Middle Harbour

[zen801]

Hi all,

Went out for the high tide in the afternoon.

I tried a couple of new spots today. General action was dead but the jewies bite was good.

Two hours before high tide i got hit hard on a squid strip and this fish took off on probably the best run i have ever had. It was shaking its head and powerfully taking line. Mayhem broke out on the boat as we brought in other lines and tried to get the boat free from our mooring. It run deep the wrong way and wrapped me around a buoy rope deep down at least 20m. Tried for about 10 mins to get it free but eventually the 40lb mono gave way.

I was crushed.

Moved over to another spot and started getting good hits. Pulled up a 65cm jewie. Compared to the lost fish this thing was a baby. My mate got another one to the boat and we dropped it before getting it in the net.

Again i pulled up another blue swimmer crab, not as big as the one the other day but a welcome addition to the catch.

High tide came and the fish bite stopped. It was an absolutely beautiful calm arvo session.

All bites were on big strips of a frozen southern calamari.

It paid today to try a few new spots. The jewies are still there and some big ones are in the mix.

Cheers

Edited May 30, 2008 by zenman

[inhlanzi]

hey Zenman

Sorry to hear about the lost fish just means you're getting closer to the big one

Did it run with the current or against it?

I got some good advice a few years back that if you are after the big (20+KG) jewies use big baits and don't go under 80lb leader and mainline braid. Braid lasts longer and has less chance of picking up nicks and dings. Its kind of like insurance if the big one comes along.

cheers

inhlanzi

[zen801]

Hi Inhlanzi,

It ran with the pretty slack current but it ran for structure. About 50m away was a marina.

I had 60lb braid and an inadequate 40lb mono leader.

When i pulled in my line after losing the fish i noted that i had pulled the line at the hook. The mono was also extremely damaged from the buoy rope.

In the end i had tried to just pull him up as i had no choice after 10mins of trying. He had wrapped himself around the rope at the mono line.

Also he took the overhead that has a too slow retrieve rate. I might have been in with a chance if he had taken the baitrunner.

Live and learn, in between a cry, eventually success.

The power of the fish was awesome.

It was like the big muther came thru first then a short time later the schoolies came on and they were biting pretty freely.

Cheers.

[humesy]

Bad luck Mike,

Your 60lb braid sounds like the goods but as the other Mike said, beef up the leader. You also need a rod with enough power to take advantage of your heavy braid, especially when he bolts for structure. I know it is expensive but it is worth it to slowly upgrade all your gear so you can run a setup of baitrunners and good 10-15kg sticks like live fibres or texaliums. You'll kill it on the knigies too come summer time with a spread like this. Then comes the rod holders.... the list goes on. Tough when you've got hungry mouths to feed at home but you can fish with a lot more confidence as you play the waiting game. Waiting, waiting, .... You know how it goes.

[marcel haber]

Hi all,

Went out for the high tide in the afternoon.

I tried a couple of new spots today. General action was dead but the jewies bite was good.

Two hours before high tide i got hit hard on a squid strip and this fish took off on probably the best run i have ever had. It was shaking its head and powerfully taking line. Mayhem broke out on the boat as we brought in other lines and tried to get the boat free from our mooring. It run deep the wrong way and wrapped me around a buoy rope deep down at least 20m. Tried for about 10 mins to get it free but eventually the 40lb mono gave way.

I was crushed.

Moved over to another spot and started getting good hits. Pulled up a 65cm jewie. Compared to the lost fish this thing was a baby. My mate got another one to the boat and we dropped it before getting it in the net.

Again i pulled up another blue swimmer crab, not as big as the one the other day but a welcome addition to the catch.

High tide came and the fish bite stopped. It was an absolutely beautiful calm arvo session.

All bites were on big strips of a frozen southern calamari.

It paid today to try a few new spots. The jewies are still there and some big ones are in the mix.

Cheers

Great session there Mike,

Pity you coulnt land or even get a look at the beast.

Its funny how you could be sitting there for an our or two with rods out for nothing and then all of a sudden

the fish come on when you least expect it or are just about to give up.

Thats the beauty of fishing I guess.

Im looking at doing a Narrabeen session in two weeks on the Saturday afternoon the high is around 5.30pm and then running out till around midnight (beach Session) youre welcome to meet us there.

Please let the jewie gods look down on us and help us both land that beast soon.

Twin 1

Marcel.

[roosterman]

well done mike on finding em especially that bigger bruiser and a pitty to loose it in that way....

ive been there (very close to that spot too) and its painfull when theres not much you can do with so many hazards around.. better luck next time... im in the process of upgrading my leaders from 60 to 80 and have a very special weapon being put together in the next week or so for big baits an hopefully bigger fishies ... they def need to be dictated to very forcefully in those situations i think and in saying that i bet i get hit on my lighter gear while "Excalibur" sits like its namesake waiting for something worthy to come along ....

better luck next time..

cheers...steve........

[King slayer]

G'day Zenman,

what a thumper that one you lost! Don't worry mate, your leagues ahead of many others, myself in the mix who has trouble finding them at all. But we live, we learn, like you said. By the way that bit of advice you shot me a while back was a key player in my first Jewie the other week so big THANKS.

Tomorow is our day to shine, and some new down riggers to try out too. If your on the water look out for th two guys scratching their heads and staring at the back of the tinny

[jewgaffer]

Hi Mikes, Andrew, Marcel, Dave, Steve. I think, because of the size possibilities of jewfish and in order to have good control over the fish and hold the fish up and away from structure etc, you just work your way into using 80lb braid line over the old forty or fifty lbs mono which is more suitable than braid for rock fishing. You are inclined to balance the braid up with 80lb leader as Inhlanzi has found. Up in Ballina the boys I fish with buy 100lb ordinary Jervis Walker mono for their jew leader (feels and acts like the worst possible line for leader ever I reckon). They buy it mainly because of the cheap price of $7.00 for 125 metres, compared with good mono line designed as leader. It's a thick mono and one which you have to really stretch by hand to straighten out the coils before you can even tie a hook with it. I reckon it's a shocking leader but it catches jewfish all the same, and as a few of you know once I get a jew run or even an eel on the tightened up drag I set, I generally always hook up. When they use wire trace and bull mullet bait when the estuary bull sharks are on in Ballina, they still hook up jewfish using the wire.

I've just dropped down to 60lb Jingkhai. I really don't know why I dropped down, maybe it's only a confidence thing or something to do with looking for any improvement after my not getting any of the big jewfish so far this season

Cheers

jewgaffer

Edited May 31, 2008 by jewgaffer