Now that we’re in the midst of the Summer fishing trends, we shift away from fishing live baits to trolling rigged baits for offshore species such as Mahi Mahi, Wahoo, Kingfish and Tunas. Although many anglers prefer to use Bonitos or Skipjacks to make their trolling strips, we at Fort Lauderdale Sportfishing are here to show you how to make strips using Mullet. That’s right. Mullet!
We’re going to show you, step-by-step, how to create two (2) strips from a single mullet. Let’s get started.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- On or two VERY sharp fillet knives
- Cutting Board
- Fresh Mullet
STEP 1: MAKE YOU CUT FROM THE HEAD DOWN TO THE TAIL
Start just behind the gill and make a vertical cut straight to the bone/spine. Then, you essentially fillet down to the tail.
When you get to the tail, angle your knife down. If you are precise enough, you can actually split down the middle of the tail to leave a tail on each strip.
STEP 2: FLIP THE MULLET OVER AND REPEAT STEP 1
ou should now have two (2) fillets. Discard the rest.
STEP 3: REMOVE THE MEAT AND MAKE CLEAN CUTS
Now, flip the fillet over with the skin side down. Run your VERY sharp knife down the fillet nearly flat to remove excess meat. This is important. Too much meat left on the strip will not allow the strip to swim correctly.
Then, use your knife to make clean boundary cuts down the length of the strip on each side by “rocking” your knife using your hand. This will enable your knife to cleanly cut through the skin and scales. The clean cuts will ensure that you strip does now twist or spin when being trolled behind a planer.
STEP 4: TURN ONE STRIP INTO TWO STRIPS
Keep the strip skin side down and place your knife down the middle of the strip along the “blood line” and rock you knife back and forth to create two symmetrical strips.
You can then cut the strips to the length of your choosing.
STEP 5: STORE AND PRESERVE YOUR STRIPS
A cheap and quick way to preserve your new strips is to take a piece of aluminium foil, about the size of an 8 1/2″ x 11″ piece of paper and lay it on a flat surface.
Then, lay a strip lengthwise along the top of the “page.” Then, fold the foil over the top of the strip, which effectively vacuum seals the strip. Then, repeat this for each strip down the same sheet of foil. We like to fold over no more than 10 strips per sheet.
Then, fold over the ends of the sheet of foil and place in your freezer. You’re ready to fish!
Watch the video below to see all of the steps above in action.
Now that you have your strips, you can rig them with single or double-hook rigs with wire leaders and slide trolling skirts over them, in any number of color combinations.
Tight Lines,
Captain David