainbow trout colors in both jerkbaits and shad tails are effective most of the rest of the year, according to Page.

Most people see a mullet jumping and their comments are, “Oh, it’s only a school of mullet” or “They won’t hit a lure, so let’s not waste time here.” The average angler won’t put two-and-two together to understand that their target species might be mixed right in with the mullet. Even experienced anglers and guides often overlook the mullet factor. You shouldn’t!

FS