East Coast Mullet Run

Started by ReelDragJam, October 02, 2018, 02:35:17 PM

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ReelDragJam

They are traveling south to warmer waters. I'm not sure if it's to spawn or not but in the spring, they will turn around and head back north. Lots stay put also, mullet are in S. Florida year round, don't know exactly how they determine who goes and who stays. I will say this though, I noticed a lot of sardine schools as well. It's funny, I only saw tarpon busting the sardine schools not the mullet.
Not all fisherman are liars, just some of us forget to bring our camera.

oc1

That's a nice red. 

I believe the mullet are heading south to spawn.  When the get to south Florida they turn left out toward the Gulf Stream.

My favorite seafood is salted and dried mullet roe.  Remove the ovary intact and cure the whole thing.  Then slice it very thin.  It is so rich that a little goes a long way. Serve as a tapa with sliced green onion.

-steve

Decker

#17
Sounds good, Steve.  Where do you buy it if you're not making it yourself?

I had never heard the word "tapa" before.  My wife says "pasaboca" for snack.  Maybe the meaning is slightly different.

Swami805

They have tapas bars here, it's kinda of trendy. Like a dab of food on a small plate. My wife likes it but I'm still hungry when I leave. I try to avoid places that have the words "small plate" or "drizzle" in the description of the food.
That salted roe sounds really good.
Do what you can with that you have where you are

oc1

#19
Tapa is sort of Spanish for hors d'oeuvre.... like an appetizer or snack.  I have no idea where you would buy cured mullet roe, but it is easy enough to do at home.

In the 1970's Florida gill netters would hit the mullet migration in the fall and send the roe to Taiwan.  The roe was worth more than the meat; at least at that time.  Beaver Street Seafood in JAX was a big player.  Most of it was shipped fresh frozen but some guys were doing the drying in Florida too; again for export.  The hatchery I was working in back then would buy frozen broken ovaries (where someone accidentally nicked the membrane with a knife or something) and we would feed the eggs to prawn larvae.  You get pretty sick of looking at the stuff when you have to handle it every day.  A decade later I was in Taiwan for a few weeks and my host ordered up dried mullet roe as an appetizer.  I had been eating everything placed in front of me so as not to insult anyone but, my god, that mullet roe was good.  Can't say the same about mud skippers though.

Thereafter, and before moving from the East Coast, I would keep an eye out for big mullet in the fall in hopes of cast-netting a fat female.  Here in Hawaii, mullet are more highly prized and the fishery is closed during the spawning season.

-steve