“Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not!”
It’s that time of the year to give mullet jumping a try!!



Daddy’s mullet jumping helpers!



Judy Helmey and my cousin Artie Helmey


I told this story once again at our inshore fishing class. It’s a classic for catching plenty of bait the old way. At any rate my cousin Artie Helmey was attending the class. As soon as I got to the part about the jumping Artie remarked, “When I went with Uncle Sherman (my daddy) a dolphin jumped over the boat and knocked me into the water. I thought I was dead!” I told you this story gets better every time that I tell it. Is there anyone else out there that went mullet jumping with daddy?

Mullet Jumping A True Classic

I have told this story on many occasions. Every time I tell it, it gets better. It’s about mullet jumping, which was what daddy and I use to do back in the good old days. At any rate to be able to successfully take full advantage of mullet jumping several things had to line up. You had to have a full moon stage. One of the daily low tide stages had to take place during dark thirty. It had to be during our warmest months. When all listed came together, Daddy was up for this adventure.

We would load up the old wooden rowboat with a sheet, flashlights, and cooler. Don’t worry we always had plenty of safety equipment on the boat. After loading ourselves on the boat Daddy would crank up our 31/2 horsepower Evinrude outboard motor. Believe me it was a real powerhouse. Off we would go with destination “Mud Puppy” in mind. I best explain what a “Mud Puppy” was. It was a small creek off of Turner creek. Once you turned to go into “Mud Puppy” you had several options. You could turn left or go straight. We always went straight to the back where the creek bed ended at low tide. When we got close Daddy would turn off the engine and quietly paddle into what he called “his holding point.” At this time daddy would hold up one end or the sheet while I held up the other. Since he was taller them me our sheet wasn’t level, but it didn’t matter. As soon as daddy shined the flashlight on the white sheet mullet started jumping into the boat. When he had a sufficient amount of mullet for the old smoker we would turn the light off.

The first time I experience this I was about 6 year old. Daddy didn’t explain very well that a fish might jump down my blouse, which it did and scared me to death. Had I known about the possible side effects I might have un-tucked my blouse. Once a fish gets in this area it’s hard to get everything situated when you are jumping around screaming crazy. After that I was broke in right I knew what to expect. The next time I wore a pot on my head and a big towel around my neck. I was definitely prepared for all of those blind-sided mullet!