Fish like popcorn

With the simmering month of August winding down, we are approaching the season when an early mullet blow is destined to come whipping out of the northlands, sending white-topped shivers dancing across the warm waters of the Carolina sounds.

A mullet blow is, for the most part, a welcome phenomenon that nature will be bringing to our shores sometime between late August and early September. It occurs a few times each fall, when a cold front accompanied by brisk northeast winds whips along the coast.

The term "mullet blow" arose along the Carolina coastline in the distant past. To the landlubber, it translates to: When the wind swings from the prevailing summer southwesters and is replaced by cooler northeasters, bringing a switching of the weather pattern that awakens both fish and fisherman, chilling the waters and triggering a run of tens of thousands of striped mullet into a huge offshore migration.

The event provides a spectacular sight as these fish start jumping out of the water, fishermen describing it "like popcorn from a kettle."

It is the annual migration of these forage fish, moving out of our creeks and sounds, that warns us that fall has begun. The migration of drum, flounder and speckled trout will follow, making their way out the inlets, moving along the beaches on their way to new waters where the living is easy.