pacemode

Hi Fishmania Thanks for your post - you are very right about something - the braid pulls apart - possibly as you say the salt degardes the bonding compunds and not the braid itself. The braid was fantastic when I first bought it - not loosing any fish - now after this morning I am going to pull out at least 20 meters and toss out - then top up with extra braid I have. What can you suggest is a good agent to put onto the braid after I have washed the salt water down? Is WD40 any sood - silicone based sprays? Chris - As I said I will be more than happy to invite you along to a squid and jew session. You have all the right gear - just need to learn a few little things. Shoot me an email and we can arrange a time. I have put many people onto their first jew and thats what its all about to me...

Hi All, Last night set out with my 6 year old in search of squid. I met KITT on my travels - really nice guy! Anyway Ay and I caught a total of 7 squid after trying 7 spots. Ay (my son) got a double hook up on some pearlers. Any by then it was close to midnight and I wantd to get home so I can fish this morning. Went to bed at 1.00AM and was kept awake all night from my pregnant wife. NOT a problem - woke up and had a blck coffee and a V drink and of I went. Low tide was at 7.07AM and I got to spot X at 6.45AM. Through out my 2 squid and waited. Right on 7.00AM I went to check my bait on one of the rods. I grabbed the rod and it just bent - ZZZZZZZ hmm nice size jew. Grabbed the rod and of it went. As it went I felt a pop. &$%*$* Brought the line in and the leader had popped of the braid. I check the braid pulling it at a few points and it kept popping. My other squid bait got SNAGGED - shite!~ Moral of the story - I have been lazy this winter and have not cleaned my line with fresh water. Noticed the braid had worn from salt... Check your line before you fish! Chris - hope you got something - me nil.

Hi Kit, Do not give up. The jew are in the harbour and are in numbers all year round. That is a myth that jew are bigger in winter. The difference between winter and summer is that the small jew are more prolific in summer - I guess cause the prawns are running. Move around - don't stick to one spot and reduce your fishing time to 2 hurs at the most - this will enable you to focus more and notice things that are going on around you. If you fish warfs, fish the ones that hold baitfish - this time of year you will find garfish or tailor swimming around. And do not cast far. PLUS do not follow what too many people say. You really have to go out and learn on your own. I fish differently to most and I produce. Other people I know also produce and their methods are different to mine. Jewfish are a type of fish that requires a lot of thinking to do initially - once you learn their patterns you will get them time and time again. I have been fishing for them for over 15 years and still learning heaps! Fishing is not about the capture - it is about the strugle to get the capture! Regards Jim

Hi I was fishing around gladesville area - but i must say that fish this size are very common this time of year around Parra river. They are though very shy when it coms to feeding as their metabolism slows down. A little tip to fishing for jew on low tide is try to locate an area in the river where you have a shallow bay entering into a drop or a deep hole - they tend to swim out of their holding spots when the tide slows down picking up whatever has been dumped in the hole. Hope that helps. But you have a small time frame to nail them. Jim

Hi Josh Fishing Parra river - . Jim

Hi All, Just got back from a quick session. I have fished this spot quite a few times in the past 3 years .... BUT i spoke to someone today and decided to change my technique. I usually fish the run up, but this time I wanted to fish the last of the run out and the dead low. PLUS I fished without any weight at all - land based. I started at 8.00 pm - through out 2 squid and waited ... right on dead low I got nailed and caught this nice 5kg jew. what was interesting though is that the bait would have been mid water - in 70 foot of water ... will be trying this again from now on. I also got another hit but it spat the bait. OH yeh, had a nice South Westerly smacking me in the face which made throwing out unweighted baits HARD !!!

Well done Wendy - nice blackies there.. Have the blackfish started to congregate near the warf of the fish coop yet. I go up this time every year for work and walk along the borad walk near the shops and always see some monster blackfish there in numbers lurking on the edge of the weed and sand. I have seen people fishing for them but they dont bite.

Nats I fished the beach last year and would fish for about 2-3 hours. Would always get a fish but never a big one (jew). I found it hard at the beginning then I began to read the beach. Gutters were not enough for me. I would take heaps of burley with me and find close holes or gutters with a nice bump in the water. Flat sees never produced especially when the westerlies blew. I would also look for turbulance in the water. Suddy water was always a good sign. I would also look at the direction of the water. I found that jew sit or move on the side of the hole where the water first spills into it. I have fished beside someone in a hole and he got nothing and I was hooking up because I was in the right spot where the current direction was on my side. Which beach do you fish at. I found the North Entrance beach to be excellent. I have a friend who fishes northern beaches and he does very well also. I found that if my bait did not last long in the water than I was right on the money - if my bait was not touched I would move on to find where the bream and tailor were. Only problem was I would hook onto sharks first - then the jew would come. Hope that helps - I am not a pro on the beach as I don't favour the sand much getting into my gear but I have spoken to some real expert beach fishermen who always produce vey big fish. - Bait tips - live mullet - big strips of squid. PS guys - thats not my dad - my dad would not know how to fish if it would have to save his life. I have spent many years fishing and learning on my own. I am stubborn and persevere and this has paid out. I have chased jew for 15 years now. I am not that good at other species as I don't target anything else. I would however love to learn how to catch whiting locally in numbers!

Parra river.

Just got home after another succesful mission. Got to spot X at 3pm to sit down and wait for the top of the tide which was at 5.30PM. Threw out some slabs of yellowtail just in case the jew would feed early. Did not eventuate as there was too much boat traffic on the water. In the meantime I was thawing out 12 month old squid that was in my freezer. D time was approaching - which is at least 1 hour before the top of the tide. Put squid on my rods and sat back chatting to old man Nick (pro bream fisho with BIG sinkers and 50 Y/OLD solid glass rods). At 5.00 PM the rod bends and screams. Jumped over the rocks let it run then sat the hooks in. Noticed at the same time that the SE winds dropped around the same time. After a short fight I landed this nice jew - don know how much it weighed as old man Nick claimed the prize to eat tonight. Estimated it at around 7-8 kg. I am happy as that is 3 good sized fish out of 4 trips in 1 month. Total fishing time at spot X this month is 5 hours. Good ratios.

Jew travel quite long distances so chances are that jew caught in the Hawkesbury have come from Parra river also. Jew in the river travel all the way up to Parramatta in search of hearing and mullet. I have spun up bream from Silverwater to Parramatta and I definately would not eat them. I have a test which works for me. I cut my finger a little and touch the gills and skin. If it stings heaps then I dont eat the fish. If i get no pain at all they are fine. I accidently discovered this after catching fish on the beach and the rivers and being accidently spiked by them. I found that certain fish in the parra river really stung. I also check the gills. if they are nice and red then all is fine - they are travelling fish. If the gills are dark then there is something wrong - usually resident fish. I have also seen bream with ulcers in the upper parra river - seems that the agent orange has gotten the better of them.

Hi All, Woke up this morning at 5.00AM and noticed the temperature warmer than most mornings. I then began to get a gut feel that I always get when targeting jew. All I wanted to do was go back to sleep as I had a doctors appointment at 9.00AM. I walked around the house for half an hour, then I checked the tide charts. Said high tide at 7.40 AM and it was not the higher of the high tides in the 24 hours. Hmmm - I knew what that meant. Packed 2 rods and half a squid into the car and of I drove down to the Parra river. I was there at 6.40 AM, just in time for a morning session. Through out 2 squid strips and waited. Within 10 minutes my rod bend and screams. Grabbed it - disengaded the baitrunner and I was on, if you could call it that. I thought at start it was a small 2 kg jew (common in the river) then I felt some heavier head shakes. Anyway within a minute I had a nice 7-8 kg jew on the rocks. Did not fight that well and noticed it was a female. I have always believed that the males go one thousand times harder. She did not croke at all thus it was a girl. Had to keep this one as I had a request for one from the parents. Bring on winter for XOS jew! Tight lines everyone - I am off to bed - bad back (fishermans back!)

Well done Steve, It is bloody awesome up there - nice fish to. Hows Botany ben for the spin fisho?

Hi there - you are talking about Greenwich I guess - good kingfish spot - but you must fish light (meaning not heavy sinker ) and not cast far - it does not matter where u fish there. Kings cruise past -- I fished there 2 times in the morning - did not pay attention to tide. Live cuttlefish are dynamite there. I dont catch jew there, does not have the day time structure i like, but yeh you get them at night there, as i know the yellowtail conggreagte there. Day or night i like to fish where there is bait, when fishing for for jew.

Hi Plankton I dont know about 50kg fish in the harbour - the largest I have seen is 43kg come out of the haweksbury and that fish was chocolate brown. But the harbour holds heaps of jew.. more than most would beleive. I have stories from too many people in past years. One problem I think is that a lot of the conventional methods that people use to catch jew are not on the money. I laugh at the full moon phrase and tend to get jew all thru the year. And on Sunday I finally broke the myth about thundestorms and jew. The lightning was very close to us in an aluminium boat (nutcases) and the jew was caught about 20 minutes after it passed through. Jew beleive it or not prefer to feed in shallow water and not in holes!!! They also travel in paths very close into structure looking for food and for cover against enemies such as sharks. Find these quick getaway spots and you will find heaps of fish. The harbour has plenty of structure and ample food (not only squid) - find the bait, fish on drop offs or shallow water, fish travel paths, fish points where eddies occur - fish smaller tides and you will maximise your chances of catching fish. The smaller fish feed in channels and holes. The larger ones are on the move finding the easiest vantage point to grab a feed. Hope that helps

Hey Anrew Snr - Bloody hate loosing squid jigs - that was a $30 loss that night - bloody hacking has swallowed a few in the past years. On Friday night I tried the harbour and lost another 2. $60 in 2 nights! Got fed up so I took a couple of pillies (cost 30 cents) down to the warf and caught livies. I have caught better fish on livies or fish baits but seem to feel better when I have squid in the water. PS - Not eating the fish - Gave one to my parents and the other was torpedoed back into the water. It is awesome seeing a jew swim away from you in daylight - they look so much smaller in the water. As I tell everyone - I don't eat fish unless it comes wrapped in white paper or newspaper and is heavily battered. IPLUS heaps of lemon and chips - I am just a sicko fisho ...

Top catch Varos,

Hi all, Just to let you know that fishing for jew during the day is very rewarding. Secret is BIG fresh baits and patience. PLUS local knowledge. 1) 3 weeks ago fished a live tailor landbased - scored a 6kg jew at 4.30 pm. 2) 2 weeks ago - fished live squid landbased - scored 3 kingfish just legal in the morning. (nohing special) 3) Yesterday - fished hearing head only - scored a nice 11kg jew landbased at 12.00 lunch time! 4) Today - fished soft plastics - scored nice estimated 8-10 kg jew on boat - straight after the storm at 2.00 pm. Before this I fished at nights and the biggest I got was 4 kg. (got heaps though) Moral to the story - don't be scared to fish during the day as the rewards are worth it. Just have to watch the bull sharks - they might take your fish as happened to me last year. PS - Does anyone have any idea at what has happened to squid? They have dissapeared. This time last year I was braining them in the Port Hacking.

Well done mate - thats a nice cathch of fish. Just wanted to say I got the same double hookup last weekend last week on 2 kings. Though dropped one of them lifting thm out of the water. Hook snapped. Nice to see fish are still in good numbers!

Just something to note about Jew.. They do travel and travel alot! You are more likely to get very ill from eating large jew from any location. They have high levels of mercury and if eaten regularly can cause problems to your health. I met a guy who got very ill, spent time in hospital and almost got brain damage from high levels of mercury consumed from eating large jew. At the end of the day it is up to an individual to what they believe. I even eat prawns from Parra river and have for a long time. I am still OK. Catch and release is also an option.

Dear All Just a quick note to let you all know that the jew are hot on the bite over the next few days, especially with the dirty water in the harbour. Just got back from Parra river (landbased) and bagged out on jew in 45 minutes. One of them hit the squid as soon as it hit the water. Packed up after 5 and left the fish biting. The fish are small ranging from 50 - 60 cm, but they are the size I prefer to eat (soapies)... They should be the same at Georges River around Como and Captain Cook Bridge. I have always liked dirty brown water. BIG bream are on the chew also. Fish light for both species with local squid strips (preferable). Watch out for the PIKE eels (fangs like razors) as they love this water also. Good luck everyone.

This is not the warf I am talking about - it is about 100 meters away from the warf. Chiswick Reserve "the park" I will check with council but these signs look very professional and someone has even concreted a pole into the ground.

Dear All, Just got back from a jew trip to Chiswick. Been a while since a fish. I am absolutely F&^%ing Pi$^& off. I noticed the council or some ars&^%ole has put up a sign "NO FISHING", "THIS PLACE IS BEING MONITORED BY POLICE"... I have been fishing there for over 12 years. Who the hell authorised this? I pay X dollars a year for a recreational fishing licence.Can fisheries take on the council. Can we do an online petition against this sort of action? I also heard that someone who lives in the area has been slashing the fishermens tyres. NICE... Possibly the wan%&^%er responsible for getting the signs put in place. He won't be a happy chap if someone finds out who it is. I was listening to 2KY on Saturday morning and an old fisho shared stories of old about Chiswick. How can we let anyone close of parks to fishing? It's a bloddy joke. Would love your input and support. Regards Jim

I disagree with what everyone says about Parramatta river. I catch jew all over the place including the Parra river. They are just as good to eat as the ones in the Port Hacking. Jew tend to travel quite alot. I have been eating them for 15 years now - no probs. Just got back from a 6 hour session spinnin for jew - nailed one at 9.5 pound. Plenty of jew around in Parra river - this week 3 trips have caught 4 fish. My mate caught 8 and other friends have been getting them also. Just have to be patient and try other spots. When I fish landbased I fish for 1 hour. When I fish in boat I spend more time as I move around through the day trying to locate them. We saw heaps but only managed 1 today - wrong tides.

Here is the photo - sorry took a while.