Matrix

Sweeeet Whats the deal...do YOU hunt jews or do JEWS hunt you

Heck Bash, talk about knowing ur hooks! I have enuff trouble descerning between a size 1/0 from a 2/0, let alone brand and model number

Onya J, thats a nice catch Just cant beat fushin weekdays

Yeah when I first found that pic I've wondered what kinda fish that hook is meant to catch Sharks perhaps?

Remember tho, a lot of the surface 'action' might be from the stonkingly big CARP that we saw in the smaller alcoves (is this the right word?). I saw huge swirls and got stupid excited, then saw the carp Also, on our first day there, we kept hearing splashes...once again thought it was a freshwater bust up but then realised they were just the turtles and water dragons bailing from the trees as we approached.

That would explain all the red marks on ur face then Andrew Doesnt explain the red marks on ur butt tho...that moon u did at St Clair was blinding and scarred my pupils forever. Any pics Chris? All these ppl having hooks in the face, geez, didnt know Fly Fishing was this hazardous! !

My pic is winning the OUCH stakes I reckon . It hurts just looking at it, and it isnt even my hand!

That looks painful for sure, but does it compare to THIS:

Cheers everyone I still look at the photos every night and can hardly believe it. Jewnut, you're not wrong, as Wakd will testify, it was friggin heavy but we'll never know. Thats the way it goes for catch a realease fishos I guess! I just hope the big fella goes on to make many many more little'uns or else my sacrifice will go for nought! I'm ready for the next time tho, I went and bought scales that go to 65lb so next time I will be working extra fast as soon as the fish is on board and try to find a way to weigh it!

Fantastic read and good pics too. Thanks Matt

You're not wrong! They're damn fun to catch and are SO underrated. They can really power it on I've caught a fair few in the past on SPs, always as a bycatch.

Cheers mate, but we really ought to hit the you know where spot we fished last time. I was there recently and got done by something decent cos it exitted left instead of right . And I can't take credit for the spot where I got my big'un from, and though its a really well known spot, it was Mr Bream(thanks mate!) that took me there. I've fished there many times b4 too, but only for bream. U got it partly right Trev, I used a 4inch BM Gday Dave, I think the general consensus is that u need to use a largish lure when targetting bigger fish( ie Bream v Jew). I know Jorg and others have caught a jew on small grubs and down to a sz 4 hook even, but in general I've been using 4 to 5 inch BMs and Jerk Shads in various colours. Current will determine the weight of jighead most suitable, just use something that will drop nice and straight (thats why I like the Gama Darter Head) instead of dropping like a tonne of bricks. Hook wise, I've been using 2/0 and 3/0, very big compared to what I normally use for bream, but very small when u see how cavernous a Jew's mouth is, even the small fellas! Thats abt it I guess, but remember! I'm only a newbie at all this, I'm dead sure guys like Swoffa and Jewhunter have multitudes of different ideas Oh boy, I'm dying with anticipation cos I would love to get into some nice Bass or Yellabelly or Cod, but the weather forecast doesnt look great

Cheers Jewel, I know that "weigh ur fish with a ruler" link and I hear its not particularly accurate. Understandable, cos I'm sure there are 115cm(1.15METRES sounds better! ) jews out there that would be even fatter or alternately, anorexic. And Jewhunter, 13-14kgs is ur guess? I'll take that! Gotta say tho, the fish sure felt much heavier ,might have been the fatigue. And yeah...bring on 20kgs please . After my first jew at 75cm/4.5kgs, I wanted to break 10kg and/or 1M, this fish broke both for me, so 20kg is the natural step up desired Joe, AndJEW has the runs on the board mate, I've only caught 3 so far (3 jews in 3 trips,none of which were full fishing days!how ridiculous is that!) That being said, I'm always down for a fish! Bring on the kings puhleeeese. Cheers Hazza

Thanks fellas And Rich, hows this, Jews last week, BASS next week

Aaargh sorry fellas I stuffed up on the pics. Will edit post with proper pics later tonight

Oh boy, how does one put into words, an experience that is for all intents and purposes, beyond description? For those who want to read our story, read on, for others, just skip down to the last pics Having recently caught my first jew last week, it really would have been too much to expect to be lucky enough to catch another, let alone a stonker upgrade and on bream gear. So the story begins with yet another team up with my regular fishing buddy Wakd, expert Photochopper, overall funny bugger and all round good guy (although it'd be nice if he layed off the baked beans) The fishing was actually pretty slow in the beginning, but the sounder was keeping us motivated with a constant stream of promising arcs moving across the screen. We were optimistic to say the least. The first hook up carried some weight, and up came a nice solid, fat headed flattie of 2.5kgs.Not that exciting but a new species best, yay! On a cast minutes later, I had my lure gliding down with the current heading straight back towards our Polycraft, one twitch of the rod and that was it, my hook latched onto something and instantly line was waving bye bye to my reel. The weight and strength was evident in the extreme bend on my rod. Boy I can recount minute by minute the feelings we went thru as the protracted fight extended to maybe 15 mins. We’d laugh every few minutes when I’d struggle against the weight of the fish, regain some line only to have it dive deep down again. With the current adding oomph to the runs the fish made, we were a long long way from where I hooked up when FINALLY I saw some trace exit the water. Eventually the fish became visible(no poling this suckah!) and crikey, it was a beautiful sight,and for two reasons. One, the sheer size of the thing, and two, I could see the eye of my jighead just BARELY peeping out of its mouth which means my 10lb Nitlon trace was not sawing away on the big fellas teeth. But there was no alleviating our anxiety as it was obvious that our already largish net wouldn’t cover the fish. Eventually Wakd slipped the net over the head, grabbed the tail with his right hand and proceeded to TRY to lift the fish in but couldn’t do it! It was funny hearing Wakd gasping and groaning thru the effort but he couldn’t lift the bugger! I had to reach over and grab the frame of the net and together we heaved the beast onto the boat. Even though my legs/knees were suffering from involuntary spasms, we were jumping up and down in sheer unadulterated ecstacy Had a bit of trouble rejewvinating the fish but we kept at it and it kicked off hard and dived straight back into the depths. I really really wanted a weight on the big fella, but there was just no way we could do it without hurting it, all I can say is that it was big all the way thru the body, it was fat and it was a bona fide 1.15m. Sorry the fish isnt 100% facing the camera but it was hard enuff getting the fish and me in the pic in close quarters. For those that are interested, fish was caught on 10lb Nitlon trace and 3-6kg rod

Thanks Ken, u read my mind, I was wondering what size the salmon were that managed to snap ur poor Struddie. Arent the replacement programs great for times like this

Yeah good stuff Chris Read reports weeks ago that kings caught in colder water (dont know if todays temps were high or low) fought like wet rags. How did urs fight? I noticed that u used a Gama Darter jighead, I used the same one to get my first jew Matt

Exciting day Ken! Bad luck with the rod, at least now u can buy another one How heavy were the salmon u managed to land?

Congrats Fellas!

Yeah JD, IC is definitely worth fishing atm. I hadnt fished there for ages, well havent done much shorebashing for ages, and it brought back all the good feelings for when I first started You dont really have to be ultra selective with casts either, just straight out, unless ur aiming for some structure wink wink. Hi Cameron, yeah it must have been ur son, either that or there's another TALL Rhys who's dad frequents fishing chat forums Bloody oath he's tall! I could see he felt bad when the fish slid away (damn thing had the audacity to swim away SLOWLY too) and then THAT in turn made me feel bad. All that was lost was a pic for this thread really, no biggie I really hope it'll be a good season too Martin

For a sec there I thought 5.5 KG was a typo...crikey thats a beast

Gday Trev, the report was partly for you mate , along with the rest of the IC posse. I used, and dont be shocked.....a 3inch BM Water looked a little mucky so I used the darker colours, started with Ginger Beer, then onto Pumpkinseed then finally a Bloodworm that got the treva. Was using all the leftover lures from boat fishing actually. I havent really used Hawgs for a while lately, dunno why but it hasnt been producing the goods. Good ol' still 3 and 2 inch BMs rule I'll be using the Realistix range soon when I get my hands on some tho...

Yes I know, no pics to spiff up this report. My bad.But I know some fishraiders often fish around IC and Le Montage so this report is for them The weather wasnt great, the wind was blowing (not too bad though) and there was intermittent light rain but its been such a long long time since I've been back to IC for some shorebashing. Gotta remember one's roots, see . SO park the car I did, and off I went to my favourite section. It took a couple of casts to get my lure where I wanted(damn wind!)and in came a low 20s bream. 2nd cast and in came a small flattie. Several casts later I was onto a nice fat flattie abt 40cm. By this time I had made friends with a nice guy, who was also fishing SPs. Had a bit of a chat and we both then moved to another fav section. He quickly scored a couple of baby bream and I promptly......got snagged. A quick shift once again abt 10 mins later and a change of lure colour (Bloodworm) lead to my lure getting whacked by a nice nice treva, easily the best one I've caught at IC. Has anyone noticed that these things are good value, fight wise? They really love to head shake, much like a good flattie actually. This fish was more than 45cm easy, but as is customary when I get a good fish at IC, I didnt have my landing net with me. My new mate tried to grab its tail but the darn blurter shook its way to freedom. No worries,as usual, I was gonna let it go anyway. Fishing urge satisfied, I then went home. So IC regulars...start pounding the fish are there atm.

Very nice Lance Bad luck on getting "bricked", question is, did you get ur lure back Matt