Mullet Run Tips from the Experts

Florida’s annual mullet run is one of the most electric spectacles in the saltwater world—and it’s a golden opportunity for anglers to get in on some of the best fishing of the year. Each fall, schools of mullet begin to migrate southward along the Florida coast. Predators of all ilks—snook, tarpon, reds, mackerel, sharks—bring an onslaught of hungry gamefish to shorelines, seawalls and inlets.

The chances of hooking up with a huge fish greatly increase during the mullet run, but timing and tactics are everything, according to the experts. Find the bait to find the fish, but knowing what to throw (hint: something mullet) and what to do when you do is just as important.

Great Tips for the Mullet Run

Gear and presentation can make or break your success. Live mullet, rigged many ways, is the gold standard, but there are many great artificial alternatives—swimbaits, topwater plugs, spoons and more—to keep you casting.

Here’s a rundown of some great mullet run fishing tips from some of Florida’s best charter captains and other experts to get you prepared.

Snip a Mullet Fin

• Capt. Alan Sherman provides a weekly fishing forecast for South Florida. Read his reports.

I’ve spent countless hours free-lining a perfect 12-inch silver mullet into a school of hundreds or thousands of similar mullets without strike. Hungry big snook and tarpon never so much as glanced at my bait. I knew there had to be a better way to get the attention of that hungry fish. And there is!

When those massive schools of mullet slide down the beach, tarpon, snook, barracuda and sharks rush in with their mouths wide open, often missing their targets in the chaos. With so many baits in the water, it’s hard for a predator to single one out.

So how do you get your bait noticed? Simple, make it stand out. Take that perfect mullet and clip its tail fins so it can’t swim so fast, or kill it or stun it so it can’t swim away. As it struggles or sinks toward the bottom, a big tarpon or snook will spot it and pounce.

Another trick is to add some lead weight to your bait. By dropping it below the school, your mullet becomes an easy target, a sitting duck that’s tough for a predator to resist.

Match the Mullet

• Capt. Jonathan Earhart provides a weekly fishing forecast for Southeast Florida. Read his reports.

Find out what size mullet the predators are eating and use that size live bait or artificial close to the size mullet they are feeding on. I also try to use hooks that are sized properly to match what size mullet I am using. Usually 3/0-6/0 circles for small to medium fingers. 6/0-9/0 for large silver or black mullet. You want your baits to look as natural as possible.

Best Tips for New Anglers

• Capt. Roger Bump provides a weekly fishing forecast for Northeast Florida. Read his reports.

This would be multiple tips divided into live-bait anglers and lure anglers. The first tip for live-bait anglers is to learn how to use a cast net and keep finger mullet alive. Best areas to find finger mullet is inlets to ocean. Keep in mind catching 50 finger mullet in most circumstances is overkill. Keep only what you can keep alive and healthy. Next, the best and quickest way to get fishing with live finger mullet is using a size 1 or 2 kahle hook with a bead and 3/8 ounce egg sinker allowed to free slide on the hook. Use this rig as a search tool casting to areas and slowly dragging bait back and repeat. For lure anglers, this is the time of year to go big. If you have been using 3 inch size lures topwater , soft plastic , hard baits , now is the time to switch up and start using 5 inch and larger. For example in other words put the spook jr up and tie on the super spook.

What About the Gulf?

• Capt. William Toney provides a weekly fishing forecast for Florida's Big Bend. Read his reports.

we don't have a traditional mullet run here on the Big Bend but what we do have is a gathering a mullet that eventually makes its ways up to the headwaters of our rivers, especially Homosassa, Crystal River, Waccasassa and Suwanee. As fall continues to push water temperatures down, the mullet will start to form big schools and to get fat with row. The redfish pull in with these schools kind of like ducks and coots. Traditionally, the mullet will school up in the rivers and when the water temperature is right in the Gulf and moon phase ahead of a front they will run out in giant schools. I've only witnessed it once but offshore and about 12 to 15 feet of water was a massive school of mullet—about 2 acres—swimming counterclockwise with a row and milt. It made the water cloudy and the sharks and gamefish were feeding on them. When they return from the Gulf after they're spawn they are thin as a rail and the cycle begins again.

Action Spotter Podcast

Make the Mullet Switch

• Lou Volpe writes in the Action Spotter column in the August/September issue of Florida Sportsman, that now is the time to switch gears in the 10,000 Islands region

This time of year the finger mullet are prevalent in this region and make for excellent bait. This is the time to switch gears and concentrate on mullet. The primary gamefish species in the region, such as trout, snook, tarpon and redfish are programmed to feed on mullet and are gorging themselves while the schools are moving through. Look for the schools of mullet hugging the islands in coves and up in the creeks. As the tides rise, the schools move up and into the mangroves and onto the flats for sanctuary from predators. Mullet are stealth by nature and can be difficult to locate if you are not experienced. Watch for the “flash.”

Live Bait and Diving Plugs

• In his column on East Central fishing in the August/September issue of Florida Sportsman, Matt Badolato says being ready at the right time is necessary during the mullet run.

Finger mullet begin their southward migration in late August, early September. They’ll move through the Intracoastal, but stage around inlets like Sebastian and Port Canaveral before moving to the ocean. Here they’ll draw in redfish, snook, trout, jacks, flounder, bluefish, and giant ladyfish. Jetties or rock walls provide the nooks and crannies for predators awaiting the moving feast. Whether you’re on a boat or on foot, keep your live baits or diving plugs swimming near the shoreline where the fish are.

Get to the Beach

• Our own Rick Ryals, who hosts Florida Sportsman’s Action Spotter Podcast, says October is beach time for mullet run fishing in northeast Florida. He’s not planning a vacation, but it’s his best bet for the month in his Action Spotters column from the October magazine.

For my money there’s no better time to be at the beach than during the mullet run. I’m not talking about taking your kids swimming, I’m talking about a whole lot of living and dying going on just beneath the surface of the water. I don’t care if you’ve never surf-fished a day in your life, watching the attacks from tarpon, sharks, kings and jacks on the helpless mullet is worth the price of admission.

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