Bloo62 Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 (edited) Headed out of Akuna Bay at 7.00 in a huge fog - actually got lost cause we took a wrong turn into one of the little bays - with the brother in law and 4 kids between us for a not so serious fish yesterday. Pulled up off Palm Beach and drifted along dropping pillies and prawns down for a bottom bash. The oligatory horde of 28 cm snapper and small flathead were sent back to their brothers before the leather jackets arrived in their hordes. Not big, but plenty of them - often double hook ups! It got to the stage that we were dropping 10m down and being hit straight away. Total in the boat - 36. No pictures because before we got back to the camera at home the kids had skinned and cleaned them - bonus! One good thing about jackets is the kids can clean them and have a lot of fun while doing it. They may be a pest, but marinated in garlic, lemon and soy and then thrown on the bbq, there aren't many better eating fish around. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to avoid losing tackle? I even tried a flurocarbon dropper, hoping that it would be harder to see in the water. I thought this was working as all the other lines were being bitten off, but then I lost 2 so that obviously doesn't work..... damm pests...... Edited July 5, 2006 by Bloosgottaboat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingpig Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Try not to touch your line. Pick up your rig by the sinker and hook. They work on smell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo62 Posted July 5, 2006 Author Share Posted July 5, 2006 King pig. Are you kidding me? By smell? OK I will try not to touch, but I giuess it would be difficult to do so. CFD - yes it was fun, although I was geared a bit heavy as I was hoping for some of those elusive winter reddies. Also spent too much time re-rigging!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 well done, looks like you had some fun, atleast you got some nice fish, been hearing plenty of reports with zero fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shark Bait Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 I've caught leather jackets with 14 lb green fireline & running sinker down to a small black swivell & 500 mm of 60lb leader & 2/0 circke hook. Shortened the leader as it got chewed up. The circle hook hooked them in the corner of the mouth & kept the leader away from their teeth. Didn't loose any gear. I started out drifting for flathead & upped the size of the leader when my mates line got bitten off. I would have used a smaller hook but the circle 2/0 worked a treat & caught some flathead as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger_shark Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Does anyone have any suggestions on how to avoid losing tackle? I even tried a flurocarbon dropper, hoping that it would be harder to see in the water. I thought this was working as all the other lines were being bitten off, but then I lost 2 so that obviously doesn't work..... damm pests...... Long shank hooks work a treat with leatheries..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Does anyone have any suggestions on how to avoid losing tackle? I even tried a flurocarbon dropper, hoping that it would be harder to see in the water. I thought this was working as all the other lines were being bitten off, but then I lost 2 so that obviously doesn't work..... damm pests...... I tend to find they will hit any thing that is shiney (swivels) or has a remote resemblence to food , ie sinkers. Have had good sucess with double black traces. They come in a packet , approx 8" / 10" long with a black swivel at one end & a snap swivel at the other. Tie your line to the swivel , at the snap end ,connect a sinker , I use the bomb type with a swivel fitted to the top , easy to add or change. Also fit the swivel of the second trace. On the bottom of the second trace fit a hook to the snap swivel Hope this helps Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Tom Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Last weekend I used 8lb braid and a wire trace, no problems with Leather jackets! Meanwhile, my mate tried at 60lb mono trace and they bit off the trace and main line. He spent most of the time rigging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy C Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 I concur with tiger shark and Geoff - try a long shank hook if you've got one in the boat. I often pre-tie a couple of short wire traces about 20cm and store them in little satchel bags you can get from the tobbaconist. Pretty handy way to store ready made rigs without having to tie knots in the heat of the moment. If you have the wire any old hook normally works and I've never been bitten off. I think Leathers would have to be the species that LEAST care about bait presentation so don't worry about the appearance of the wire. Fishing near the hot water outlet in Botany Bay the other week we had a good school of trevs and bream below the boat in the trail when this giant loner (I'd say around 50cm) came in and started gorging on the larger pieces of berley. At first we shat ourselves thinking it was a solid reddie because of its light colouration but its behaviour was a little bold for a snapper (have people seen snapper feeding within 3 metres of the transom? Would be curious to find out...). It took dead set around a dozen baits to hook him, finally, by jigging the last bait to sort of jag him in the side of the mouth, as if I left the bait stationary he'd just slip it off the hook with ease. This monster jacket was light grey all over, different to any we'd ever seen. Anyone know of a good site for fish identification? This is a good site BTW. Nice to see some fishos sharing a bit of info to help each other out. Fish on, Jimmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 This monster jacket was light grey all over, different to any we'd ever seen. Anyone know of a good site for fish identification? Mate whack it in the fishing chat section, someone will identify it for sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mottyman Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Hey Jimmy, My mate Geoff (posted above) and I find the jackets outside regularly (a little toooooo regularly at times ) and we've got those grey ones before as well. When I get home I'll drag out a pic of one and whack it up as a reference. Probably the same type I'd say and I think they're all "Chinaman Jackets". They come in a range of colours. The Chinamen jackets are great on the plate - "Dont-Shoot-Da-Chinaman" mate!! Cheers David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy C Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Hahaha yeah mate. I'll take your word for it that its a chinaman as I've seen chinamen in a couple of other colours.. Amazing colour schemes at times - they certainly are pretty, or well some might say ugly I s'pose! They are good to eat aren't they... My humble trick when we hit a patch of small pest size ones is to keep a dozen or so and cook them on the BBQ with some olive oil, lemon and fresh dried oregano and substitute them for chicken wings!!! Go down good with a few while your watching the footy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mottyman Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Hi again guys, Here's that pic of the Jacket I mentioned. Wasn't "scaley", just had "normal" leatherjacket skin. You'll notice from the pic how skinny he was. There were millions of them out there that day and they were eating the ocean clean I reckon. It had been a while since this one got his share I think... The little ones I call "butter fish" and they are sensational in a little bit of garlic butter on the bbq. I don't feel guily taking a good feed of the smaller ones when they're so thick. Cheers David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mottyman Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 (edited) Here's another one we got... bit darker than the first. Was about this time last year. Edited July 6, 2006 by mottyman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo62 Posted July 6, 2006 Author Share Posted July 6, 2006 Well thanks fellas. Will try a few of the tips. I was using a paternoster rig with sinker at the bottom and 2 long shank hooks, they were biting off between the hooks or even above the leader on the main - 30lb - main line. I too use pre rigged lines ready to clip on and use black swivels/clips. I guess next time I might try the wire trace at the first sign of jackets. They are a pest, but damm nice on the bbq. Bloo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy C Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 I agree with you CFD. Nothing wrong with a nice feed of jackets. Around this time of year they can be a saviour when you have a bad day targeting other species. I just saw that nice mowie you caught down south. Great stuff. My mate has a boat called "Mr Mowie" (he's obsessed with em) - he fishes that same area for them pretty regularly and does fairly well. David, you're right on the money with that first shot (cheers for posting it up). Thats the colouration, except the one we got had even less of the darker splotchy patterns. Looks like a bit of a gothic version with those black lips and shadow under the eye... Who knows what goes on under the sea! Interesting - the one we got was skinny as anything as well. I thought it might have been a bit on the sick, or maybe old, side as it felt particularly slim in the body and put up less than a whimper on the way into the boat. Same size as yours. I class that as a pretty good size, not sure if you have been getting any bigger... Cheers guys, Jimmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mottyman Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Hi Jimmy, No mate, that's the biggest jacket I've ever caught. I've heard of them over 60cm and a couple of kilos though, CFD has got them that big I think. Cheers, David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now