CORTEZ – It might not be for joy, but the mullet are definitely jumping.
Spawning season and cast net-wielding fishermen anxious to make some Christmas money are a formula for a busy mullet season at John Banyas’ Cortez Bait and Seafood fish house.
“It’s mostly local people bringing the mullet in to us,” Banyas said. “They’re out there castnetting closer to the cold fronts.”
Banyas, a fourth-generation fisherman from Cortez, owns Swordfish Grill & Tiki Bar, N.E. Taylor Boatworks, Killer Bait and Cortez Bait and Seafood.
He has seven boats in his fleet but says he relies on people fishing from their own boats to bring the mullet in.
The catches have varying degrees of value, with the real treasure being females with red roe. The egg sack from the gray mullet can be made into bottarga. The salted, cured fish roe pouch is considered a delicacy in Europe and Asia.
“The females have the red roe and the males white,” he said. “They’re all desirable, but we pay more for the red.”
On Dec. 15, Banyas said they were paying $1.60 per pound for the females with red roe and 30 cents a pound for others.
“There’s definitely money to be made,” he said, picking up a good-sized mullet. “This one alone could be more than $5.”
The fish are brought in by land or sea. They’re processed and cut, then packaged and frozen in large walk-in freezers before being shipped off to the wholesale market. He said that his facility processes thousands of pounds per day.
“We ship out all over,” Banyas said. “Italy, Taiwan. Mullet is used for crab bait or food.”
Mullet fishing has a long history in Cortez. “The North Carolina families came in the 1880s with the hope that the mullet and the sweat of their brow would bring a better life,” according to a publication from the Cortez Village Historical Society. “This unique community of 20 extended families with a love of fishing in their hearts has survived on hard work, fierce pride and a plentiful supply of fish.”
A quote from the late Cortez fisherman Ralph “Pig” Fulford sums up the importance of mullet to the Cortez fishing village.
“Mullet. That’s it. Some folks say fish smell. I say it smells like money.”
