Collection: Mullet Run

The three best weeks of the Florida year, and the tackle they actually ask for.

From late August the mullet start stacking along the beaches and moving south, and everything that eats follows them — snook, tarpon, kingfish, jacks, big sharks. Gulf and Atlantic snook harvest reopens September 1, right as the run builds. From mid-September into October it is as good as inshore fishing gets in this state.

Four things decide whether you cash in on it.

A net that throws right. The bait is the whole game. A 1" mesh mullet net sinks fast and holds finger mullet without gilling every one of them — throw it on the edge of a pod, not the middle, or you push the school out.

Leader you can trust in the wash. Snook rub through light leader on gill plates and dock pilings. 30lb is the everyday choice in the surf; step to 40 or 50 around structure or when the tarpon show up.

Circle hooks sized to the bait. Match the hook to the mullet, not to the fish. A 4/0 or 5/0 through the nose of a finger mullet swims naturally; 6/0 and 8/0 for a big bait or a tarpon rig. Circles hook in the corner of the jaw, which matters when most of what you catch goes back.

Something with a mullet profile. When fish are keyed on a wide, flashing bait, a broad heavy spoon reads right and casts into the wind. Gold in stained water, silver on the clear mornings.

Everything here ships from Sarasota. Order by 2pm ET and it goes out the same day — the run does not wait.