While we were doing that Missile Base job, in Florida, someone told us about Mullet jumping into your boat, and who ever it was, also told us just how to go about the process, in order to get the best results. First you should have a metal boat and then on a real dark night, go up stream from the bridge between Melborne and Palm Bay. You were to proceed slowly while beating on the sides of the boat and make any other noise that you could think of. Flash light beams shown along the banks of the stream were also considered to be an asset.

I know it sounds like a tale that my Dad or Joe Fitch might tell, but it is true. If there are Mullet in the area, they will jump out of the water and if your boat happens to be where they are, once in a while one will land in it.

It is unbelievable the numbers of mullet that there used to be, in that stream. Darrel McCall, Eldon Brower and I tried it one night, and in an hour or so, over 100 mullet, weighing from a pound to a pound and a half, landed in our boat and a lot of others had gone right over it. If you don’t pay close attention you are apt to get hit by one, on it’s way over. I am sure that they do not intentionally jump into the boat, they just like to jump and if a boat happens to be there, one might land in it.

We filleted all of them and a Bar Tender, in a small neighborhood Tavern, in Palm Bay, smoked them for us. They went real good with a cold beer. That was a smart Bar Tender, he knew that if he smoked those mullet for us, we would likely eat them at his place and, in so doing, would need lots of beer to wash them down.