A Month Of Mulloway Madness - Part 1

[ASJ]

It all started on the 13th of June. An unlucky number for some, but for me, a date worth remembering. My arms were twitching from the cravings of an addiction that could only be satisfied with the feeling of a rod in one hand and a reel in the other. It was the begining of winter now, and so I headed out after putting on my winter fishing gear (6 tops and 4 pairs of pants), in anticipation of the cold.

My chosen fishing location for that day was The Entrance beach. The swell was a good 1.5 to 2.5 meters and comming from the south east. The wind too, was a good 5 to 10 knots from the north west. Perfect conditions in my opinion for a beach that faces the south east. I arrived just after sunset to find that a few people were already fishing. I spotted a decent area to fish in and settled down to the left of a person fishing with a float. It was the first time I had seen a person fishing a float on a beach and I shrugged the point off without a second thought. But little did I know at the time, that that float would be perhaps the most significant part of the trip.

Thirty minutes had passed with litttle to no action around the beach. All the while I was sitting watching the hypnotic bob of the light stick on the float of the guy to the left, as it slowly drifted to the right and out towards the ocean after each cast. By now it was 7pm and the guy subsequently retrieved his line, packed and left. I looked around the beach and didn't see anyone else left. Now I was on my own. Another thirty minutes passed, it was 7.30, and I pondered whether this was going to be another of those dud nights that inevitably comes with jewie fishing. Either the fish were going to be there or not. I got up and had a look at my line. It had moved off towards the left. It was at that moment that something clicked in my head. I remembered that the dude that was to my left had a float that drifted to the right, and my line was drifting towards the left... It only just struck me then, that right between us had been a point where the gutters flushed out. A rip perhaps. This had to be a place were a jewfish would likey wait in ambush to feed on anything that flowed out with the water. I roughly estimated where this rip would be and cast straight out. I set my rod in the holder and stood there watching the line. It was deadly still. Satisfied with where I had placed my bait, I sat down.

Only a couple of minutes passed, and in a flash of lighting that was the glow stick on the end of my rod aiming for the ground, I was on. I sprinted to the rod and set the hook. I adjusted the drag and watched as the reel screamed and spun at high speed. For sure this was a jewie I thought. The high speed at which this fish was going on its first run coupled with the huge jerks of its head was a tell tale sign. A continuous pump and wind tactic ensured that the fish had to work harder in its runs due to the changing momentum generated by the increase and decrease of drag pressure from the rising and dipping of the rod.

Ten minutes of the fight passed and from the angle in the line, I could see that the fish was close. I dared not force it in. I patiently followed its movement as it went up the beach. The best chance at landing a fish on a beach is to wait for a wave to push it up and beach it. Finally the moment came and I was able to gill and drag one of the few species of fish that are worth their weight in gold. Or should I say silver? Because that was what it was. There lay before me a beautiful specimen of the elusive mulloway with its shiny coat of silver armour, and a new personal best.

I now faced a dilemma. Within the first one and a half hours of fishing I had caught what I came out for. I had to supress the urge of racing home with my prize to measure and weigh, and fish on through the night in the cold to potentially catch something better, worse, or nothing. Of course staying on through the night made clear sense in the end. After all, I had driven 2 hours for an overnight fish and to end the trip so soon would be a waste of a long drive.

The rest of the night saw lots of action. For the next few hours to high tide salmon were on the bite. Three salmon were caught and thrown back. I decided to move to a different spot on the beach for the run out tide. Having found another gutter, two more jewfish were caught and released. These I estimated to be about 2 to 3 kilos. Towards day break a stingray was caught and thrown back.

With the sun above the horizon, I decided to packup and head home. On the way home I was excited to have caught an awesome fish but also disappointed that the climax of the trip was near the start and not the end. Much like this part of the story. HAHA.

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3

The stats:

12.6 kg

112 cm

[Brooker435]

It all started on the 13th of June. An unlucky number for some, but for me, a date worth remembering. My arms were twitching from the cravings of an addiction that could only be satisfied with the feeling of a rod in one hand and a reel in the other. It was the begining of winter now, and so I headed out after putting on my winter fishing gear (6 tops and 4 pairs of pants), in anticipation of the cold.

My chosen fishing location for that day was The Entrance beach. The swell was a good 1.5 to 2.5 meters and comming from the south east. The wind too, was a good 5 to 10 knots from the north west. Perfect conditions in my opinion for a beach that faces the south east. I arrived just after sunset to find that a few people were already fishing. I spotted a decent area to fish in and settled down to the left of a person fishing with a float. It was the first time I had seen a person fishing a float on a beach and I shrugged the point off without a second thought. But little did I know at the time, that that float would be perhaps the most significant part of the trip.

Thirty minutes had passed with litttle to no action around the beach. All the while I was sitting watching the hypnotic bob of the light stick on the float of the guy to the left, as it slowly drifted to the right and out towards the ocean after each cast. By now it was 7pm and the guy subsequently retrieved his line, packed and left. I looked around the beach and didn't see anyone else left. Now I was on my own. Another thirty minutes passed, it was 7.30, and I pondered whether this was going to be another of those dud nights that inevitably comes with jewie fishing. Either the fish were going to be there or not. I got up and had a look at my line. It had moved off towards the left. It was at that moment that something clicked in my head. I remembered that the dude that was to my left had a float that drifted to the right, and my line was drifting towards the left... It only just struck me then, that right between us had been a point where the gutters flushed out. A rip perhaps. This had to be a place were a jewfish would likey wait in ambush to feed on anything that flowed out with the water. I roughly estimated where this rip would be and cast straight out. I set my rod in the holder and stood there watching the line. It was deadly still. Satisfied with where I had placed my bait, I sat down.

Only a couple of minutes passed, and in a flash of lighting that was the glow stick on the end of my rod aiming for the ground, I was on. I sprinted to the rod and set the hook. I adjusted the drag and watched as the reel screamed and spun at high speed. For sure this was a jewie I thought. The high speed at which this fish was going on its first run coupled with the huge jerks of its head was a tell tale sign. A continuous pump and wind tactic ensured that the fish had to work harder in its runs due to the changing momentum generated by the increase and decrease of drag pressure from the rising and dipping of the rod.

Ten minutes of the fight passed and from the angle in the line, I could see that the fish was close. I dared not force it in. I patiently followed its movement as it went up the beach. The best chance at landing a fish on a beach is to wait for a wave to push it up and beach it. Finally the moment came and I was able to gill and drag one of the few species of fish that are worth their weight in gold. Or should I say silver? Because that was what it was. There lay before me a beautiful specimen of the elusive mulloway with its shiny coat of silver armour, and a new personal best.

I now faced a dilemma. Within the first one and a half hours of fishing I had caught what I came out for. I had to supress the urge of racing home with my prize to measure and weigh, and fish on through the night in the cold to potentially catch something better, worse, or nothing. Of course staying on through the night made clear sense in the end. After all, I had driven 2 hours for an overnight fish and to end the trip so soon would be a waste of a long drive.

The rest of the night saw lots of action. For the next few hours to high tide salmon were on the bite. Three salmon were caught and thrown back. I decided to move to a different spot on the beach for the run out tide. Having found another gutter, two more jewfish were caught and released. These I estimated to be about 2 to 3 kilos. Towards day break a stingray was caught and thrown back.

With the sun above the horizon, I decided to packup and head home. On the way home I was excited to have caught an awesome fish but also disappointed that the climax of the trip was near the start and not the end. Much like this part of the story. HAHA.

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3

The stats:

12.6 kg

112 cm

Well Done On the Beach Jewie he is a beauty!!!!

I am only new to the Beach Fishing Scene and I hope to post up something like that some day,

once again Well Done!!!!!

Beginner,

[leatherjacket]

Hi mate,

Congrats on a fantastic fish! Must of been a bit cool on the beach this time of the year.

Was that you in the pic 'December fish of the month'? If so, congrats again on catching some fantastic trophy fish.

Cheers,

Leather

Edited July 20, 2009 by leatherjacket

[bangus]

hey mate congrats on that jewie what a beast . I m still waiting for my beach jew chhers bangus

[zephi]

nice report there and a great fish! Keep those reports coming, this one was a really interesting read.

[A.dawg]

Awesome reports I can picture every detail in my head while reading

And evn better awesome fish

[arpie]

Well done ASJ!! 10 points for observation with your line going in a different direction to the other bloke's float, putting your bait there & hooking up so quickly! That is what it is all about - being observant & trying something different!

Can't wait for the next Entrance Social ....... I may even be tempted to stay up at night & have a go for jew on the beach, myself!

Cheerio

Roberta

Nice jewie too!

Edited July 20, 2009 by Roberta

[luckytom]

ASJ, Great writing on your piece there ...Nice Jew...Peace.. Out ....Tom the Yank

[xtosea]

Well done!

[Ray R]

Very informative read there mate, nice rewards, great looking jews..

Congrats to you and your buddy..

[jewgaffer]

Well done on your personal best jewfish ASJ.... the other chaps little float got your attention ay, drfting off to the right and after seeing your line moving off to the left sounds like you concentrated on casting your baits where the water coming out of the same gutter changes direction...I wouldn't think it will be too long before you motor around rivers and cast live bait into spots where you can see what the current and uneven depth does to the water before you chose a spot to anchor....

Cheers

jewgaffer

[ASJ]

Thankyou all for the great replies

I would like to answer some of the questions raised and perhaps add some more information about the way I like to fish beaches. I will put these under the headings of locations, gear and rigs, bait and presentation.

Locations

In my opinion every beach has potentional to produce quality fish. I have caught many fish in a variety of beaches all up and down the east coast within 2 hours drive. Before I choose a beach to fish from I consider "what beach will best suit the conditions in my given time frame". Obviously If I did not have a lot of time I would go to a beach close by, i.e. within an hour's drive. By conditions, I mean which beaches would benefit most from the current factors of wind direction, swell direction, swell height and tide. And if most of these factors cannot be satisfied I would just as soon not fish at a beach at all.

Wind Direction :

Obviously you don't want to be casting against the wind. Sometimes the spot you want to cast to, can be a very small area to hit. To benefit most from the wind's direction you must choose a beach with a stretch that faces opposite the direction it is comming from. For instance, if the wind is a south westerly you want to choose a beach with a section that faces the north east.

Swell Direction :

This concept is similar to wind direction in that you must choose a section of beach that is facing the direction the swell is comming from. The best chance of finding a gutter is where the beach faces into the swell. The gutters that are likely to be formed are ones that run parrellel to the shore and these are the best. This does not mean that parrellel gutters are the only ones that hold fish. These are the best ones because you don't have to cast accurately or too far. Often these parrellel gutters form close to the shore and fish best towards high tide.

Swell Height :

This factor is a tough one in that you need to know of and have experience in a lot of beaches for it to be usefull. If the swell is small then you need to be at a beach that gets deeper closer to the shore. If the swell is big then it doesn't matter what beach you fish. Although, having knowledge of beaches that hold a lot of seaweed is useful since you can avoid these during big swells. You don't want to be pulling seaweed through your whole fishing trip. Seaweed is in the class of leather jackets in that they can really destroy your line. A note on super tiny swells. Don't bother fishing in them. If the water at a beach is flat and looks like you're in an estuary just forget it. Fish need the waves to dig out food and nutrients into the water and also need them to push themselves over sand bars in ambush. Also without waves it is hard for gutters to form.

Tides :

Generally I like to fish beaches from the low tide and up. Fish like to come in when a gutter is fresh. I like to think of a gutter as a stocktake sale. The fish want to get in early and grab the stock they can, not when there isn't any stock left to take. The fish will want to get into the gutters as soon as the water level is high enough for them to fit through. Since we don't know what fish can fit through what water level, it is best to maximise your chances by fishing from the low tide.

If you want to make the most of a run out tide, find a beach that has an exit of a lagoon in it and try to fish a gutter out in front. It is likely that a predatory fish would wait in ambush there for anything that flows out.

How To Find Gutters :

The heading of this section is going to be misleading in that I cannot directly say how to find one. In my experience every gutter is unique in shape or form so I cannot describe how one looks like. The usual texts you may find are a start, but when I first started out beach fishing with knowledge from the texts I was utterly confused and I had no clue whether I was fishing a gutter at all. I found, in hindsight that the texts aren't wrong at all. It was just that I was trying to find something that exactly matched the texts. Remember every gutter is unique so don't try to match anything exactly to those descriptions. The best way is to start out beach fishing during the day and once you're confident in identifying gutters, move on by trying to find them at night. I must tell you though, a gutter at night looks much different from a gutter during the day. One thing to look for as a small hint is variations in line movement. You'll understand what that means with experience.

Gear and Rigs

Rods

The best beach rod is one that suits you for maximum casting distance. You can never be sure how close or far a gutter can be formed so you must be prepared to reach for it. Preferably the rod would also be able to cast a decent weight including the bait. I would say a rod that can cast about 80 - 120 grams or more is sufficient. A good length in the rod would also help in casting and I wouldn't use anything under 12 feet.

The rod I use is a 13 feet Okuma X-Factor which I have had customised for maximum casting performance. The butt of the rod has been extended so that the distance from the reel seat and the end of the rod is about 70 cms, thus making the rod just under 14 feet. This distance of 70 cms is optimal for maximum power during casting suited to my height. The guides on the rod have also been changed to silicon fuji guides so that line friction is reduced to a minimul during the cast and also when fighting the fish.

The X-Factor is built using high modulus graphite which although brittle is a superb rod for casting. Graphite tends to have a lot less bounce after a cast compared to other marterials which means that there is less friction on the line as it hits the guides while passing through.

Reel

A good reel to use is one that can spool about 300 meters of 20 pound mono line or 50 pound braid. Anything heavier tends to loose castability. The reel must also have a decent drag to help tire a fish. I like to use simple spinning reels on the beach since the saltwater can really degrade them.

Rigs

I like to use either 80 or 100 pound mono leaders. The length of leader I use is just about the same length as my height which is 185 cms. I believe that a leader that is as long as you is the optimal length for presentation, hookups, and also castability. The best leader is one that is as long as you can make it. If I didn't have to cast on a beach which is mostly impossible I would be using a leader at least 2.5 meters in length. This is because it gives more time for a fish to not feel weight on the line for a better hook up and also helps in the presentation of the bait. The longer the leader the more freedom the bait has to flow and look natural in the water. However I find that I am limited to my height in length of leader since we have to cast on a beach. The fastest way to roughly estimate the right length of leader is to hold one end in each hand and then spread your arms wide. I find that my arm span is roughly equal to my height. Once measured I would then add an extra 15 cms or so which gets used up when tieing knots.

I like to use a running star sinker rig with a 30 cm trace to the lead. I find that a trace to the sinker is usefull for keeping the leader and bait from being buried in the sand and for keeping the bait flowing a bit off the bottom. I also find that using a line for the sinker trace that is much thinner than the leader is useful for avoiding tangles. Don't make the trace any longer than 30 cms though, or you'll will get nasty tangles. Having a trace to the sinker also helps in casting. With just a pure running sinker rig I find that the sinker and the bait fly in different directions after the cast , particularly with larger baits. Having a trace to the sinker puts a bend in the main line which occurs during flight after the cast, right at the swivel, which stops the bait and the sinker travelling in different directions.

I use a two hook rig on the leader which are both 8/0s. The first hook which is the holder for the bait is tied on with a sliding snell knot. The trailing hook is tied with a fixed snell.

Bait and Presentation

The Bait

I believe that the best bait is a fresh bait. But of all the available baits, dead or alive, my favourite bait is the fresh strip of squid. I'll tell you why. Gutters on a beach are all over the place. Some are close, some are far, some narrow and some are wide. The strip of squid is the only bait that can make it to all of these types of gutters. Whats the point in a salmon slab or live tailor if you can't make it reach the gutter that's only 50 meters away? Squid is tough too, so any pickers out there are gonna have a hard time getting it off, while their irradic movements are only going to attract some bigger fish. What's more? When a strip of squid is rigged correctly, it is a deadly bait which flows in the water and actually looks like a fish. There have been times where I have hooked on to a fish on the retrieve while checking my bait due to the strip looking like an injured fish. A strip of squid is more potent on a beach where the waves are continually flushing and moving the strip like an injured fish!

Presentation

There are two points in the presentation of a strip of squid, making the strip and hooking it. Firstly the strip is cut with a width of about 1 - 2 cms. One end of the strip should be cut to a point, that is, it must look like a tail of a fish from a top down view. The top end of the strip should have a slight wedge in it. This is important to keep the strip from spinning in the water. Secondly the holding hook which is preferably tied with a sliding snell knot should be just placed at the top of the wedge with as little amount of flesh sticking within the J of the hook. This is to ensure that there is the smallest amount of loose flap which could make the strip spin. The trailing hook should be placed about 2/3 of the way down the strip to ensure that there is enough free movement of the tail in the strip. To rig the trailing hook in the squid, you must have as much point showing as possible or you will miss a hookup. The best way to rig this trailing hook is to pass the point only halfway through the strip and then back out again. The strip should then have a barb from each hook on opposite sides of the squid. We don't want any free leader line hanging in between to muck up a bite. So tighten the free line by pulling on the snelled keeper hook, and take care to keep the strip as straight as possible.

So that's pretty much it for everything that I know and use for beach fishing. I'm sure most of this stuff people may find familiar, thanks for reading anyway, cheers.

[Gee]

Thanks so much for this information ASJ, informatiive and interesting and I think has helped me to understand a few things I'd read before.

[jewgaffer]

Great information ASJ .....An excellent article on beach fishing that would be very useful in the article section

Cheers

jewgaffer

[yting]

Awesome stuff that.

[keenist]

"The strip of squid is the only bait that can make it to all of these types of gutters. Whats the point in a salmon slab or live tailor if you can't make it reach the gutter that's only 50 meters away? "

One lesson that continues to bode true is the old adage, "Big Bait, Big Fish". This has been proven again and again, particularly on big beach jewie haunts such as the far west coast SA.

A good way to rig large, softer baits is by using 2-3 half hitches around the top part of the bait with the trace. That with a two-hook rig should keep the bait on for a big cast.

Another casting tip is to use a sliding swivel and 30-40cm dropper to the weight, and a 60-100cm trace. This way the weight and bait are closer together and if weighted correctly will allow for bigger baits to be cast a mile (without the lead sliding up the main line).

To help, I have sketched the rig, see here:

The looped dropper also allows for easy weight changing as conditions require (remember, a bait that just rests on the bottom, and is allowed to move around a bit will 10:1 outfish a bait anchored to the bottom with 5lb of lead).

Using a 30cm slab, or kg + dead / livebaits (inc big squid) will increase your chances of that 30kg Jew. Just remember to fish your smaller rigs in parallel as many hours pass waiting for big jew hits.

Good luck!

[jordan]

Good information there mate!

well done on sharing them!

[Frizzy]

Awesome report and an awesome jewie from the beach!

Well worth the long drive and braving the elements!!

[BIGFISH]

fantastic fishing

[5ky]

ASJ i belive next time you fish, you should video record it all down from setting up the rod/rig and how to cut the bait up and hooking it and posting it on youtube, you will be the next Rex Hunt lol