Tight or loose drag

[Leonard]

Hi friends,

I was fishing for the ghost on Monday, and when packing up I reeled in my rig with the mullet gone and the sliding sinker 3m up and stuck on the leader knot… definitely a run I missed.

I realised I was being dim anyway - I was fishing a circle hook on a bait runner with almost no drag. I should have had the drag tighter to set the hook since I was sitting away from that rod!

Anyway, it got me wondering, what are your opinions on how tight to leave your drag when fishing with live mullet on a running rig (as I’ve seen most metro mulloway chasers do)? I’m fairly committed to circle hooks for releasability too, but does your drag change if you use a more regular octopus hook?

My feeling is that loose drag is favoured (from fishos interstate too), but have seen many who prefer the tightest drag possible!

Cheers,
Leo

[Sebb]

With circle hook, you do need a bit of a drag (not loose).
The tricky bit chasing mulloway is that they often do two runs. First they will hit and slap the mullet from behind and swim away, straight and fast. And they drop the mullet, turn them around, hit and swallow head first, and swim the opposite direction, often back towards us and structures.

So its like, hit, bzzzzzsstt (e.g. swim away from us), then suddenly slack (like you've dropped them or missed the hook). If you're lucky they're hooked, then they do the second run towards you.

So that first hit and run is critical. You want it properly set the hook. Either eith decent drag on, or free drag with baitfeeder and snap into decent drag when they do that first run.

There were times I was into it. Hooked a few, missed a few, dropper a few, snagged me, etc. Definitely challenging. Hard enough to get them to bite, let alone hooking them and land them.
Definitely rewarding when you do get them.

Good luck!

[Longbombs]

There is no wrong or right - tight or loose. Both work.

I've seen them both work fine.

I've also seen both fail but that's mulloway more than anything.

If fishing circles, I'd let the fish swallow the bait - fish a bait runner or zero drag.

Once you're confident it has the bait, tighten up (don't strike).

If fishing suicides, I'd fish tight or baitrunner depending on bait size: big bait, baitrunner or small bait, tight.

Tip to avoid what happened - drill your EZ rigs out so the leader knot passes through.

Out of curiosity, what baits are you fishing?

[Leonard]

Cheers Sebb and Longbombs.

Longbombs - I usually fish with live mullet.

Maybe I was just unlucky. I will up the linker size in future to aid the hook set

[Seniorfisho]

The reason you lost that fish is because you need to use a second sliding snell hook to the set up. You should always use the 2 hooks similar to snapper fishing. Having only one hook will result in you losing half the fish in the battle

[Leonard]

Thanks senior fisho. Would you pin the sliding snell or leave it free above? I’ve seen the latter in some setups

[Sebb]

My mulloway live bait rig is fixed paternoster with like 1.5m leader to the 5/0 circle hook, small teardrop sinker. Baitfeeder reel.
Mulloway has big thick jaw, better use circle hook that you think too big than too small.

[Longbombs]

My mulloway live bait rig is fixed paternoster with like 1.5m leader to the 5/0 circle hook, small teardrop sinker. Baitfeeder reel.
Mulloway has big thick jaw, better use circle hook that you think too big than too small.

Why do you use a bait runner when fishing a paternoster?

[Seniorfisho]

Thanks senior fisho. Would you pin the sliding snell or leave it free above? I’ve seen the latter in some setups

You have to pin both hooks but you need to do a sliding snell knot

[Sebb]

My mulloway live bait rig is fixed paternoster with like 1.5m leader to the 5/0 circle hook, small teardrop sinker. Baitfeeder reel.
Mulloway has big thick jaw, better use circle hook that you think too big than too small.

Why do you use a bait runner when fishing a paternoster?

Sinker 00 is only to bring the mullet down. It'll be enough for the tiny mullet not to go swimming around, but still light enough for the mulloway to feel any weight.
During calm slack tide at night, mulloways go out to hunt/feed