Jimbu Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Hi Guys, This is my virgin report on here, soooo here goes... Lately I've been fishing a spot a few minutes drive from my house on the Georges River. It's a short walk along a bush track down to a shady area of mangroves. I've been mainly fishing unweigted bread on small hooks with mixed results, catching bream, blackfish and mullet, some plate sized and some juveniles. The other morning, I caught some decent sized mullet and heard a guy on a kayak let out a scream of delight. I overheard a convo he had with a guy on a boat, and he had bagged a decent jewie. Given this glimmer of hope, I decided to bring an extra rod this morning and give it a crack with freshly caught strips of mullet. I arrived at the spot at a bit before 7am and began to set up on my low rock platform amidst the mangroves, with the tide running out at a rapid rate. I placed a frozen mullet caught a few days back in a bucket of water to defrost and cast my light rod with unweighted bread a few metres from my feet. I could see regular silver flashes, indicating the mullet were about in large numbers, however I wasn't able to hook onto one. All I managed were a couple of undersized bream. After 15 minutes, I decided it was time to throw some mullet out on my 10ft rock combo. I took a healthy strip about 3cm x 8cm and hooked it once through the top with a 1/0 circle hook. There was a ~1cm diameter ball sinker running free to my hook and I lobbed the bait as far as I could, let it sink down, set the drag ultra light and placed the rod in the rod holder of my $20 fishing stool. Back to my light combo and the throwback bream and blackfish. I glanced at my other rod occasionally, noticing small nibbles, but nothing substantial. 15 minutes later, the rod tipped and almost came flying out of its holder and the reel began to scream. I grabbed it and began to add pressure to the spool with the palm of my hand, and fish hooked, I began to tighten the drag up while the fish screamed off. My excitement grew, as I tried to guess at what it could be. There we no tell-tale flathead headshakes. Soon it began to slow, and after a few more short runs and some heavy steering away from nearby rocks, I had an exhausted jewfish at my feet and into the net. She measured 65cm, so after a few quick snaps on the phone, I took off my shoes and socks, slipped barefoot around the mangroves dodging oysters, and lowered her gently into the shallows where she glided off to find the rest of her school. My first jew! Friends and family said I should have kept it, but after seeing such a beautiful fish swim away like that, I know I did the right thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Witha Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Awesome man! Great first report and an epic catch! Just got my first last week and it's a wicked feeling well played matching the hatch on the mullet. What line weight were you on? Keep em coming Cheers Witha Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbdshroom Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Well done, you made the right choice in releasing it because the limit is at 70 cm. Good on you, I'm sure there is more to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filthmonger Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Yeah mate she was undersize, still an awesome fish though well done. You may have found your own little secret Jewie hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W4z Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Good stuff mate! Some of my favorite posts to read are of people discovering a new spot or catching a first of species after putting some effort into it. Great story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbu Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 Thank for the kind words, guys! Witha - caught it with a 10ft 6-12kg rod with 12lb braid and 20lb flouro leader. I'm wondering how my 7ft 1-3kg setup would have handled the same fish... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydneyfisher12 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 great work mate thats a really nice fish and a great spot by the sounds of it the legal limit it 70cm so it must go back but a great catch anyway cheers sydneyfisher12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Good work Jimbu! Jewfish are a great species and its even more satisfying when you were targeting them. Even legal sized fish are worth returning sometimes so great job there too. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mii11x Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Hi Guys, This is my virgin report on here, soooo here goes... Lately I've been fishing a spot a few minutes drive from my house on the Georges River. It's a short walk along a bush track down to a shady area of mangroves. I've been mainly fishing unweigted bread on small hooks with mixed results, catching bream, blackfish and mullet, some plate sized and some juveniles. The other morning, I caught some decent sized mullet and heard a guy on a kayak let out a scream of delight. I overheard a convo he had with a guy on a boat, and he had bagged a decent jewie. Given this glimmer of hope, I decided to bring an extra rod this morning and give it a crack with freshly caught strips of mullet. I arrived at the spot at a bit before 7am and began to set up on my low rock platform amidst the mangroves, with the tide running out at a rapid rate. I placed a frozen mullet caught a few days back in a bucket of water to defrost and cast my light rod with unweighted bread a few metres from my feet. I could see regular silver flashes, indicating the mullet were about in large numbers, however I wasn't able to hook onto one. All I managed were a couple of undersized bream. After 15 minutes, I decided it was time to throw some mullet out on my 10ft rock combo. I took a healthy strip about 3cm x 8cm and hooked it once through the top with a 1/0 circle hook. There was a ~1cm diameter ball sinker running free to my hook and I lobbed the bait as far as I could, let it sink down, set the drag ultra light and placed the rod in the rod holder of my $20 fishing stool. Back to my light combo and the throwback bream and blackfish. I glanced at my other rod occasionally, noticing small nibbles, but nothing substantial. 15 minutes later, the rod tipped and almost came flying out of its holder and the reel began to scream. I grabbed it and began to add pressure to the spool with the palm of my hand, and fish hooked, I began to tighten the drag up while the fish screamed off. My excitement grew, as I tried to guess at what it could be. There we no tell-tale flathead headshakes. Soon it began to slow, and after a few more short runs and some heavy steering away from nearby rocks, I had an exhausted jewfish at my feet and into the net. She measured 65cm, so after a few quick snaps on the phone, I took off my shoes and socks, slipped barefoot around the mangroves dodging oysters, and lowered her gently into the shallows where she glided off to find the rest of her school. My first jew! Friends and family said I should have kept it, but after seeing such a beautiful fish swim away like that, I know I did the right thing. well done on your first jew mate, and well done releasing it. There is something about releasing jews, especially larger jews, that always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchie18092 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 cracker! nice one bud. still waiting for my first... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefisherman6784 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Well done mate Great first report and great fish I'm still waiting for the feeling of my first nice Jew. Anyway Great fish mate Cheers thefisherman6784 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holls Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Nice fish, great report, well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbu Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 Thanks! Just an update: had another try this morning before the wind picked up... Was mostly quiet with no bites on my light unweighted bread setup. My heavier setup - Once again I had my drag set super light so there was almost no resistance. Had a few light taps on my line which I assumed to be picker fish... Then Bzzzz as a fish picked up the thick mullet strip and ran... Almost as quick as it did, it must have felt the vibrations of the drag, as it let go. A short pause then the same thing happened again ... And again. I flicked the bail arm open and waited... Sure enough, line began to peel off rapidly and didn't stop. I counted past 5 seconds, flicked the bail arm closed and applied some pressure on the reel. I'm on! Felt like a similar sized fish to the other day. I hurried to tighten my drag up to slow it down, in a bit of a panic. After a short fight, the fish seemed to be staying deep, then my line went tight like it was snagged up and ... pop. Braid snapped above my swivel. I'm thinking he wrapped me around something on the bottom! I re-rigged as quick as possible, but there was nothing to report after that. Disappointing not to land it but a bit of excitement and some more experience and lessons learned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydneyfisher12 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Thanks! Just an update: had another try this morning before the wind picked up... Was mostly quiet with no bites on my light unweighted bread setup. My heavier setup - Once again I had my drag set super light so there was almost no resistance. Had a few light taps on my line which I assumed to be picker fish... Then Bzzzz as a fish picked up the thick mullet strip and ran... Almost as quick as it did, it must have felt the vibrations of the drag, as it let go. A short pause then the same thing happened again ... And again. I flicked the bail arm open and waited... Sure enough, line began to peel off rapidly and didn't stop. I counted past 5 seconds, flicked the bail arm closed and applied some pressure on the reel. I'm on! Felt like a similar sized fish to the other day. I hurried to tighten my drag up to slow it down, in a bit of a panic. After a short fight, the fish seemed to be staying deep, then my line went tight like it was snagged up and ... pop. Braid snapped above my swivel. I'm thinking he wrapped me around something on the bottom! I re-rigged as quick as possible, but there was nothing to report after that. Disappointing not to land it but a bit of excitement and some more experience and lessons learned. bad luck mate im sure you will be back you have a great spot there im pretty sure that was a jew a ray wouldn't wrap around something and bust you off good luck cheers sydneyfisher12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbu Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) Andddddd gave it another shot and bagged a legal one this morning. Edited June 27, 2014 by Jimbu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryder Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Mate that's Awesome. You've got a great spot down there. Keep em coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefisherman6784 Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Andddddd gave it another shot and bagged a legal one this morning. Sounds like you got your self a great little spot I'm just hoping for a good one before the seasons over Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydneyfisher12 Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Andddddd gave it another shot and bagged a legal one this morning. great work you are becoming a master Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Witha Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Very nice mate that's a cracker! Mullet again? Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbu Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 (edited) Very nice mate that's a cracker! Mullet again? Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk Thanks, Witha. Yep, mullet. Edited June 28, 2014 by Jimbu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbdshroom Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Fantastic work! That's a great fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VBCB Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 That sounds epic! Very nicely written first report man! Well done on the jews, not everyone can claim jews from the land, top stuff From my experience, keep hammering them as much as you can, (of course I recommend catch release) cause these things never last, beginners often take things for granted when they find a "new" spot that seems to hold a lot, it doesn't last, never. It's only the sum of a equation composed of many naturals phenomena all there at the "right" time. The good thing in the story is that if it happened once, it will happen again, jewies are creature of habits ! Don't waste your time reading our bullshit comments get your rods and go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbu Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 Thanks for the wise and kind words, guys! T.C, I'll have to keep at it then... need to catch some more mullet first. I'm also a big fan of catch release, the satisfaction rivals that of keeping a good fish, I believe. There's a fair few fillets in the freezer at the moment, so if I manage another, it'll be swimming away. I'm hooked. I had another go ... no jewie, but a PB 35cm bream which took a lot of coaxing to finally get her on. I kept gently feeding her line as she gnawed through most of my generous mullet strip... eventually she swallowed the skin that was left, fatal mistake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellcorner Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Great report, great angling, great enthusiasm! Keep it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shak4g63 Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Good work kiddo...congrats on the nice catches. ...keep it comming mate Tight lines!, Shakeel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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