Bait shops discuss mullet shortages during fall fishing season

At its May business meeting, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission voted to approve new, more restrictive management rules for the striped mullet fishery. Six months later, bait and tackle shops are feeling the effects of the day-of-the-week commercial closures on their businesses.

With Hatteras Island’s fall fishing season in full swing, mullet is harder for bait shops to keep in stock because of increased demand, in part due to local fishing tournaments, and an additional day of the week when commercial fishermen are not allowed to catch mullet.

In the summer, Frank & Fran’s Bait & Tackle in Avon sells around 200 pounds of mullet in a weekend, but this time of year they could easily sell 1,000 pounds of mullet in a weekend, said Randy Bayne, who’s been the part owner of Frank & Fran’s for eight years.

“It wasn’t terribly bad during the summer, because it was just two days,” Bayne said. “But it’s amazing when they throw that third day in there. They chose the busiest part of the year for us.”

Commercial mullet closures expanded from weekends to Saturday, Sunday, and Monday on Oct. 1.

Those three days used to produce the highest mullet sales, said Mike Godbey, who works at Dillon’s Corner in Buxton.

Fewer fishermen are buying mullet on Sundays and Mondays at Red Drum Tackle Shop in Buxton, because the mullet isn’t as fresh, said Bobby Eakes.

“They’ll buy frozen bait, or they’ll buy shrimp,” Eakes said. “It pushes the mullet to the side a little bit.”

Frank & Fran’s bought 1,000 pounds of mullet on Friday, Oct. 25, during the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association Red Drum Tournament. By Sunday morning, they had sold out and were unable to get more in stock until Tuesday, Bayne said.

Running out of mullet lowers bait shops’ sales of other items.

Fishermen want to buy bait, rigs, ice, and everything else in one stop, Bayne said. If a shop doesn’t have any bait, they’ll go to the next place.

Dillon’s Corner could not stock mullet for the first day of the NCBBA Red Drum Tournament, which brought 550 fishermen to Hatteras Island, so Godbey cast netted some to give away at the shop to keep customers happy.

“If [fishermen] stop and don’t see mullet, they don’t even come inside,” Godbey said. “They just shut the cooler door and leave.”

Red Drum Tackle Shop has to plan their mullet order up to a week in advance, especially if the weather forecast is bad and commercial fishermen may not be able to catch mullet on Tuesday or Wednesday, Eakes said.

Bob’s Frisco Package & Convenience stopped selling fresh mullet a couple years ago, because it was getting harder to stock.

Day-of-the-week closures are hurting bait shops and the local fishing industry, said Mike Regan, the chairman of the NCBBA Red Drum Tournament.

“People are already saying ‘what’s the point of coming down here this time of year if we can’t buy bait to go fish,’” Regan said.

In May, the MFC voted unanimously to close the commercial harvest of mullet on weekends from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30 and on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, Island Free Press reported.

Commercial fishermen must have mullet landed, meaning the fishermen must have the mullet at a fish house, before 11:59 p.m. on Fridays. Commercial harvest will reopen at 12:01 a.m. on Mondays before Sept. 30 and 12:01 a.m. on Tuesdays after Sept. 30.

The new regulations also added a recreational possession limit of 100 mullet and a for-hire vessel possession limit of 400 mullet.

The MFC also voted to adopt adaptive management for mullet, which allows the DMF to alter mullet regulations if the day-of-the-week closures are not producing the targeted reductions.

The DMF calculated that day-of-the-week closures will bring around a 35 percent reduction in commercial mullet harvest from the 2019 commercial landings and is projected to achieve sustainable harvest for mullet, Island Free Press reported.

Commercial fishermen landed more than 1.3 million pounds of mullet in 2019, according to DMF data. A 35 percent reduction would reduce that number to around 900,000 pounds of mullet each year.

Fresh replacement baits, like menhaden or bunker, are not as popular as mullet.

Frank & Fran’s has had to buy mullet from a fisherman, who nets on rivers and creeks, a few hours inland to supplement what they can get from local fishermen, Baynes said.

“I would rather support our local fishermen who are trying to earn a living and who are here for me when I need it,” Bayne said.

With the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club Invitational Surf Fishing Tournament this week, bait shops are stocking up but may run short on mullet again.