Chaohuang

Hi guys, I am from Sydney and helplessly boatless, would love to go out and give a hand on the boat and even show you how to slow jig if you are interested. I have been fishing for more than 10 years and have really been digging into slow jigging for the last 5. Slow jigging is still very much new to Sydney and I would be glad to help spread it. Spent quite a lot on charters before, but have gained experience on how to slow jig in our local waters, from pigs and john dory from the shallow reefs to albacore and gemfish from the depths out wide, all can be caught with this method. Trips to spots deeper than 70m are of interest to me (the deeper the more exciting) and I only do lure fishing and have not touched real bait for a long long time. I am available most days of the week, preferably week days. More than willing to pay my share of fuel, drinks etc.

Yeah, hope the break holds till next week, let's see if the bigger barrels come in.

Wow, good stuff! Can I ask how deep you are fishing?

Around Helensburgh

Went for a land based session today down the South Coast, the spot was quite busy with around 7 other anglers. There were a few undersized trevally caught by the other anglers, while all I caught was a sergeant baker with slow jig. Then it came, the red tide gradually pushed in, the whole coast line turned a dark red. I packed and left at once. Any other fishos who have seen this lately? The pic doesn't really capture it well, but you can see the band of dark red in this pic as it gradually pushes in, this dark red band extends across the coast line for as far as I can see.

That's a solid session!

That is a longfin perch.

Thanks! Will do a report every time i go out.

Ah ok, well good to see the gemmies still around, sounds like you had a great day!

Well it seems there are quite a few around at the moment... how was browns today? Anything other than gemmies?

Truly is unpredictable...

Thanks guys!

Tagged along with a mate who was going out today and we went to 9 miles reef and 12 miles reef. The fishing is still quite slow as it has been the past couple of weeks, with nearly nothing on the sonar at 12 miles. We did get some action at 9 miles, where I managed to catch snapper, longfin perch, nannygai, rat kingfish, reef ocean perch, while the other jigger also caught longfin perch, nannygai, reef ocean perch. The same can not be said for the two mates that were using bait, they only got a few longfin perch, morwong and reef ocean perch. It seems that slow jigging is much more effective for targeting dories, nannygai and kingfish.

Ah... I see, it seems these squids are more aggressive than I had imagined!

Thanks guys, it was an interesting day.

SickFish, Luke and I headed out to the peak where it was very quite, not even squid could be found, I managed a John dory and sergeant baker on slow jig then we moved further out to 12 mile. Finding the fish was very hard with nothing really encouraging popping up on the sonar. We finally found some good signals and dropped down, managed to slow jig a small king that was just legal and chucked it back, and that was pretty much it. Later in the morning, we headed to a snapper point, but that place was quiet as well... I dropped an inchiku jig down and caught a pig, a first for me! Then the jackets appeared and shredded everything, at least I got one up as revenge, Luke also got a whopper chinaman leatherjacket and jigged a sergeant baker. We went back to the kingfish spot and dropped down. Not long after I see a large silver silhouette slide past me, I shout out "Wow, what was that?!", then the thing circled back and we saw it clearly, it was a good sized mako! Luke suddenly got in the zone and started preparing the rig while the others fed the shark to keep him around. Hooked, a whole sergeant baker head goes in the water and is swallowed by the mako. After some jumping and diving, the mako is brought up the boat by Luke. This is the first time I have seen a mako and also the first time I have heard that they are good eating! It's a big animal, what a sight! Anyways, I took the opportunity for a quick photo with this beast. On the way back in the shallower reefs, SickFish fished a decent morwong with pilchards while my Madai jig got shredded my more jackets. All in all, slow fishing out there lately, other boats were also struggling to find fish. I guess it's that awkward time of year again. Anyways, a huge thanks to SickFish and Luke for taking me out, had an awesome day!

Nice flatty, good fun!

Haha, seals... I have a problem with dolphins, every time, every freakin' time! Lol!

Nice! You mean colt sniper jig? How many hooks on your jig?

No worries! It might be a bit short for rock shore fishing, but it depends on where you are fishing.

Thanks Kooks, I am no expert on shore slow, so this is just from what I know... Since shore slow mainly targets bottom species, it would be ideal if you start off by fishing a sandy bottom, rocky or weedy bottom and you are looking to lose a lot of expensive jigs. As for depth, I tend to like the deeper places, but shallow areas fish just as well at certain times. Use slimmer, heavier jigs for the deeper areas and vice versa. The technique is simple, cast out and watch your line, crank it up a bit as soon as you hit bottom. To do a proper shore slow retrieve, imagine you are slow jigging from a boat, but horizontally. Stick your rod up high and do one pitch one jerk. The tempo of your jerk is very important, too fast and your jig will rise all the way to the surface, too slow and you will be dragging your jig along the bottom. If you are targeting bottom species, you want the pace just fast enough to keep the jig darting and fluttering at the bottom third of the water column. It takes quite a bit of trial of error until you can get a good feel of where your jig is at any given moment. I must add that the rod is very important, you want something that is lightweight, with a relatively soft tip to actually bounce the jig. Shore slow allows the jigger to target more species than traditional shore jigging, and even squid apparently. Hope this helps! Check this video out:

The most crowded ledge in the Eastern suburbs XP

This type of jig is called a "casting slow jig", they should be available at big fishing shops.

Thanks, well I can't take credit for coming up with this idea, haha! I am just sharing with you this technique that is not as well known...

Oh wow, would love to get bass off my list...