rjc123 Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 (edited) Over the last few months I've been live baiting for Jewish every now and then in middle harbour. Livies bring yakkas and tailor are often coming back in mangled.Some have been picked and some smashed... And some big runs to go with many of these hits.What does everyone think these are? I know it's not one culprit based on a big hit and run and other times it's picked to pieces. Keep in mind the tailor and yakkas are Big around 30cm mark... Location is upper middle harbour.Cheers, Tom Edited April 2, 2013 by mulloway man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bharris Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 might be hairtail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfisherman Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Could be a number of things depending on the photo, the one that's a clean cut I'd say shark or tailor, the one that looks a bit mangled, possibly a port Jackson, and the rest I'd say cuttlefish... Fishingphase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjc123 Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 Could be a number of things depending on the photo, the one that's a clean cut I'd say shark or tailor, the one that looks a bit mangled, possibly a port Jackson, and the rest I'd say cuttlefish... Fishingphase Not many cuttlies up the back of MH. Never got a PJ up there either.. On the mangled yakka pic (not the clean half one) i got a good run... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 IMO clean cut shark, mangled cuttlefish! Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harbour Hauler Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 I was asking myself the same question this time last year. The culprit was hairtail . It turns out they can get everywhere and at any time of year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davegroves68 Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Not many cuttlies up the back of MH. Never got a PJ up there either.. On the mangled yakka pic (not the clean half one) i got a good run... I can testify that there is at least one PJ up there as i got a big one at Yeoland point a few months back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewhunter Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 I know that area quite well. A big tailor chopped the yakkas head off & a school jew crushed the other bait. You're going to have to keep fishing there now Tom to prove me right or wrong! Cheers, Grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewdreamer Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Hi Mate, best bet is to cath the bugger... That way you will know what it is. OOPS! forgot.. Its called Fishing,,,,,not catching! Best of luck and let us know????? Cheers Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.dawg Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Sharks and tailor I don't know about hairtail as I doubt they'd be on the bottom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brettmann86 Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 I'd be sticking with a bull shark for the clean cut. Happens plenty after pupping season and the crushed one I'd hazard to guess it could be a PJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjc123 Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 Been fishing up here for years and never come across a PJ, they don't tend to take line likesome of these have. Lots of Jew in the area and I'm pretty convinced the crushed yakka is one. I guess I'll have to catch it to find out what it is. Cheers, Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AGP Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 Hey Tom, 100% Big Tailor with the clean cut, Happens all the time when using Yakkas and where youre fishing nothing else would be doing that to a Yakka of that size. The Crushed Yakka is definitely a Soapy/School Jew and thats a common bite mark for Middle harbour and using Livies that size. Over summer I was lucky enough to witness a school of Jews ball up a massive School of 30cm+ Bull Mullet up in the Middle Harbour area, It was an awesome sight just on first light! The Mullet were busting up everywhere trying to escape and there were hundres of them. Got a small Jew of 65 cm's on Plastics just after witnessing this which confirmed the shadows hunting the Mullet were Jew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.dawg Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 I have caught a few few jewwies on live yakkas and a lot of the time end up with my bait back. You will notice the yakkas usually look very pale and scaled. There were about 5 cases of the yakkas coming back scaled pale and with very small teeth marks along its body. All it looks like is little pin holes along its body. From what I have learnt Jews only use there teeth to get a hold of their prey if needed. They roll their prey in there mouth spit it out and then come for a second time for the finishing off shot. All jewwies that I hav gutted caught on yakkas have had whole yakkas in them not chewed up yakkas. I have caught small sharks and tailor which explAin the clean cut and also pj's / crabs which explain the crushed yakka. I caught 2 Jews last night they've already been cleaned but my next few fish hopefully on the weekend I'll try get a few pics for you Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt17 Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 crabs which explain the crushed yakka. Don't think a crab would make a massive run after hitting a yakka and then pulling the hooks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjc123 Posted April 3, 2013 Author Share Posted April 3, 2013 (edited) Hey Tom, 100% Big Tailor with the clean cut, Happens all the time when using Yakkas and where youre fishing nothing else would be doing that to a Yakka of that size. The Crushed Yakka is definitely a Soapy/School Jew and thats a common bite mark for Middle harbour and using Livies that size. Over summer I was lucky enough to witness a school of Jews ball up a massive School of 30cm+ Bull Mullet up in the Middle Harbour area, It was an awesome sight just on first light! The Mullet were busting up everywhere trying to escape and there were hundres of them. Got a small Jew of 65 cm's on Plastics just after witnessing this which confirmed the shadows hunting the Mullet were Jew. That's awesome mate! No shortage of mullet in MH that's for sure... Would have been crazy getting the 65 from underneath them I've had plenty of crushed yakkas with the classic pin marks that schoolies leave.. It's leading up to the time i got my 97 jew up here last year... I'll keep persisting and hopefully join the meter club! I have caught a few few jewwies on live yakkas and a lot of the time end up with my bait back. You will notice the yakkas usually look very pale and scaled. There were about 5 cases of the yakkas coming back scaled pale and with very small teeth marks along its body. All it looks like is little pin holes along its body. From what I have learnt Jews only use there teeth to get a hold of their prey if needed. They roll their prey in there mouth spit it out and then come for a second time for the finishing off shot. All jewwies that I hav gutted caught on yakkas have had whole yakkas in them not chewed up yakkas. I have caught small sharks and tailor which explAin the clean cut and also pj's / crabs which explain the crushed yakka. I caught 2 Jews last night they've already been cleaned but my next few fish hopefully on the weekend I'll try get a few pics for you Alan I agree about a big tailor or small bull for the clean cut not the sort of areas pj's ShoW up... Been fishing it for years and years never caught one let alone heard of one from here... Further into middle harbour would be a definite possibility... Crabs don't take line either... The crushed yakka i hooked up and experienced a very nice run (remember i'm running 50lb braid, 60lb leader and heavy gear) before pulling hooks. No PJ can go that hard... Would have got me on the pylons if i didn't pull hooks.. Edited April 3, 2013 by mulloway man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 Have read all the comments, and agree that tailor and small sharks will leave a clean cut. You may occasionally see a few teeth marks near the cut from the tailor as they will grab a small fish, dead or alive, and shake and bite the fish in their mouth, until happy to shake hard and bite a piece from the fish ( have observed this many times with tailor, especially when they attack a larger fish like a yellowtail), and tailor quite often will bite the tail first, hence the name Tailor. As Alan (A. Dawg) stated, jewies will quite often swallow fish whole, and I have found teeth marks all over a small fish, but not too many bite marks that almost sever a fish in two, when hooking up a jewie. Also consider what may be usual for a particular species of fish, and you will find that there will be one or 2 that act differently from the rest of that species. As for a crushed bait fish with a big run but no hook up, can also consider a bull ray, or eagle ray, that has grabbed a livie swimming right near the bottom. Not saying that this is what is responsible, but have had these things grab a bait and speed off like a rocket, only to not hook up. Especially so when fishing fish heads or dead fish on the bottom as crab bait, get a big run, no hook up and the bait is crushed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjc123 Posted April 3, 2013 Author Share Posted April 3, 2013 Have read all the comments, and agree that tailor and small sharks will leave a clean cut. You may occasionally see a few teeth marks near the cut from the tailor as they will grab a small fish, dead or alive, and shake and bite the fish in their mouth, until happy to shake hard and bite a piece from the fish ( have observed this many times with tailor, especially when they attack a larger fish like a yellowtail), and tailor quite often will bite the tail first, hence the name Tailor. As Alan (A. Dawg) stated, jewies will quite often swallow fish whole, and I have found teeth marks all over a small fish, but not too many bite marks that almost sever a fish in two, when hooking up a jewie. Also consider what may be usual for a particular species of fish, and you will find that there will be one or 2 that act differently from the rest of that species. As for a crushed bait fish with a big run but no hook up, can also consider a bull ray, or eagle ray, that has grabbed a livie swimming right near the bottom. Not saying that this is what is responsible, but have had these things grab a bait and speed off like a rocket, only to not hook up. Especially so when fishing fish heads or dead fish on the bottom as crab bait, get a big run, no hook up and the bait is crushed. Hi Yowie, Cheers for that mate. Rays are always a possibility while live baiting but i've caught my fair share and never got violent headshakes and runs directly towards pylons from them. I know just how fast some of these rays can peel line but i can say for sure rays aren't the culprit here... Another thing to consider is rays don't have teeth and the crushed yakka in the pic has teeth marks and severe cuts all over it. Cheers, Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt17 Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 Have read all the comments, and agree that tailor and small sharks will leave a clean cut. You may occasionally see a few teeth marks near the cut from the tailor as they will grab a small fish, dead or alive, and shake and bite the fish in their mouth, until happy to shake hard and bite a piece from the fish ( have observed this many times with tailor, especially when they attack a larger fish like a yellowtail), and tailor quite often will bite the tail first, hence the name Tailor. As Alan (A. Dawg) stated, jewies will quite often swallow fish whole, and I have found teeth marks all over a small fish, but not too many bite marks that almost sever a fish in two, when hooking up a jewie. Also consider what may be usual for a particular species of fish, and you will find that there will be one or 2 that act differently from the rest of that species. As for a crushed bait fish with a big run but no hook up, can also consider a bull ray, or eagle ray, that has grabbed a livie swimming right near the bottom. Not saying that this is what is responsible, but have had these things grab a bait and speed off like a rocket, only to not hook up. Especially so when fishing fish heads or dead fish on the bottom as crab bait, get a big run, no hook up and the bait is crushed. I personally do not think that every jewfish has to follow guidelines when hitting a bait. Not every jew has to completely swallow it, there's no rulebook On the other hand I must say that it could have been completely anything, although when these things happen very frequently (4 or 5 times now) and every single one just around the tide change then the chance of it being a jew is very likely. Hope you finally get one Tom (assuming that it is a jew) and prove what the culprit truly is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 Hi Yowie, Cheers for that mate. Rays are always a possibility while live baiting but i've caught my fair share and never got violent headshakes and runs directly towards pylons from them. I know just how fast some of these rays can peel line but i can say for sure rays aren't the culprit here... Another thing to consider is rays don't have teeth and the crushed yakka in the pic has teeth marks and severe cuts all over it. Cheers, Tom It can be hard to tell sometimes. Have had a couple of jewies take a bait from the bottom, swim up to near the surface, then head off on a long fast run, similar to a bull ray or a kingie, also a couple of jewies fight until dead then float to the surface. Quite a few years back, a bloke was fishing South West Arm with live yellowtail for jewies, and he pulled out a 5.5 and a 6.5 kg reddies, you never know what is there. Saw a photo of a 26kg yellowfin caught last summer from the same area. All you have to do is land them to find out (easier said than done). Good luck, and show us a photo of the critter when you land it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagmaster Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Wow...readnig all these comments about everyone in their boats catching jews etc really makes me feel like I'm missing out on all the action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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