Jewfish monster

[robvee]

A report from South Africa : not my fish ,,,,,,,, but well worth the read :D

"The sea was quite cold and the swell was quite big. No luck in the morning, but at about 12:30pm we were scratching for blue fish and I managed to hook this beauty on light tackle. I really didn’t think it was an edible. I thought I had fowl hooked a Raggy or something. At one stage the fish was swimming to the right, down the coast towards a huge outcrop of rocks, BUT to my delight it changed direction and swam in the direction of “scattered brick” to the left of where we were fishing. Luckily this beast stayed beyond the rocks/backline in the deeper water for the majority of the fight. This powerful fish peeled at least 250 meters of line on its numerous runs.
The only way I could gain any line on the fish was to use the beach and walk back up towards the bush line. After 40 minutes or so, I managed to get the fish into the shallows. Seeing the large white underbelly from where I was fighting the fish from, I thought it was a huge Raggy swimming belly up. My mate shouted “KOB, KOB, BIG KOB!…” I couldn’t believe my eyes!!!!! I was flabbergasted…
I ran to my bag to get the camera. We took a couple of photos and took its measurement. I had my tagging kit, but in all the confusion and me wanting to release it quickly, I didn’t even think about tagging it… After 45 minutes of reviving the fish in chest deep water, the fish had gained enough strength to swim off.
What an awesome sight, seeing such an awesome specimen swim away.
Tackle used:
Rod: Errol Homes custom made high modulus stroke 4
Line: 0.40mm / 11.5 Kingfisher Giant Abrasion
Leader: 0.60mm
Hook: 2/o Daiich
FISH: Kob
WEIGHT/LENGTH: 1.83m / ORI calculations: 66kg
CAUGHT BY: jono
CAUGHT AT: Haga Haga 27 February 2010
BAIT/LURE: Pink prawn

For those who will not believe it ...... here are the links.
You decide for yourself !!

http://www.fishingec.com/?p=5581 (http://www.westernangler.com.au/default.asp?action=article&ID=52)
http://www.fishingec.com/?p=5652

And here is the story of the South African record .... landed in December. Just to show that South Africa is renowned for BIG Jewfish (Kob)
http://www.fishingec.com/?p=5072

[honda900]

shitenhousen, thats a monster...

how the hell did he get that to the beach on that gear...

Regards
Honda.

[fishfreak01]

lucky you weren't swimming. Thats the biggest jew I have seen.

fishfreak.

[Pistol_P]

Biggest Jew I have seen.

Truly a monster.:o

Pete

[bryann]

its not even a real photo twits

[hakuna]

not a good photoshop, but a good try

apart from that you would never be able to hold up a jew that big

think about it

cheers

[Pazz01]

What is it with people putting up photoshopped photos. Honestly it is ridiculous.

You've obviously got too much time on your hands.

Pazz

[DAVE_S]

At 66 kg and one hand in the gill cavity and the other one well who knows ;D, thats a great effort to hold a fish that size .

[Pistol_P]

its not even a real photo twits

Cmon....I believed the whole story...

66kg on a prawn using bream gear and 0.4mm line.....:P ::)

Pete

[joeking]

Nothin like a good Seth Efrican story to get the bullshit flowing. Poor form robvee.

[charleville]

Normally it is Nugget who pretty well every year used to put up a post about a whale or marlin or something similar caught in the Logan river. Usually though, he only did it on April 1st. ;D

Maybe, I shall change my Irish jokes into South African jokes. ;D ;D ;D


I enjoyed the joke though. Well done, Robvee. ;D


.

[mattooty]

Hmmm, check out the links fellas. Maybe it is true.

[lunatic]

Don't let the truth get in the way of a good yarn!

[Damned67]

Hmmm, check out the links fellas. Maybe it is true.

I guess I'm a twit. The pics in that second link look pretty convincing to me.....

[MackerelMan]

Why would you hold a big fish like that up by the gills for a photo!!! He may as well have kept that fish as its long term survival chances would not be good.

[Ozie_3]

bloody sceptics...the second link to the story loos good to me....

photoshop indeed.... NO WAY

well done robvee for this post

ive eaten 80lb jewie (35kg ??) and it was ok....but yeah 60kg+ would be dry, tough and unpleasant....better released

cheers chris

cheers chris

[Mattg68]

$1000 says the naysayers haven't bothered to check out the link.....

..just make the cheques payable to cash fellas.



That is one brute of a fish.


matt

[cuzzamundi]

WOW! That is one beast of a fish! I can see why he called kit for a Raggie. Thanks ofr sharing.

And those saying it's impossible to land on that gear, there was a 3m 205kg Tiger caught off shorncliffe pier many years ago on a small mullet. Also, a tailor fisho caught a 156kg bronzie NSW many years ago on spinning gear! It can happen...

Cuzza

[the gecko]

huuuuge jewie, thx for the share.

why do so many mugs cry photoshop when anything significant is posted? try googling before you open your trap guys.

This is a world class catch.

[bryann]

i cant believe how was of you people think that the first photo is real
may when a Nigerian banker calls you one day you will sign up .

[Horse]

The first pic looks a bit weird but the others look kosher. Big fish to be held up by the gills though. A shot on the ground would have looked fine

[Damned67]

i cant believe how was of you people think that the first photo is real
may when a Nigerian banker calls you one day you will sign up .

I'm not doubting you and your expertise. So that I know what to look for when examining photos online in the future, what's the give away features that lead you to believe that the first pic is a photoshop?

Based on the rest of the pics (of the same catch) in the second link, I would believe it to be true. But I have no experience at spotting 'photoshopped' pics.
Other that it being a HUGE jew, for my own benefit, what evidence points towards a faked pic?

[alleycat]

The picture looks real to me, in the second link you can see the water current coming off the fishes body, great catch and 100% legit for mine..

[OverNover]

After checking the links (did the detractors do so?) and googling some more on SA Kob fishing, I'm convinced it's legit, appears 50kg plus Kob are common place off the SA coastline, gives the monster Great Whites something to chase I s'pose!!!!

Thanx for sharing the story Robvee, great part of the world Currumbin, I spent the 1st 25 years of my life fishing all parts of Currumbin & Tally Creek, many a long night spent fishing off the old Jetty as a youngster, unfortunately nowhere near as productive now, Cheers. ;D

[Pistol_P]

When I first saw the picture I didnt think it had been photoshopped at all.

The pic looks real to me.

The only thing I was a sceptic on was the story about a peeled prawn,2/0 hook and 0.4mm line..........But that isnt really important.

Looking at those links it all looks legit .....Its a monstorous fish and I would mind holding it.

Pete

[the gecko]

to pick a photoshopped pic, you need to be able to zoom in on it about x100 times, and look for differences in the pixelation. That means you need some software to zoom in like Photoshop or other copy.

I actually thought in the first pic, he must be using a grappling hook or something like a short gaff to hold it with 2 hands. I guess not tho, considering he released it alive.

Gives a whole new meaning to the term 'comfort lift' lol.

[ian.young]

Great fish, great photos
Ian

[charleville]

I enjoyed the joke though. Well done, Robvee. ;D




Looking at the release pix from the links, it sure looks convincing.

Plus, I have just magnified the original picture a lot on Photoshop and it certainly does not have the usual tell-tale, well-defined edges that can usually be expected on a photoshopped picture even with feathering of the edges and/or use of other Photoshop tools such as the clone stamp tool, notwithstanding that the best picture that we can download is pretty coarse in pixels.


So I reckon that I might go so far as to admit that my scepticism was misplaced. ::)

Good on you, Robvee. Apart from the awe factor, the thread has generated some good fun on a rainy day.

:D

.

[richos]

massive fish!
haha at chumps calling fake

[Daintreeboy]

I believe the story and have checked the links. Gee that 82 kg fish is a horse!!
I am a little sceptical however of the weight. I would not say this fish is that size 45-50 maybe?
On a recent trip we nailed a few big Black Jew and the biggest was 139 cm. Our guess was less than 25 kilo.
Either way it's huge

[Freeeedom]

Agree the way the fish is being held in the first picture looks a bit suss - but I have no problem that the catch is genuine. You've got to ask how he is supporting the weight of the fish in that picture since you can't put your hands inside the gills of a big jew or they'll get scratched to hell and your also likely to damage the gills and fatally injure the fish. Whenever I've wanted to hold up a good jew for a photo I've always had to wrap my hand in a towel to protect it - and that was only with a fish I intended to keep.
Examining the pixellation along the edges of the fish may reveal that it has been 'photoshopped' but for the cheats this is easy to get around. All you have to do is 'photoshop' the picture, print out a hard copy, scan the hard copy to create a new digital file which you can then put up as an original. In the new scanned photo all the pixels will be of the same size. Can't really see the point of putting up dodgy photos anyway. Anyone who does, in my mind, is admitting they're not much of a fisherman.
Cheers Freeeedom

[Pistol_P]

You can grab a Jew quite comfortably by the plate underneath the jaw....(not sure on the correct terminology).
If you put your hands in the gills or near the gill rakers you will get nicely sliced.

It looks possibly like he has his hand in the mentioned position underneath the jaw.

Pete

[MackerelMan]

If you intend to release a fish it is not only damage to the gills you need to think about. A big fish like that with all its weight hanging from its mouth will invariably suffer internal damage. It will probably swim away and make old mate feel good but die later on. You need to be gentle with big fish.

[Daintreeboy]

The unsupported weight casues the most damage to the spine. The DPI did some studies on big Barra and the damge to these fish with a vertical lift was quite bad, most died

[84mick]

Top catch, good to see it swim away!

[Jackinthebox]

The guys calling this a fake need to look closely at the sun angles and the correct reflection coming off it's tail and body. The shadow on the beach also indicates that the photo is legit.

Just because we don't see jewies here that big anymore doesn't mean they don't get em' in Sth Africa. I've known a few South African guys who love their fishing and are right into the distance casting bit that have told me about the size of the jewies (kob) over there. Plus there's been articles in fishing mags over the years.

Some people need to expand their horizons and general knowledge outside of their own little world! :builder:

[Daintreeboy]

I'm not calling it fake. I think it's huge. I'm just sceptical of the weight. I still say it's around 50 kilos. Again that's still huge.

[robvee]

I'm not calling it fake. I think it's huge. I'm just sceptical of the weight. I still say it's around 50 kilos. Again that's still huge.

Here is the official South African weight chart calculation. Have some faith ;D