When are your Mullet runs? And do the Professional netters have rights to net your beach?

What are your thoughts on allowing Professional netters to target Mullet?

Dont forget to name your beach & State.

(Edited By rick at 23:31:03 31/07/06)

Our mullet run is anytime from late march to may. They usually start to run en mass when the first strong westerlies blow. This is the time of big jew and monster tailor(some of the tailor in the 4-5kg bracket). They don't net my beach(Nth Entrance) but they do net beaches around here. Not sure how it works, I think the pro's are allocated certain beach's and only certain stretch's at that. They do take massive hauls of mullet though(10's of tonnes each!) and that I'm not to impressed about although I must say every mullet run is huge so I don't know if they are making that much of a dent(still don't like it).

Yeh I live just up the road from Jiggler (Pacific Hi-way) and whatched them netting on Belmont beach this season just gone. They were set up just outside the enterance to Lake Macquarie (A REC ONLY FISHERY) so that as the fish moved out of the Lake they simply netted them as they rounded the relitivaly short Breakwall. One was even photographed inside the heads in his boat, and as far as I know was not prosicuted for being within a rec only fishery. The guy did'nt have a net out or anything but I still think he should'nt have been there as he could have been using his boat to drive the school of fish out of the Channel before the sun went down so that they could net them. These people had a little gypsy camp set up at the start of the Breakwall. From what I understand they are not from the local area and when the Mullet run is on they have spotters along the coast, as the run ends in one area they pack up and jump back infront of the fish where ever the run is about to start. This whole practice stinks (Just my thoughts).

Well, I have never targetted mullet, and never really fished from a beach.

Although I do believe that if the netters start to target them specifically they may end up like a lot of other fish that are targetted and start to drop in numbers quite significantly, maybe as jiggler mentioned the the "mullet run is huge" so this might not be the case.

Perhaps mullet can be likened to pilchards...the pillies don't really seem to be affected.

But then again if we buy the bait, we can't really complain. Not sure what mullet is netted for though?

Dan

our mullet run is all through autumn 90 mile beach victoria the pros were allowed to net but people rightfully so i believe kicked up a fuss and it was stopped