CORTEZ – Fish house employees and fishermen are calling this mullet season one of the best in recent memory as Cortez fish houses are filling up with mullet brought in by private fishermen.
Two of those fishermen, Seth Miller and Wyatt Walker, were pulling in mullet for two straight days to sell at one of the two the Cortez fish houses: Cortez Bait & Seafood and A.P. Bell Fish Co.
“We didn’t sleep for the last two days,” Miller said on Dec. 31. “It’s been pretty good this year. We’ve been catching fish in the bay and offshore. We caught some up north last night.”
Miller said it seemed like the season got off to a late start and could go until February.
Private fishermen such as Miller and Walker can be seen in local waters pulling up nets full of mullet. Once their boats are loaded, they’re driven to either Cortez Bait & Seafood or A.P. Bell Fish Co., where the catches are weighed and the fishermen are paid.
“I’ve been doing this for 17 years and I would say this is the best mullet season I’ve seen in at least 10 years,” said Linda, an employee of Cortez Bait & Seafood, as she oversaw the weighing of the fish brought in by local fishermen. “There’s been no hurricanes and no red tide, so I think that’s why it’s been really good.”
She said on Jan. 1 that Cortez Bait & Seafood was taking a break for several days before accepting any more mullet.
“We’re so full right now,” she said. “We have no place to put any more fish. We’ll probably start up again next Monday (Jan. 5).”
Linda said the prices paid to the fishermen fluctuate, but a premium is paid for mullet with red roe and the rate was currently at $1.30 per pound. The red roe mullet is sent out to European and Asian markets.
Karen Bell, owner of AP Bell Fish Co., closed on Jan. 1 to give her employees the day off, but that fish house started accepting fish again on Jan. 2.
“We have fish staged in coolers right now,” Bell said on Jan. 1. “Tomorrow we will be taking fish from fishermen who have been selling to us this year.”
Adult striped mullet typically weigh about three pounds. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has strict guidelines about how they can be caught.
“The use of any gear other than cast nets (no more than 14 feet long, and no more than two per vessel), beach or haul seines (no larger than 500 square feet, and no more than two, may be fished per vessel), hook and line gear; and by spearing is prohibited,” according to FWC.
