Stinker’s Fishin’: Here they come!

IT is that time of year for the mature mullet to leave the peacefulness of the NSW estuary systems and swim out into the open ocean with all its dangers – including fishermen.

Anytime now, unless it has already happened, huge schools of sea mullet will pour out of the Swansea Channel and the Hunter River and head north in their annual spawning and breeding cycle.

Quite an amazing display of nature that I have been witnessing for a lifetime.

Growing up in Tweed Heads, it was always a special time when the black, leaping schools would move along the beaches and the fishermen would sit in their trucks parked high up on Point Danger in the ready to cast their nets on Greenmount and Kirra beaches.

Recent reports are that the mullet have gathered in the southern corner of Stockton Beach and will soon head onto One Mile, Boat Harbour and Fingal Bay beaches.

For many years visitors were more than surprised to witness the “mullet run” and the number of fish that were caught. This led them to believe that the mullet could not survive such harvesting and that it would not be long before the species would be in serious decline and maybe extinction.

Only in recent years has the informed public realized that the netting of mullet is a sustainable practice with schools reaching record numbers.

It is the female mullet, which carry the roe (eggs) that are highly prized.

Easily recognised, the much larger female is separated from the males before being processed as far away as Chinderah on the Far North Coast.

The male fish (buck mullet) is widely used for lobster bait after it is sun dried and salted.

Unjustly, mullet have earnt a bad reputation mainly due to the muddy taste of estuary mullet.

It is a whole different story when the mullet enter the sea where it is purged and cleansed resulting in an excellent table fish.

Give it a try this season – you will be pleasantly surprised.

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE