davegroves68 Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Hi all, After a few years moored in Pittwater we moved the boat to Middle Harbour yesterday (Sunday).Better fishing and also a bit closer to home. We decided to make a day of it and fished all the way down stopping at spots off Newport, Mona Vale, Long Reef etc. We had a few bits and pieces, Trevally, some small snapper, a pigfish(went back). But one constant everywhere was Leather Jackets .We got hammered by them. Between 3 of us we must have re rigged up 15 times. I have never lost so much gear before. We were in varying depths of water up to 55 metres. Has anyone else noticed that they are back in plague proportions? Anyway, we got back to our new mooring in Middle harbour at about 3pm and cracked a beer or 2 in the hope of better fishing in harbour. Lets hope the Kings will make an early appearance. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacko69 Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 (edited) Went out to 12 mile this morning and lost about 100metres of braid and my favourite jig to the bastards. Caught one on a jig too. Big, bad and ugly. Edited August 27, 2012 by stacko69 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvbigfish Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 yeah dave , we were out @ the peak off botany on saturday and they were all over our gear , we had our revenge tonight , yumbo cheers paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sydangler Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Get any kings out there stacko? We lost about 7 jigs between us on Saturday to the plague pull 2 on jigs. Good to see the boat moved Dave. Have to get out with you soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noodles Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 They are not just off Sydney. Out off Swansea over the weekend in any water over 35m, they are in plague proportions and have been for quite some time. Only a couple of months ago they were only 6 inches long but there were hundreds of them underthe boat at any given time and they were snipping line above the trace. Now there are still just as many but they are much bigger averaging 15 inches with a few bigger ones still. On Sunday I took my son and daughter plus daughters boyfriend out and we put 32 in the esky in about half an hour. They were breaking the surface and we could sight catch them directly under the boat. We could have easily taken our bag limit of 80 but what's the point. Ate a few last night, gave some to friends and family and still have leftover for the freezer and cat food. If you don't have wire rigs, give up and go home or at least move into shallower water. We even lost some wire when they bite you off above the trace. Losing jigs to them out on the kingy reefs can be quite an expensive hobby. The local tackle store guy up here told me of a regular who'd come in the shop and spend $400.00 to replace lost jigs from a single days fishing. Some people say they are around up here because of the Coal Ships but if they are down that far too, it must just be a plague. I remember the same thing happening 40 years ago and there were no coal ships off Broken Bay back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 The jackets plague in some years, go quiet for a while then turn up again in the thousands. My grandfather told me that the jackets were in plague numbers in the 1920's/1930's, and it is still happening. He caught many by hand at times, just wiggle a bait on the surface and pick them off one by one. (don't fall overboard though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davegroves68 Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 We weren't fishing with wire traces . We were getting snipped off at the hook and a couple of times I had 30 metres of braid cut off. Are there less in closer in shallow water? Olly, (Sydangler) we will have to sort out a few night sessions in Middle harbour chasing Jews soon. I will give you a call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erroll Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I was there on monday too. Here's a screen shot of what the plague looked like on monday. Not a great shot due to the reflection but you will get the gist of it. Unbelieveable. I lost jigs, wind on leaders, a lot of braid etc. I reckon tackle shops breed them and release them!! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noodles Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 We weren't fishing with wire traces . We were getting snipped off at the hook and a couple of times I had 30 metres of braid cut off. Are there less in closer in shallow water? Olly, (Sydangler) we will have to sort out a few night sessions in Middle harbour chasing Jews soon. I will give you a call. You can usually get in to a depth point where there are none, but then there is often nothing else either. They are voracious feeders and will eat anything. I have pulled flathead up from the bottom to find them with chunks missing. LJ's = lost gear = money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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