Once this cut is mastered, rigging split tail mullet becomes a piece of cake. Use the knife and remove the majority of the meat and bones off both skins. The rest of the backbone needs to be removed. This may be done with a commercial de-boner or the shaft of an aluminum arrow. Insert your de-boner tool under one of the gills and into the backbone. Push to remove the bone. The next step is not completed by everyone rigging mullet, but I find that it helps the swimming ability. Make a half inch incision down through the top of the head beginning behind me eyes. Once this incision is made, lay the mullet on a flat surface. Take the palm of your hand and press down on the side of the head making it flat. The mullet is now prepped and ready to be rigged. If the mullet were not fresh, it may be prudent to salt thawed mullet to toughen them up. Anywhere from a one to two ounce egg sinker is necessary for rigging, depending on the bait size. Begin by measuring where the first hook will protrude through the stomach. When taking this measurement, imagine the eye of the hook just inside the mouth of the mullet. Make the incision in the stomach for the hook. Now, place the hooks into the body cavity and work the eye of the first hook up into the mouth of the fish. The first hook should protrude through the incision you made in the bottom of the stomach. The second hook should come to where the tail is split. It may be necessary to split the tail farther so the second hook rides properly. Slide the egg sinker onto the wire leader. Insert wire through the bottom of the mouth, the eye of the hook and come out the top of the head. Snug the egg sinker under the jaw, while taking the tag end of the wire leader and finish off with a haywire twist in front of the egg sinker. The egg sinker should sit under the mullet's chin.
The final step is tying a piece of dacron or waxed line around the head to keep the gills shut. A properly rigged split tail mullet should appear as follows. Although the hooks in this photo are actually are too small for this mullet.