nzwarriors Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Hi All, Decided to give the mighty jewfish a crack on friday night. Got to the local spot, the conditions were good, very calm, was a bit late so was fishing about 2-3hours into the run out tide. Using fresh squid strip with a 3/0 hook and 20lb leader. As the night went on I finally got a solid run, from what I read so far, jewies play with there food so your meant to let them run a bit before strike. So when it started to run I was a bit hesitant to strike, after the second run I striked, but ended up losing the fish. When i got the bait back, the bait was still there no teeth marks just a bit scrunched up?. There was a another fellow fisherman there targeting jews also, his advice was that I should of striked hard first go when the fish went for the first run as it was very solid and woke everyone up. So now Im left gutted and confused, should I have striked straight away or should I have waited even longer before strike. Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkymalinky Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Sad to say nz that you'll probably end up with as many different opinions as you get replies I was in the same boat last year... trying to catch my first Mulloway and having some people say "let it run", others saying "wait until its second run" others saying "strike straight away". I have no idea what or whether there's a 'best' way but I went with what a number of genuinely good Jewfisherman told me which was to fish with the reel in gear and let the fish hook itself. I added circle hooks to the equation and while I've only been out chasing Mulloway twice since, I've landed 4 (only small) and not had a single 'run' with a dropped bait. My uneducated, inexperienced 'layman's' view is that Mulloway are a predatory fish competing with other Mulloway and predators for food. I'm sure I'll get shouted down for this but it doesn't seem likely that a hungry fish like that is going to delicately play around with its food before getting stuck into it. No matter which way you go you're bound to win some and lose some. I know from snapper fishing where I've had quite a bit more experience that when I gave up using the 'baitrunner' feature on my baitrunners I started catching a lot more of the fish that bit. I reckon letting them run just gave them an opportunity to detect something was wrong and drop the bait. Cheers, Slinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzwarriors Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 Hi Slinky, thanks for your advice, sorry to ask dumb qs, but when you say leave it in gear are you refering to dont loosen the drag or if the reel is a baitrunner dont use baitrunner feature. I also heard alot of good things about circle hooks that the fish will pretty much hook itself without striking? Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sniper Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 i usual strike half way on their second run i use baiatrunnerreels but as it starts to run iflip the bail arm over so they feel no reistance at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davemmm Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I have two rods out usually, a baitrunner and a penn. With the penn I have it in gear with the drag tight. The baitrunner obviously out of gear. I grab the Penn on the first sign and I let the baitrunner go twice. I have both landed and lost fish on both so this response is useless to you. The variety of opinions out there will all claim to be right but I think there is a bit of luck in each situation. Jews quite definitely "mouth" a bait but the question is if you strike are you pulling the bait out of their mouth or are you driving the hook home. As an aside I nodded off last night and awoke to find my baitrunner close to spooled. Upon reeling it in I landed the head only of a Jew that looked like it may have been around 50cm. God knows what took the rest of it. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tide'n'knots Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I reckon slinky is right, letting them play with the bait only alerts them to the fact that something is wrong. set your drag to the pressure you would normally fight the fish then back it off to about 3/4 tension ,sit the rod in the holder and when it goes off, pick the rod up and strike! Jews have very large mouths and the chances are if it has the bait it also has the hook. Once apon a time I would set the drag loose, wait for the fabled second run and sometimes it wouldnt come. You miss them SOMETIMES using my method, but that is few and far between. No method is perfect. If you think about bream fishing for instance - how many times has a bream taken your bait solidly and you have struck and come up empty and thought - how did I miss that one? fishing for jew or any fish for that matter can be the same, sometimes you just miss them. I think if you try my method you wont miss too many. Most people I know that catch jew have this train of thought these days, and I think that the idea of waiting for the second run is very old school. These days there are more people catching jew than there were say 30- 40years ago and methods, gear, and techniques have improved over the years. Keep it simple - once you have caught a couple you will wonder why you complicated everything! good luck. pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewhunter Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Smack 'em hard straight away mate. If you're on your rod you will see a bump before it runs. All that's needed id to lower the rod tip & when you come up tight hit it. If I'm using a VERY big bait I'll let them run for a bit. Strip baits I smack 'em. Cheers, Grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen801 Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Smack 'em hard straight away mate. If you're on your rod you will see a bump before it runs. All that's needed id to lower the rod tip & when you come up tight hit it. If I'm using a VERY big bait I'll let them run for a bit. Strip baits I smack 'em. Cheers, Grant. Yeah i agree with Grant. I use baitrunners for jews most of the time with baitrunner on but with a fair bit tension. Mainly because i set and forget and want the jew to hook itself before i get to the rod. Then if its not going off like a 30kg (in my dreams) i just turn the reel handle and bang i am on a lot of drag. If hes still running hard i give to em but if not in danger of a mooring like to let em tire themselves fighting a lot of drag on the first run. Mate if your on 60lb braid with heavy mono leader and you in the clear its only a matter of time. Lost most of my huge first hit and run mulloway through bad luck and getting over excited and making poor decisions. They might go for a halfhearted or full on run or two after that but they almost always in MH come up on their side in the end - totally stuffed. I used to pussy foot around but now i prefer to just give it to em early win or lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 ...........Jews quite definitely "mouth" a bait but the question is if you strike are you pulling the bait out of their mouth or are you driving the hook home.......... Dave That situation can often happen to fishermen just as you describe Dave.....I do everything I can to avoid the striking too early syndrome by leaving the rod alone and letting the set up set the hooks........ I agree with what Slinky has to say about getting more opinions than replies when handling a jewfish run and making sure of the hook up..........You'll find you'll only do it one way in the end and that is to use appropriate line for the species and tighten that drag right up and take no notice of the heavy bream like bites that you might get from a lone jewfish or a jewfish that has managed to find food away from the pack. The series of bites only happens occasionally but you get to recognise it by feeling a shudder thru the rod while the jewfish softens up certain types of hard boned fish baits before they gulp and inhale the bait and move off hooked up, not realising that they have taken up the lull in a fishing line until they start struggling against a rod and reel that's hardly giving them any leeway except for the angles between the rod tip and the hook and you would hardly call that situation as the fish having any chance to spit the bait or having any leverage advantage at all when you are doing it right and using appropriate gear for the species........... By having the drag set tight you are still allowing the biggest estuary fish to move the drag without breaking the line if you gear up not only for the maximum size of the species you are targetting, but for any other species that happens to come along and take your bait. That's when using a good sporty rod comes into it and having appropriate line strength when using bait is must......... However when using artificial baits you have to fish lighter and, if you happen to get hit by a big fish, you are on you own and you still have to handle the situation accordingly........For example I use 4lb mono when fishing for whiting and leave the spool open and strike as the line starts to pick up between the rod tip and the surface as you would with sps, but my drag has been set to handle the run of the biggest whiting and, whiting being a soft mouthed fish, I use just enough drag so as not to pull the hook. The only time I use loose drag is when using a large live bait as jewfish strike from under, swim off and turn the bait around for the head take........ If you strike on that run you its most likely that, what was going to be a good jewfish landed, was in reality a case of a long awaited jewfish taking a bait and missing the hooks. Cheers jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzwarriors Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 Hey guys, Many thanks for the replies. Just another quick one, do you guys still strike even when using circle hooks, or just wind the handle. Cheers NZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Hey guys, Many thanks for the replies. Just another quick one, do you guys still strike even when using circle hooks, or just wind the handle. Cheers NZ Boy or boy here we go again, one in ten hook up rate In my opinion a fisherman is better off fishing with no hook whatsover and just continually winding the handle rather than using circle hooks and mesmerizing himself and losing touch with the whole of mighty mulloway species Cheers jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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