Yellow-eye mullet are one of those underrated Aussie bread-and-butter fish that are everywhere and great fun on light gear. They are common, reliable and make a handy target when bigger fish are quiet or you just want a steady bend in the rod.
You will find them right around southern Australia, from beaches and bays to estuaries, harbours and tidal rivers. They like shallow, protected water with sandy or muddy bottoms, especially around channels, flats, jetties and river mouths.
They mostly graze on algae, small crustaceans, worms and tiny bits of organic matter stirred up off the bottom. They feed in schools and spend a lot of time picking through the water column or nosing around the sand and mud for easy food.
Tide matters because yellow-eye mullet usually feed better on the run, especially when moving water pushes food along flats, drains and channel edges. Low light can help, with early morning and late afternoon often producing more confident bites than bright middle-of-the-day sun in clear, shallow water. Light to moderate wind can improve the bite by ruffling the surface and stirring food up, but strong wind makes their small bites harder to detect. A low swell is usually best off beaches and entrances, while too much swell can dirty the water and make schools harder to hold.
Keep it simple with a light estuary outfit, small long-shank hooks and a quill float or tiny running sinker rig. Use small baits like bread, dough, peeled prawn, worm or tiny bits of pipi, and berley lightly to keep the school interested without overfeeding them.
Despite the name, yellow-eye mullet are not a true mullet in the same group as sea mullet and have their own distinct look and habits.