The red mullet is a fish from the red mullet family and from the order Perciformes. It is interesting because it can change its color. The mullet fish, otherwise known as the mullet, has 4 different types and can reach a size of 45 centimeters.
The red mullet leads a low life and is most often found at the bottom at a depth of 15-20 meters. It rarely appears on siliceous bottoms, as it prefers silty and sandy soil. There she finds food for herself, using her two antennae hanging from her chin.
The price of red mullet varies quite widely; for example, red mullet in Sochi costs about 400-600 rubles per kilogram. But at the same time, Krasnodar red mullet is pleasing with a price starting from 200 rubles.
Nutritional properties of red mullet
Red mullet is a delicious fish with a delicate taste. Its pulp is rich in various vitamins, mainly from group B, and contains large amounts of elements such as phosphorus and magnesium. Fish has very high beneficial qualities and is high in calories, so by eating it you can recharge your batteries.
Red mullet remains tasty no matter how it is cooked. Since it does not lose its taste, it can be fried, grilled, or cooked into fish soup; dried fish is especially good. She does not have a gallbladder, so evisceration can be avoided. Red mullet choose the Black Sea as their habitat. They also live in the Mediterranean and Azov Seas and on the eastern coast of the Atlantic.
Description and lifestyle
The red mullet is a small fish that reaches a length of 20 to 40 cm. It has an elongated body, compressed from the sides. The anal and dorsal fin are short, the caudal fin is forked. The head is large, distinguished by high-set eyes and an almost vertical snout. The mouth is small, directed downwards, and there are two hanging whiskers on the chin.
The red mullet looks attractive. It cannot be confused with other fish. It has an unevenly colored body with red and olive spots, the abdomen and the lower part of the sides are silvery. The fins and whiskers are light yellow or gray.
Where is it found?
Red mullet is most common in the Black and Azov Seas. Two species of it are found here – “Mullus barbatus” and “Mullus surmuletus”. The fish is also found throughout the Mediterranean Sea and is found in the western and eastern parts of the Atlantic Ocean.
Red mullet is a schooling fish that always stays near the bottom and does not rise in the water column or to the surface. It lives in the coastal zone at shallow depths, usually from 7 to 15 meters. But it can occur at 50 meters, and even at 100-meter pits.
The fish lives on sandy or soft muddy ground. Here it is easy for her to find food, slowly moving around the area and feeling it with her antennae for the presence of various invertebrates. Less common on rocky or shell bottoms.
Red mullet – bottom fish
Red mullet is found near the coast from early spring to late autumn, sometimes entering the mouths of large rivers flowing into the sea. Before persistent cold weather, it gathers in dense shoals and rolls down to deeper areas, where it feeds little and sits out the winter period.
Spawning
The sultana reaches sexual maturity in the second or third year of life, when her body length is about 20 cm. She spawns from May to August. For spawning, it selects areas with a sandy, less often muddy, bottom at depths from 10 to 50 meters.
During the spawning period, adult females spawn several portions of eggs, which are fertilized by the males accompanying them to the spawning grounds. Depending on the size of the fish, the seasonal fecundity of each individual can range from 3 to 88 thousand eggs.
Fertilized red mullet eggs rise to the upper horizon, where after 2–3 days the fry hatch. Juvenile sultans initially feed on small animal organisms inhabiting the water column. Two months later, when the fingerlings reach a length of 4–6 cm and acquire the features of adults, they sink to the bottom and change their diet to benthic invertebrates.
How to catch red mullet
What is the best time of year to go fishing on the Black Sea to catch red mullet? With the onset of cold weather, the plumes unite in large flocks and go to the depths, where they remain until the end of winter. Therefore, you can catch it from the beginning of spring until mid-October, when the fish is off the coast.
Tackle for red mullet should be sensitive; bottom and float fishing rods are suitable here. It is desirable that the weather be calm, there is no strong current and the sea is calm. There are several options for catching red mullet:
- Fishing from the shore;
- With match tackle;
- With a slight picker;
- From the boat.
When fishing from the shore, a sliding and fixed float is used. When choosing both floats, their shape is taken into account, which should be elongated. The float must also have a long, visible antenna. When choosing a float, you need to be very careful, since the success of fishing depends on it.
To notice the red mullet bite, you should choose a float with less weight. Using a float weighing 1.5 grams at a depth of 6 meters, even the weakest attempt of a fish to capture prey can be discerned. If you take a float weighing 3 or 4 grams, you may not notice not only the bite, but also how the fish removes the bait from the hook.
In summer, the red mullet becomes especially distrustful and is influenced by the noise created by vacationers. Therefore, a sliding float will not be effective at this time. You need to use the lightest fixed float and fish in an area covered by the shore. Sometimes the sultana feeds far from the shore, on underwater hills, where the depth does not exceed three meters.
This is where good match tackle comes in handy. If the depth at the fishing spot is no more than 4 meters, use a sliding float. When fishing with a light picker, tactics can be either active or passive. With active fishing, there is a greater chance of finding a school of red mullet.
This can only be done in areas with a clean and sandy bottom. Because in areas with algae you can only snag and break the equipment. When fishing passively, the rod is placed on a special stand, cast out and waiting for a bite. With active tactics, the rod is cast and pulled towards you, with periodic stops.
Red mullet - a delicacy of the Black Sea
The fish whose name is red mullet or its additional name is sultanka is a favorite object of fishing for Black Sea fishermen.
Not the name “sultana” itself confirms this fact. The taste of smoked or fried mullet cannot be compared with other Black Sea fish. The most successful fishing for mullet is from a boat
If you come on vacation to the Black Sea, in order to enjoy it in its entire program - with boarding, diving and sea fishing, you need to purchase special shoes. Nettle shoes for surfing and diving do not allow water to pass through, it is not slippery to move around underwater rocks, they are like oil and are light and not comfortable. In special shoes, your rest will be as comfortable and safe as possible.
There is an option to start catching red mullet in the spring, if the sea water warms up to 12-15°C. At this temperature, red mullet gather on sandbanks bordered by rocks and not sand, in dense schools. In spring, such areas are full of food for plume fish. Red mullets are bottom-dwelling fish, so they look for food at the very bottom, more specifically in the sand, stirring it up with their rather long antennae.
The best way to catch red mullet is with a spinning rod and an inertia-free reel. The thickness of the main line is 0.25mm. Leash – 0.18 mm, attached with a carabiner. You will also need a sinker with a longitudinal hole, the mass of which (the sinker) is approximately 20-30 grams. You need to thread a fishing line through the sinker and secure it with beads on both sides.
The best bait for catching Black Sea mullet is a regular dung worm or, if you can get it, a sea one. The most successful fishing for red mullet is from a boom or any boat.
You need to cast twenty-five to thirty-five meters without tightening the line, thereby removing the slack. Red mullet bites are quite sharp, so there is an option not to worry, it is impossible not to notice them. You can also catch the sultana “in a stretch”, i.e. pull the tackle very slowly along the seabed.
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Whatever the dream, all fishermen involved in fishing in the Black Sea, if they haven’t caught red mullet themselves, have definitely heard about it. Red mullet, also known as mullet, is a favorite catching object for many fishermen. Of course, this is not the reason for its tender, not very tasty meat. In short, this is one of the most exquisite delicacies among the residents of the Black Sea coast. So fishing for mullet and then cooking it is in some way a tradition for those people who live by the sea.
The plume has a laterally compressed body that is not elongated, the caudal fin is forked, and the dorsal and anal fins are short. The red mullet has a large head with high-set eyes on an almost vertical snout. The Sultan's mouth is small, studded with small teeth. The abdomen is silver in color and the fins are light yellow.
Red mullet loves a bottom with soft sandy soil, but unfortunately lives on a rocky or shell bottom. This fish almost never reaches the surface of the water. You prefer to be close to the shore at depths of 15-25 m, but are sometimes found at depths from one hundred to two hundred and fifty m. The sultana searches for food using its antennae on the sandy bottom. The main food for this fish are small bottom organisms.
The red mullet comes close to the shoreline with the onset of spring and does not stay in these places until the onset of winter. Often the plume can rise not at the mouths of rivers flowing into the sea. With the onset of winter, the red mullet migrates to areas of the sea with great depths (70-150 m.) The lifespan of this fish lasts 10-12 years
Fishing for sultana in the summer occurs in some places on the Black Sea coast, while oil may not be found in the Sea of Azov, alas, this happens quite rarely.
There are restrictions on catching red mullet; specimens smaller than 8.5 cm should be released back into the water. However, red mullet lives not only in the Black Sea, as fishermen probably think. One of its subspecies, the “striped red mullet,” is an inhabitant of the Baltic. The largest herd of Sultanki is in the Black Sea in its eastern part.
Lures are not baits
The most common bait for catching red mullet is the meat of shrimp, crabs, mussels, or sliced fresh fish. The nozzle should be less than five mm in size, otherwise the bites will be sluggish. Amphipods, or sea worms, are also often used for bait.
Lures are not bait
Few fishermen use groundbait for fishing in the Black Sea, believing that it is unnecessary. Moreover, very often bait is not a bait in sea fishing and gives significant results. The bite in baited areas is more active, its duration increases, and fishing for red mullet in baited areas is much more successful.
Methods not fishing tactics
The transparency of the water in the Black Sea allows you to see the bottom far from your native land, enough to catch red mullet from a boat, a boat, or sometimes an air mattress, and at the same time watch the biting process through a mask. For such fishing it does not cost much, you only need a supply of fishing line of 50-100 meters, a small olive weight and hooks No. 5-6. There is an option to catch the same sultana with tyrants at a depth of 20-30 m.
From the shore, red mullet is caught with bottom gear. It is much better if the donk is equipped with a rubber shock absorber. It is important here that the rubber is resistant to salt water, and the tackle itself is equipped with stainless hooks with a long fore-end. The sinker on the bottom tackle is positioned in such a way that there are 1-2 leashes with hooks in front of it.
The main line of the donkey must have a diameter of two or more than 0.25 mm, and the cross-section of the line for the leashes must be two or more than 0.15 mm. Approximately far from the native edge, 50-60 cm above the location of the load, a second locking knot is made. The sinker used is a sliding one, weighing about fifty grams; it is better to paint the sinker white; it does not scare away the red mullet when it bites.
After casting the tackle, the line is pulled so that the sinker stops in the locking knot located below. Then the line is given a little slack. So that, like oil, it sag slightly. Usually the sultana grabs the bait, does not swim with it from the sinker, or tries to sharply rip the bait off the hook. Then the fishing line will slide in the load and the catch will not hook the fish.
The gear used was the most primitive, ordinary Chinese spinning rod bought there for 500 rubles, not monofilament.
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Next, we’ll touch on some “tactical aspects” of fishing. To achieve success, it is necessary, first of all, to have a good knowledge of the water area for catching red mullet. Knowledge of “points” not their features. this is success. If the place you have chosen does not live up to expectations, you need to get involved in an active search for fish; the better you know the water area, the easier it will be for you to do this.
“Running” along the piers, or, in other words, along the beaches, can often dramatically improve your fishing results. You just need to run smart. At the same time, it is useful to analyze the state of the sea without knowing the dynamics of water temperature. So, if at high air temperatures there was a strong surge, but the water cooled sharply, nettle, to 12 ° C, then the mullet will probably go to the very shore in shallow water, where the water will quickly warm up to temperatures comfortable for the fish.
Now let’s touch on some “tactical aspects” of fishing. To achieve success, it is necessary, first of all, to have a good knowledge of the red mullet fishing waters. Knowing the “points” and their features is the key to success. If the place you have chosen does not live up to expectations, you need to get involved in an active search for fish, and the better you know the water area, the easier it will be for you to do this.
“Running” along the piers or along the beaches can often dramatically improve your fishing results. You just need to run wisely... At the same time, it is useful to analyze the state of the sea and know the dynamics of water temperature. So, if at high air temperatures there was a strong surge and the water cooled sharply, for example, to 12°C, then the mullet will most likely go to the very shore in shallow water, where the water will quickly warm up to temperatures comfortable for the fish.
Groundbait for red mullet
The result of catching red mullet is directly dependent on their location. It must be taken into account that on the sandy bottom schools of fish move in search of food. In order to keep identified fish in the area, as well as to interest new fish, bait is used.
It can be made from food of animal origin by adding ground sand. You can, for example, grind 2-3 kg of mussels, mix them with finely chopped earthworms and add sand in a ratio of 1:3. The bait should be mixed well and thrown into the fishing areas from time to time.
Spawning
Sexual maturity in female sultanas occurs at 2-3 years of age. The spawning period extends almost throughout the summer, from May to August. The spawn is portioned, each female spawns several times. Fecundity is quite high, up to 88 thousand eggs. Spawning takes place at depths of 10-50 m near a sandy or muddy bottom, but the eggs are pelargic and after fertilization rise to the middle layers of water, where after a few days they turn into larvae.
Puberty occurs in red mullets at 2-3 years of age. Red mullet spawning begins in May and continues until August at depths of fifteen to fifty meters. Then the females lay eggs in portions, and after fertilization, the eggs rise to the upper layers of the water. After a few days, the larvae hatch from the eggs and do not begin to feed intensively.
The juveniles feed on small animal organisms that inhabit the water column; their color is silver with a bluish-green tint, this color allows them to camouflage themselves from predators. And after two months, the fry swim to the shores, grow up, sink to the bottom and do not turn into real mullet with their own color or appearance, only small ones - 5-7 centimeters.
Puberty occurs in red mullets at 2-3 years of age. Spawning for red mullet begins in May and lasts until August at depths of 15 to 50 meters. Then the females lay eggs in portions, and after fertilization, the eggs rise to the upper layers of the water. After a few days, the larvae hatch from the eggs and begin to feed intensively.
The juveniles feed on small animal organisms that inhabit the water column; their color is silver with a bluish-green tint, this color allows them to camouflage themselves from predators. And after 2 months, the fry swim to the shores, grow up, sink to the bottom and turn into real red mullet with their characteristic color and appearance, only small ones - 5-7 centimeters.
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Bait for red mullet
Sultanas actively peck in the spring, at this time you can catch them with ordinary earthworms and dung worms. When the bite is not so active, a polychaete sea worm - Nereis - will serve as a very good bait. You can collect such a worm on a muddy bottom by scooping up the mud with a shovel and laying it on the shore.
As the viscous sediment dries, the worms will begin to move and can be safely collected. Usually just a piece of a worm is enough; it is not necessary to plant a whole one. Also, the Black Sea mullet has great respect for shrimp. They are caught with nets in algae and aquatic grasses of lagoons and bays. Freshly caught shrimp need to be peeled and cut into small pieces.
Place one piece on the hook, piercing several times. If there is a good bite, then it is quite possible to use mussel meat. Finding them is not at all difficult; they live on piers and piers.
Usually large shells are selected and collected with gloves to avoid cuts. Before slicing mussels, they should be dried. To do this, open the shell and let it lie in the sun for a short amount of time.
Lures for catching red mullet
A little about baits and attachments for catching sultana. Most often, red mullet is caught using shrimp or mussels, or small cut fish meat. The size of the bait should not exceed 5 mm, otherwise the bite will be inactive. You can also catch the sultana with nereis or amphipod.
Not many fishermen use bait and lures for fishing in the Black Sea, considering it irrational. However, both groundbaits and baits can significantly improve results during sea fishing. In baited places, the bite is always more intense; besides, it increases in the duration of the bite over time. Some fishermen use the meat of mollusks such as mussels as bait and at the same time as bait. Usually they are crushed directly with the shells. The crushed clams are then thrown into the desired location, and a lot of fish usually gather there. Mussel shells can be collected after a storm on coastal beaches.
Interesting facts about sultana fish:
- This fish has a middle name - Sultanka. So she was named for her large and luxurious mustache, which only sultans can have.
- Red mullet was especially popular in Ancient Rome. There it cost fabulous money, and therefore only the richest people could afford to put it on their table. They paid for such fish in silver; they gave it as much as the fish itself weighed.
- In the distant past, before cooking, cooks brought red mullet in special containers to the dining room so that people could see their beauty with their own eyes.
A very unusual red mullet fish shimmering with silvery reflections; the photo cannot convey all its elegance. Only in air, their shine quickly disappears.
