How to catch a Jewfish.

[MudRiverDan]

Now there is a reason why you never see these tv fishing presenters catch a Jewfish, basically its because they are not hard enough.

Now the Mulloway fisherman is not into all this namby pamby stuff like catching snapper or trevally and baiting up and casting all the time in the luxury of an expensive water cratf ..NO.

The Mulloway fisho only takes about 5 baits and would be lucky to use all of them..
Darkness rain and misery is the Jew fishos freind.

The jew fisho only waits for one bite and will sit there all bloody night with the rod waiting for it.

While others are in bed or have a beer in front of the tv or looking at BOM with dismay, the Jew fisho is out on the end of some rockwall getting soaked in rain and blown by gale winds, casting 8 ball sinkers with Live fish on the end, braving crashing waves overhead.

As a matter of fact the most miserable weather and the latest of hours when no other soul dare venture out, is when the Jew fisho shines.

Bloodied battered and wind blown, when the rain beats down on your face like hail and the wind shakes your bones, the darkness engulfs everything and the sea unleashes its power onto the shore,.. when your hands are covered with smelly bait and salt and sand stings your eyes... then below a large fish moves with power and stealth towards your line.
only then and only then may you have the chance of landing a Jewie.

Dan

[mull dog]

Well.....did you catch one or not?

[tunaticer]

I quite enjoy the quietness of predawn flicking placcies from my boat or kayak for the jewies. Pretty easy going really, just a huge number of casts between each decent fish.
Have done the rockwall scene in my youth with big livies and lures.....it gets results when the weather is crap.....but when its fine I think the placcie chucking wins hands down, plus i get to eat hot donuts for brekkie and nice hot coffee on the boat whilst enjoying it.

[Scalem]

Yep, the measure of a fisho is not only on how prepared he is to brave the elements, but might also be how prepared he is to use different techniques to obtain results. One of the best locals down yamba way is Tye Porter who often flicks hard bodies for incredible results.

Scalem
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6rPbNZplCQk

[rabbi]

Love the crap weather for jewing, keeps the Ratbags away from the good spots.

I know of Tye and he is much like us. 10 years ago we could get cricket score catches of big jew on hardbodies and we often released as many as we could and always stayed within our bag limits.
My best for one day around lunchtime was 22 big jew on Hardbodies and they were between 10 and 22kg or thereabouts(at a guess) and there was no swell to speak of so nearly all of the fish were released unharmed as we could get down to water level and pull the hooks out.
You hear a lot about Tye but there are a lot of guys out there who are just as good at jewing but dont advertise the fact because with some of us its more of a personal challenge and sense of fulfilment.

Different scenario these days with some of the social media giving up to date blow by blow reports. Its giving the game away.

Back then it was just a matter of having a bit of jew sense and knowing where they sit and travel as the jew have ocean highways that they follow and it is a bit like shooting fish in a barrell, so to speak.
Get your timing right and there is a whole lot less casting between fish.

I received a report yesterday from a reliable source that there was 700kg of jew netted at Wardell with this latest fresh in the Richmond so the fishless casting may continue for some.
Still some good fish out there though.

Cheers, steve.

[tunaticer]

[QUOTE=rabbi;1458271
I received a report yesterday from a reliable source that there was 700kg of jew netted at Wardell with this latest fresh in the Richmond so the fishless casting may continue for some.
Cheers, steve.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, stumbled upon images of that haul last night online.....another one from Brisbane Waters as well with a big catch.

I often wonder if bringing in a tighter bag limit for Jew for both the rec and commercial sectors will come about?
I think the commercial sector could be limited to 20 fish / day for jew.
Qld rec bag and size limits are pretty good.

[nigelr]

Haha, MRD, that's what we all love so much about jewfishing!
Sure ain't just the recs listening/watching the 'social' and other media......money for jam when everything is 'in the public domain'.
Can't blame 'em, no law against it, and it's their livelyhood; I'd be doing the same.
Tunaticer, I believe there is a review of mulloway regs underway in NSW at the mo'.......to be honest it darn near makes me ill to think about what the new ones will be.

[rabbi]

Yeah, stumbled upon images of that haul last night online.....another one from Brisbane Waters as well with a big catch.

I often wonder if bringing in a tighter bag limit for Jew for both the rec and commercial sectors will come about?
I think the commercial sector could be limited to 20 fish / day for jew.
Qld rec bag and size limits are pretty good.

Yep yep. The commercial sector also needs to held accountable for declining jew stocks.
Cant recall myself ever killing 700kg of mulloway in one night, probly need counselling if i did

[MudRiverDan]

Well.....did you catch one or not?

I did just after the floods, was a 70cm on live mullet, which is hardly a mighty size Jewie.
So I did not bother posting it up, I still have not cracked the 100cm mark.

Actually the biggest Jewfish I have caught was 90cm on a 12lb plastics rod , 10lb leader and a very light jig with a Berkley worm on it.

Dan

[theoldlegend]

We called around and saw Tye at his place some years ago. He made up a couple of leaders for us that he uses for big jew. It was an eye opener! Totally different from our rigs. So you look and listen.

Then he showed us some huge preserved worms that he caught "somewhere" up at Shark Bay when everything is right. It's not called Ten Mile Beach for nothing.

I always look forward to his reports in the Bush n Beach magazine.


TOL

[MudRiverDan]

We called around and saw Tye at his place some years ago. He made up a couple of leaders for us that he uses for big jew. It was an eye opener! Totally different from our rigs. So you look and listen.

Then he showed us some huge preserved worms that he caught "somewhere" up at Shark Bay when everything is right. It's not called Ten Mile Beach for nothing.

I always look forward to his reports in the Bush n Beach magazine.


TOL

If he is the guy from Iluka I have read a few of his write ups and one thing he got me interested in was soft plastics off the beach, not sure if he ever did a write up but has mentioned it a few times as worth while.

So far I have only managed good size dart and small flathead, but it is surprising how well the fish hit them when they are there.

Dan

[MudRiverDan]

Love the crap weather for jewing, keeps the Ratbags away from the good spots.

I know of Tye and he is much like us. 10 years ago we could get cricket score catches of big jew on hardbodies and we often released as many as we could and always stayed within our bag limits.
My best for one day around lunchtime was 22 big jew on Hardbodies and they were between 10 and 22kg or thereabouts(at a guess) and there was no swell to speak of so nearly all of the fish were released unharmed as we could get down to water level and pull the hooks out.
You hear a lot about Tye but there are a lot of guys out there who are just as good at jewing but dont advertise the fact because with some of us its more of a personal challenge and sense of fulfilment.

Different scenario these days with some of the social media giving up to date blow by blow reports. Its giving the game away.

Back then it was just a matter of having a bit of jew sense and knowing where they sit and travel as the jew have ocean highways that they follow and it is a bit like shooting fish in a barrell, so to speak.
Get your timing right and there is a whole lot less casting between fish.

I received a report yesterday from a reliable source that there was 700kg of jew netted at Wardell with this latest fresh in the Richmond so the fishless casting may continue for some.
Still some good fish out there though.

Cheers, steve.

I caught a 70cm down at Kingscliff just after the floods, sea was rough, but fish where jumping as something was around chasing them and I am pretty sure I even seen a few surface bust-ups about 50 meters out from the river mouth.
Line was only in the water for a few minutes then bag, half a mullet, re rigged and threw it out, the fish belted it within a few minutes.

Now I could sit down there every night and day for the next month and never get a Jewfish, and would probably be better off using 4lb leader on my plastics rod for whiting than throwing out big live baits on 50lb braid.

Looking back now, I have been fishing for Mulloway seriously for a few years,this doe not include Brisbane River Jew as they tend to be just a product of good bait and right time and tide.
But off the beaches and rock walls were you have a real good chance of catching a 130cm like the one Blooey recently caught and like the one you got there, I have found that every-time I have gone out in the past I can see why I caught one and every other time I can see why I was never going to catch one.

So maybe a few secrets are not so bad because at the end of the day, your not just going to go out and bag a whopper because someone posts a photo of the location.

I know this may sound funny but honestly I do not hope for big fish, firstly I don't use a gaff so anything I catch I have to be able to get it out by hand, secondly I would not know what to do with 20kg of jew fillet, most would be given away.

But one big one would be nice.
If I go after Mulloway I have usually decided I am going to keep my catch, and so far I have found Mulloway between 70 (or 75 in qld) and 100cm to be the best table fare, just a great size fish.
Though of late there seems to be a lot under 70cm.

If I catch one fish between 75 and 100 that is more than enough fish for me.

But at the end of the day the story was a bit of a laugh, though a lot of it rings true.

It's funny how you stop thinking normally and when the rain is heavy the sea is rough and most don't bother, the mulloway fisherman is thinking "Hmmm.. might wet a line this arvo..""

Dan

[rabbi]

Yeah MRD,
The biggest problem is once you have been smacked up by a big jew and realise the challenge behind catching bigger fish, It kinda becomes addictive and you may fish for many other species but you will always come back to the big hit and headshakes of the jew.
I had them breaking hardbody lures recently and hooked a few but only landed 1 around the 125cm mark. You will not land every jew you hook as they put up quite a fight especially in rolling oxygen rich surf.
Im afraid Bream n whiting just dont do it for me . And if I can I like letting them go as much as catching them.

Years ago there was a mystery surrounding these larger fish such as Mulloway and Murray cod and the pursuit of these magnificent fish was held in great esteem by many and only a hand full of wise experienced fishos were up to the challenge of catching them.

When I was a kid growing up in Mylestom or North beach as we knew it then, I used to look in awe at the big jew being caught by the "old salts" of the town and jumped at every opportunity to go out with them in their old landrovers on the beach fishing at night.
It was like doing an apprenticeship in mulloway fishing.
I witnessed a 67 pound jewie being caught on the local beach one night and I always thought to myself how great it would be to be able to achieve catching a legendary fish of that calibre.
To some its just a fish but to me its much more than that.

I guess thats the reason I hate seeing these fish come to an undignified end in the back of a net.
Just a rant and my opinion on the subject.
Cheers, steve.

[BLOOEY]

rabbi, the story of you watching the old salts sounds very farmiliar to me. Although i diddn't (and still dont) live close the beach i spent all school holidays and occasionally more at the beach. Remember seeing an old bloke occasionally on the beach and one day in particular he was hooked up solid and following a big sucker along. A mammoth fight of which i had never seen the likes of before, his old alvey spinning backward and rod bucking under the strain. I dont know how big it was but it looked gigantic to me back then when it finally washed up and think thats probably where the obsession began for me. I would have given my lefty to do a jew fishing apprenticeship such as you did! Ben

[rabbi]

Yeah Blooey,
My family had a holiday house at Mylestom around the late 1960's and into the 1970's and it was rented out most of the time and although we lived out west at Inverell, we used to spend stints of a few months there every year and I used to go to the Raleigh school whilst there but the jew fishos always gave me an invite to come along, mostly friday n saturday nights was the go.

I have only lived at ballina since 2000 and came from a Murray cod on lures background and used a lot of cod techniques on the jew and it seemed to work ok.

It was pretty high tech back then.....
They would drive along the beach, find a likely gutter and sniff the air like an old bloodhound.
Interesting to watch as it was much akin to using a couple of green sticks to divine for water.

It was all bait fishing for the jew then and it was as you say a mammoth fight with their old wooden Alveys and there were glass rods but also the odd split cane rod thrown into the mix too so it wasnt exactly High tech in that department and losses were high but there would always be one or two landed and they were not small fish. but the old fishos had all the time in the world and a lot of patience so the fish would eventually tire out and come into the wash. No gaffs, put your hand under its gills and drag them up the beach.

To me it seemed like a monumental effort and until the fish or the fisherman won, the battle always had an uncertain outcome. Pretty cool actually, and with a worthy opponent.