Kalgan Mulloway & Bream fly

[Stephen Bradbury]

Hi guys, this is the fly I tied at the last club meeting. This pattern has been very successful for me on the Kalgan river Mulloway (14 so far) and reasonably good also on the Black Bream. Lots of the boys on the most recent Kalgan river weekend (11th & 12th Nov) had tied up a few similar flies (few slightly different variations) and also had some great success (around 20 Mulloway landed for the group).
It's basically a smallish clouser pattern tied with some craft fur (for movement) and some copper & gold flash (for visability in the dark tannin stained water).
Hook size - 6# or 4# Mustad Big Game.
Thread - Tan flat waxed.
Eyes - Medium brass hour glass.
Wing - (a) small sparse bunch of tapered tan fly fur or craft fur. (b) 10 or 12 strands of metallic copper 'angel hair' flash (by Larva Lace). (c) 4 strands of light gold 'Gliss n Glow' flash. (d) another small sparse bunch of tapered tan fly fur or craft fur. (e) 12 strands of tan midge krystal flash.
This fly can be tied in a range of fly/craft fur colours, but the best colours seem to be tan, orange and brown. I also tied a few much larger ones on size 1 or 1/0 hooks and they got smashed by some of the larger Mulloway (some simply unstoppable!)
This fly really should be fished on the bottom for Mulloway (important) pretty much anywhere in the water column for bream though.

[Liam Surridge]

Link to video of the tie:
https://youtu.be/3fPvL3d4Vlw

[daniel horne]

I plan on attending the black wood field day would some thing like this be the way to go for that fishery I’d love to get my first mullaway if so I might need start tieing ASAP

[Tony Ong]

Hi Dan
There are rumours of mulloway in Blackwood, but generally, they are not a regular catch there.
That fly pattern is spot on for bream tied in appropriate sizes. #6, #4, #2, with varying weights.
At it's best, the Blackwood is a trophy fishery. When we were there end of last year, there was a rumour of a 57cm black bream caught on bait. Other target species would be whiting on the flats, and close to the Augusta end, herring, tailor, skippy, etc.

[daniel horne]

Thanks for the good insight tony

[Mike Andrew]

The story I got told years ago , when Fremantle TAFE were trying to get
Broodstock for their Aquaculture program.
The anecdotal evidence from professional netters and Fisheries was that Mulloway
populations seem to disappear from the systems West of Albany.
And then reappear around Geograph Bay.
They obtained some broodstock from the Swan River , but they were so loaded
with parasites that when treated died from toxic shock.
They ended up getting some from flat rocks , between Dongara and Geraldton.
The biggest Mulloway in Australia are caught at Yalata ( east of Esperance )
While the Kalgan fish are thought to be a sub species which don't grow much
beyond a metre.

Fremantle TAFE were doing some research into acclimatization to freshwater
for possible stocking into Harvey , Wellington etc.
Don't know what the outcome was.

[Stephen Bradbury]

Interesting info Mike cheers for sharing. The Walpole/Nornalup system for this weekends club field day is another that should hold a population of Mulloway (always open to the sea) but I've never heard of any being caught in there ?