ballina river

[JEWIENEWIE]

The weather is crap but willing to put boat in river. Will there be a few jewies in the town reach with all this rain or should i stay dry and warm?
Jewienewie

[Bundy_Burp]

Sounds like its time to toss a coin

Bundy

[Steve_Monckton]

G'day jewienewie, The jew are running back down the river at this stage( whats left of them after the huge pro hauls up towards Woodburn) and you might be able to pick up one if yr lucky. I caught a 20kg fish above Ballina Tuesday arvo. just remember that running outboards will spook the fish so stealth is a key factor. The season is just about finished and the jew are making their sea run now and that will be about the end of them for a while, worth a try though. Cheers , steve.

[Smailesy]

go fishing and have a go

[Tony_N]

.....*snip* The season is just about finished and the jew are making their sea run now and that will be about the end of them for a while*snip*...........

Hey Steve - mate, what does"making their sea run" mean exactly? How long do they leave the river for. Are they going to spawn. Where do they go. When do they come back. The season is pretty much over for them outside in our area as well so they are going further than the local reefs.

So much to learn, so little time

Tony

[maxwellson]

trust the pros to do that, i understand that they can, what i dont understand is the fact they are still allowed to !!!!!??????????

[Steve_Monckton]

G'day tony, From what little knowledge I have gained of the jew It would appear, in my opinion, that the jew come into the river when the water temp gets down to a cooler temp. 18 degrees or so and they come into the river to spawn as the fish are full of roe and milt. The jew I have caught in deep water(450 feet) are a real purple/bronze colour and these are the spawning fish that enter the river system, while the river jew are silver/yellow. THe bronzeys have a really white flesh and clean looking with a purple glow while the resident river jew have an off white colour(almost dirty looking) but both are excellent eating. The start of warmer weather pushes the bronze jew back into cooler ,deeper water and normally the river jew are the type commonly caught with the onset of summer and into the summer months as they stay in the river system. The bronze deep water fish will school up in large numbers to spawn and are an easy target for the pro's and amateurs and will have distinct runs into the river at a certain moon phase each month until the warm water pushes them back out. The pro's know which moon phase they run on and also when they leave the river, hence a large quantity of jew are netted on their sea run which normally occurs early to mid september and then the bronzeys almost disappear until a good flood or cooler water returns. cheers,steve.

[maxwellson]

great info Rabbi.... thanks heaps


cheers Maxi

[Tony_N]

Yeah thanks Steve, very interesting stuff. I've got a lot more questions but maybe I'd better hang onto them until the next Ballina M&G

Tony

[ida]

gday steve i have caught some of my biggest fish from sept to dec .i find in the river the fish seem to bite on certain tides ? & with a bit of dirty water now on the right tide the big ones will go hard.il be wettn a line this week for sure.there has been some very nice fish caught in last 2 weeks. cheers ida

[Steve_Monckton]

G'day Ida, last year there were a few hanging around after the end of the season and these showed up when there was a lot of big swells and rough water. Christmas time a few jew show up as well. Jew will come into the river system at any time of the year but normally there has to be something to entice them in, such as big low weather patterns, schools of baitfish, dirty water etc. and generally they are harder to catch. But they do show up in large numbers during the colder weather, just ask anyone who dives close to the coast and they will tell you stories of large numbers of jew schooling up near reefs etc. But as I said before, in another chat section, Jew can still be caught in summer. Cheers ,steve.

[once_a_fortnight]

yeah im not from down your way but in september last year got six

[gunna]

Couple nice deep holes just above the ferry that should be ok. Otherwise a big live bait right in the middle of the two walls.

[Steve_Monckton]

I went out last night for the last of the runout tide. There were lots of mullet around, lots of moonlight and lots of jew fishermen and no one got a touch. Should have stayed at home with my old mate Austin Nichols. cheers, steve.

[ida]

hey rabbi i have found that when a low pressure system over us the fish wont play everytime !my stats i write down all point to that in the river just a habbit i have when i go jewn cheers ida