Bogue Banks Mullet Blow: A North Carolina Tradition

By Maureen Milne Donald

While coastal North Carolina is home to a thriving and diverse commercial fishing community ranging from inshore gillnetting to offshore trawling, there is one annual event that embodies the state’s rich fishing heritage like no other. It’s called the Mullet Blow.

Long before dawn on a chilly November day, one short stretch of otherwise empty beach is cluttered with a small fleet of pickups. Nearby a group of North Carolina fishermen are gathered on this Atlantic Ocean beach waiting and watching as the sun slowly rises. The men stand around in small groups drinking coffee against the backdrop of modern high-rise condos complexes and surrounded by a beach-front forest of surf poles poking out the sand.

Despite the cold, the mood is upbeat today because, as predicted, a brisk Northeast wind is picking up a head of steam. Men rub their hands together to keep warm and stomp their feet in the deeply-rutted sand, moving from one group to another all the while keeping an eye to the north, waiting for a sound, a splash, a change in the water that will signal the reason they are here.

"For over 60 years I've been coming out here during the Mullet Blow," said 75-year-old Verdon Smith. "There's nothing quite like it."

The Blow, so named because the mullet run down the beach heading south as the cold Northeast wind cools the water temperature, is a North Carolina tradition. It is tradition that is kept alive by a handful of fishermen who continue to catch mullet as they have for over a hundred years on Bogue Banks, a barrier island in Carteret County.

"Once we're gone, this fishery will likely die out," said Norwood Frost, who has fished Bogue Banks since he was 14. "The equipment is expensive, the work is hard and the season is short."

The season begins in early October and extends to about Thanksgiving. Though its origins are lost in family myths, the fishery has survived to date with two remaining crews who still catch mullet with the aid of two 1940s tractors, a 20-foot dory and beach seines. About 40 years ago, seven or eight crews of 30 men each worked the beaches in this manner, but today the numbers have dwindled to only two crews, each numbering about 15 men.

The reasons for the sharp drop in participants are numerous - long hours, hard work, a short season and the very high cost of the gear. Add escalating gear and resource conflicts and the fishery becomes more and more threatened each year. According to James J. Francesconi, a biologist with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, who has studied the fishery for several years, the potential conflicts are obvious.

"Anytime you have a commercial fishery operating this close to recreational activity there are potential problems," Francesconi said. "That is unfortunate because this fishery causes few, if any, real problems."

According to Francesconi, the state is "protective of its uniqueness," in particular because the fishery produces a very low bycatch mortality rate and also offers biologists the opportunity to tag fish for further study. However, he admits that there will always be challenges to overcome because of user conflicts.

"We don't want to hurt anyone," Frost said. "We've been coming out here to fish in the same way for ages, long before anyone else showed up. It's a struggle."

But for those few fishermen that keep the tradition alive, there is nothing quite like the Mullet Blow. Before sunrise, the fishermen run a 400-yard set net straight out from the beach. A dory sits ready on the beach loaded with 650 yards of net (4-inch stretch in the wings and 3 1/4-inch stretch in the bunt), one end of which is secured to a tractor on the beach, while another tractor sits further down the beach.

When the mullet are spotted, the crew launches a dory into the surf pulling the net around the school of mullet and back to the beach where the second tractor is ready. Both tractors then pull in the catch while the other fishermen secure the bottom of the net, or lead line, and holding the top of the net to prevent the mullet from jumping over it. That's if the mullet run and there's a successful strike. Many mornings, the temperature are just too warm, the wind too calm and the fishermen are forced to busy themselves with checking nets, cranking up the seemingly ancient red tractors or simply chatting among themselves for the better part of a day.

On this particular November morning, however, there was no shortage of things to do while waiting for a sign of mullet. One of the tractors had a flat tire - a situation that needed an immediate remedy. A four-man team got to work, removing the tire and loading it in the back of a pickup for a quick trip down the beach to a nearby garage. Meanwhile everyone held their collective breath in the hope that the tractor would be ready when and if the mullet started to run.

Luck was on the side of the fishermen this cold morning, and the tractor was back into commission without a sign of mullet. But just as the crew once again settled into its watchful mode, all eyes turned to the north. They were coming!

The water changed color, the fish were leaping in the air. The excitement mounted as the mullet got closer, the nearby recreational surf fishermen pulled their poles out of the water to stay out of the way and the crew got down to business. Like a well-oiled machine, the fishermen donned wet suits and surrounded the dory, preparing to launch the small boat into the surf. In one fluid motion, the dory glided into the water and the strike net released to surround the school of fish. Other fishermen revved up the tractors and waited for the net to be fully extended. As the dory completed its mission and the end of the strike net attached to tractor, both headed away from the shore, pulling the net heavily laden with mullet onto the beach.

Everyone took part in clearing the net, separating red (female) and white (male) roe mullet into baskets. From there the mullet are loaded into the beds of pickups and driven to the fish house for sale.

Roe mullet usually run between 1 ½-3 pounds with red roe drawing the highest prices. While the Asian economy caused a significant drop in mullet prices this year, markets in Japan and Taiwan historically pay up to $50 a pound for red roe. Over the past few seasons, a good year for beach mullet fishermen is about 100,000-150,000 fish. But while all fisheries are affected by the weather, the annual North Carolina Mullet Blow is even more susceptible to nature's whims. In 1996, Hurricanes Fran and Bertha caused such upheaval on the state's coastline that beach seiners landed only about 25,000 mullet for the season - a far cry from the expected haul.

This year is up for grabs, according to local fishermen. Although North Carolina didn't take a direct hit during this past hurricane season, unseasonably warm temperatures concern mullet fishermen who depend on a dose of old fashioned winter weather for the mullet to run south.

But despite the ups and downs that Mother Nature always manages to provide, things are easier today.   

                                                                                           

While the methods have changed little over the past century, the technology has made an impact. Beginning in the late 1800s, groups of fishing families would leave home and set up camps of grass huts along the beach during the mullet season. Wives mended the heavy cotton nets, cleaned fish, cooked and cared for the family. Children helped out with the chores and learned the trade for when they too would test their skill on the water. They thought that motorboats and tractors would scare the fish so nearly everything was done by hand. The crews weren't even allowed to talk for fear of making too much noise. Families worked together to haul the heavy nets ashore after a strike and clear and salt down the mullet.

Today motorboats and tractors make the job easier, fishermen return to their homes and families each evening and a hot cup of coffee is just a short hop away at a nearby convenience store. But the essence of the Mullet Blow remains as much a part of North Carolina's heritage as fishing itself. For the men who rise early and wait patiently on the shore for the first sign of mullet, there is no greater thrill and no greater pride in fishing for a living.