Mulloway Beach/Rock- North Coast - Forster Area

[stefan]

Report + Information + Question

Went out last night with fresh squid off the corner of a beach. 1 hr before low tide got a hit. Wasn't ready for its strength, got absolutely burned on the rocks. I've attached a photo of a similar one I caught not long ago same spot same conditions. This one pulled much harder though.

For anyone deciding to target them this summer, here is my two cents:

Lots of failure sessions until I realised the importance of some things follow:

The obvious:
- Good bait
- Change of Tide

The things I started to factor:
- fish at night time (After sunset. Toughen up and go at night.)
- find white-water, the rougher the better unless it is too rough to keep a bait out or too dangerous
- fish the gutter closest to the rocks or ideally off the rocks
- fish the biggest bait you can. Octopus stays on the hook 10x longer than squid or worms. Live is the best but sometimes hard to bring to a beach.

I love fishing off the rocks at the end of a beach which can actually be much cleaner and more sheltered if you factor in weather conditions. I.e southern corner in a southerly. It also makes sense as this is closest to where the mulloway hang out during down times. But this strategy has led to a problem:

Its about a 50/50 whether the fish runs back towards the beach or around the point. If it goes beach, I follow it down and fish landed however the last few fish have chosen to retreat back to their caves in the point and I am losing $$$ of line getting shredded on rocks like last night...

What strategies do you recommend when this happens?

Locking drag and hoping to turn the fish? Trying to follow it around the point? Running to the beach and trying to turn it from the rocks? I run 30lb mainline mono with a 80lb leader. Time for an upgrade?

This is one that headed towards the beach. Same conditions except 1hr after high tide.

Edited October 3, 2014 by stefan

[craigbutcher]

G'day mate, nice Jewie bra! Well done!

I fish for Jews offshore in Summer, and one thing to note about Jews is, they don't pull hard offshore to be honest, they usually blow their swim bladder quickly and slow up, plus they aren't naturally a dirty fighter like a King or even a solid Red (Yes, had plenty of 6kg to 7kg Reds offshore run me into the kelp, and I nearly gave up on my 7kg red off Sydney as it had me bricked for a few minutes)...

I guess in shallow water the Jews don't blow their swim bladders and keep their steam up! Good luck bra, very cool!

Edited October 3, 2014 by THE BUTCH

[rigga]

im no help at all, ill be in forster this long weekend hanging to catch a jew.

whats your set up?

[stefan]

Hi rigga,

Sorry for the late reply had almost no internet there. Here are some tips for next time: Any beach works. Sandbar, Lighthouse, tuncurry and boomerang are the best from my experience. Burley up little fish (tailor) and cast one out or use freshly caught worms. I bring vacum packed squid i caught from Sydney. I use a 80lb leader and 30 lb mainline mono. Braid tends to give me too much trouble at the beaches, sometimes I use 60lb ebay braid on a rod if its calm enough.

I go running sinker (ball, star or anchor depending on surf) to swivel to leader to two snelled hooks. If you are up there and there is a big northerly/northerly surf, try the north side rocks at boomerang where the surfers are. By the time the last surfer leaves its the perfect time to cast . I still havent landed one there but I'm pretty sure i got dusted by one. Lots of rays and port jacksons though so have a lot of bait or fish a livie. If you get one there, send me a pm! That also goes for any lurkers reading this! Its the last spot for me to test

[Tag117]

Thanks a lot for the tips, this has really motivated me to go catch jews off the beach. Where i fish, i get loads of jews, but none are very big. Thanks for the help!