Tweed Saturday 1 Dec. PB Snapp & Jew
Saturday morning Nice and early(4am), Roydsy rolls up keen for a lash @ the tweed reefs after a last minute call up. we head out to our first stop, a reef half way between the bar and nine mile. This reef usually holds a big ball of bait but today it appears to be hold no bait at all......but on the leading edge is a good show of large single fish just off the bottom in 25m. first drift and while I'm still rigging up Roydsy is on to a good fish, pulling the wrinkles out of his 30lb braid and thumping away like a good snapper. after a few strong runs the leader parts from the jighead. Roydsy is kicking himself as the Loop knot has popped so he re-rigs without one for next drift, Meanwhile I'm wondering if my lighter outfit is going to cope...I've only got 20lb braid and 12lb leader on, We'll see how we go!
We reposition ahead of the reef for the next drift and right on cue Roydsy's 1oz TT & 7" nuke chook gets pounded again. more of the same with line being won and lost, eventually we get the better of a nice lumpy headed snapper of about 7kg. Woo Hoo! new PB for Roydsy.
Ok drift 3 and I'm waiting for my 7" lime colour jerk shad to sink to the reef, I've opted for only 1/2oz nitro jighead so I'm casting ahead of the drift, I thought a bit too far as when I felt a bump, I thought I'd hooked the bottom....then the bottom gets a bit cranky and start to peel line of my reel. I'm using effectively bass and bay squire gear and questioning my thinking with this choice as the fish seems to be immovable from the bottom. no big thumping snapper like runs just a lot of weight and seems to take back any line i get at will. after a few minutes of solid pump and wind, wait for it to stop again, then pump and wind and Roydsy slips the net under a nice jewie. I help lift the net in and the we realise what we've got here. probably not that huge for a jewfish but considering the last jew i caught was smaller then the lure i was using here i can safely say it will make a new PB for me too
In all the fun and games I didn't put it on the brag mat but safe to say it would be a around a 110 - 120cm and I'm having trouble holding it up with one hand. Roydsy's scales only go to 7kg and it pulls them down easily so I'll go out on a limb and estimate about 10-11kg. The fish was beat after the struggle it put up and not having tasted the delights of fresh jew, i decided a few kilos of fillets in my freezer would be a good thing. We had to cut her up to fit it in the ice box. I have to say the new combo performed great, the rod is an Egrell S4 (4-6kg), really light but has lots of power and the reel, a certate 2500R, the drag was super slick, just how the leader didn't pop is a wonder to me but after a few miracles I'll say the Kokoda flurocarbon leader has been a great leader material for me on few occasions where I thought I'd be done.
We made a few more passes over the reef for nil result, the fish that were holding on the leading edge had moved on and few scattered fish sitting on top of the peak were not chewing so we made a move to Nine mile......no more hits out there either so since the water and weather weren't super comfortable in the little polycraft we called it quits and headed for home. back on the ramp by 9am.
Cheers Roo.
Roydsy's Little squire
Roo Jew (bad hair day)
Roo Jew again (where's me hat)
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