Reel in gear or not?-JEW

[gotherat]

I can see that a few on the site have mulloway fever, as i have had these last 10 months.
My question is do fish for jew in gear or do you let them run before setting the hook?
I have had success both ways, so im not too sure which way is more effective.

I personally when fishing live baits let them run for a few seconds but when fishing dead baits i fish in gear.

I noticed that in the debated GJ's DVD they fish with reels in gear and on high drag settings.

PS; Do you think the size of the jew affects which method is suitable?

Cheers

[SeaHunt]

I have always heard that you are supposed to let them run with it for a few metres first.. But then I have never caught a big one so what do I know.

[bidkev]

I'm of the strong belief that Jew are "suckers", that is they suck in water thereby sucking the feed in with it. If you watch large mouthed fish such as cod or groupers in an aquarium you would see that they frequently spit the feed back out until it enters therir mouths in a manageable position. I personally believe that attempting to set the hook to early may have you striking at a time when the bait is on it's way back out of the mouth again. I always wait for a run but that said, I haven't landed one yet. OTOH, neither have I missed one on the strike. I lose most my "biggies" via break offs. I fished this way for Atlantic Cod back in the UK and invariably outfished most my mates who believed in striking at the first pull of the rod tip.

Just my 2 bobs worth, others have their own ideas on this.

cheers

kev

[mackmauler]

just mo, for all fish, out of gear gives you more control, the ones ive caught have bumped around with the bait for a while, if you can get a fish to turn the hookup seems to be far easier, that goes for all fish.

[Tony_N]

mm

Do you mean "out of gear" or just on the first click of your drag. I am always a bit wary of birdsnesting if the reel is in freespool. First click on my TLD25 and on the Charter Special seems to work a treat for me.

FWIW

Tony

[mackmauler]

Tony, yes out of gear, norm ill start in gear and when the bait is twitchy ill freespool so there is always some control...each to their own i guess. for fast strikers like dolphinfish ill norm feed line by hand with the ratchet on.

[bidkev]

Tony, yes out of gear, norm ill start in gear and when the bait is twitchy ill freespool so there is always some control...each to their own i guess. for fast strikers like dolphinfish ill norm feed line by hand with the ratchet on.

Leave mine with the ratchet on but in gear with the drag set not *too* slack. Thataways it gives 'em a chance to run without the risk of over-runs.

cheers

kev

[Black_Rat]

gotherat
??????????????
Rig mmmmmmmmmmmmm no choice !!!!!!!!!

Damien.

[Tony_N]

Tony, yes out of gear, norm ill start in gear and when the bait is twitchy ill freespool so there is always some control...each to their own i guess. for fast strikers like dolphinfish ill norm feed line by hand with the ratchet on.

Thanks for that. Those are a very informative few lines and I will use what I can from them. That is more how I used to fish the estuary before I started going outside a few years ago.

These days, fishing 2 and sometimes 3 rods at a time there is less opportunity to be subtle with each unit. This time of the year mostly fishing for snapper down here and have a bottom bouncer a floater and a jig on the go. bb picks up the occasional jewfish usually by itself.

[Black_Rat]

gotherat
??????????????
Rig mmmmmmmmmmmmm no choice !!!!!!!!!

Damien.

What the ???????????

Too many Rats last night of to the Boat Show

[straddie]

Damn I always seem to be the odd man out in these threads

On the beach or in the bay I give them full drag from the get go. Works for me, but have read a lot of "don't do this articles" that tell me I have been catching fish the wrong way for years.

Maybe if you try both and see what works best for your style of fishing and the gear you are using, you will know for sure.