Beach for Big Jews

[RexSenior]

Hi Raiders.

Great discussion, love it!

For me, I use mono off the beach for jew and to be honest it's a lot to do with price. I buy a mid range spool of 25lb mono and can afford to change it every few sessions - haven't lost a jew because of my main line yet. I find that it's a lot to do with the condition of your line, not what brand it is or what it's made out of.

Most jew I've caught have hooked themselves. In saying that I fish with 2 rods off the beach - so am rarely holding one waiting to strike.

An advantage of mono as mentioned is the stretch. When you're line is loaded up it has some give when the waves & seaweed are pounding you're line and the jew on the end of it. If the shoreline is steep you will need to play the fish and time the beaching, something I'm not very good at yet, mono has saved my catch on these occasions I think.

Cheers, James

[mrsswordfisherman]

13 hours ago, Crossfire63 said:

Hi Donna

Its pretty simple. Big Jewies do not have a hard boney mouth or top pallet which makes it hard to set the hook. Most jewfish will hook themselves with just a bit of gentle pressure or even just on the pressure of the drag which makes the statement by "Gold Member" "Jewhunter" complete rubbish . Violent striking trying to set the hook will more often than not rip the bait out of the fishes mouth.

He's obviously mistaking Jewfish for Marlin or Tarpon which probably have then hardest mouths of any fish but are not often caught off the beaches of NSW.

With all due respect members should be encouraged to make statements of fact not fanciful notions.

 

 

 

Thanks for the explanation. It might be "simple" to you but we have lots of members who want to catch that first Jewfish and are looking for tips. In defence of Jewhunter he knows his fishing, is an very experienced angler and would never post "fanciful notions".

Perhaps you can add your wisdom to the thread below that has been active since 2008. You seem in the know about catching mulloway. Why not do an article for us to add to our list . Message me with ideas. I will even award you a "Gold Member" badge. If anyone else wants to write an article for us please message me also.

Back to business!! This post below has some really great discussion and covers everything needed.

 

[cos]

14 hours ago, Crossfire63 said:

 

1) Blue bottles stick to braid like super glue which will give you no amount of grief on a beach at night when you handle your line even though you cant see a blue bottle attached to it.

2) When using braid every movement of your rod tip means a similar amount of movement of your sinker, so unless you bury a grapnel sinker your bait and sinker will at some stage end up out of the fishing zone and back on the beach.

3) As you get a fish closer to the beach there is less give in the system so you'd better remember to back the drag off to sop the fish from throwing the hook.

4) Even top quality 8 strand braid isn't very abrasion resistant

 

Hi Crossfire

Thanks for the info about mono.

I've only been beach fishing for a couple of years so I was genuinely interested.

I haven't had any problems with abrasion resistance (same braid for the last two years).I have noticed the sinker letting go when there is a lot of water movement and definitely had problems with blue bottles. Looks like I'm going to have to give mono a go and compare the difference. 

[JonD]

The debate on braid v mono is a personal choice but let's not mix the truth with myth.

All the places I've caught jewfish have been on sandy beaches, often in deep gutters close to the shore line.

My beach rod sits high in a beachmaster rod holder with the reel set with about  2-3 kg of drag. The angle of my line from the rod tip to the terminal tackle doesn't allow my braid to be washed around the sandy bottom, you would need to lie the rod down low to do that. So abrasion isn't a problem for me.

Every jew I've caught ( lots ) have hooked solid pretty much on their first bite, which then turns to a hard run anything from 30-50m.

All my catches have been in rough windy sea conditions often in the rain (maybe just because this is the only time I target them). In rough sea conditions fishing deep gutters , light braid has been the only thing I've been able to hold my star sinkers to the sand with.

In rough conditions, breaking surf over thin braid is easely differentiated from even the smallest of bait stealing fish ( using the gear I use ).

For me the only down side is braid can be a little harder on the mouth of the fish by being less ellasticated, but a softer rod and a reasonable leader can help from not tearing a big hook hole around the fishes mouth (don't allow any slack). As for wind knots, I've only occasionally had these on light spin outfits and never on my big bait beach rigs, most braids for casting now have coatings to reduce knots.

Ive taken many people chasing Jews over the years who have been determind to use mono under the same conditions only to constantly keep getting their rigs wash up along the beach. 

Jon

Edited December 16, 2016 by JonD

[outdoordan]

There are plenty of ways to skin a cat and there are plenty of ways to catch a jew.

there are benefits to using braid as there are benefits to using mono. namely the ability to cast a decent distance with a spinning reel if required, as well as enabling the use of smaller, lighter outfits making it easier to hold for long periods. 

Braid dislodging sinkers isnt as much of a problem as its made out to be, and there are different lead designs that will give you options even in heavy swell.

I do recommend using a decent mono leader though, particularly using running sinker rigs. this will eliviate any abrasion concerns as well as add a measure of safety during casts.

This being said, i mainly use mono on overhead reels, but have caught dozens of fish on braid in the past. I strike hard, several times when setting a hook and dont have an issue of pulling the bait out of fishes mouths, let alone more often than not! I do this to ensure the hook finds it mark as hook points can get obscured by the bait.

I am confused by the advice of backing the drag off to stop the fish throwing the hook. In my opinion it is more important that you maintain pressure on the fish, slack line allows thrown hooks. Perhaps you meant pulling hooks, which shouldn't be a problem if you set them properly to start with.

Fankly crossfire, your attitude is rubbish, and your "statements of fact" are in fact only your opinions.  You would do well to respect other's opinions with the same regard as you expect others to respect yours.

Merry Christmas

 

[Wellzy94]

I have a query about beach fishing, while the discussion's active... Is a star sinker connected to a crossline swivel worthwhile? I have surf sinkers as well, so I can try a running sinker or a paternoster with a star sinker instead, but I was given some crosslines and thought of it as an option.

 

Alternatively I guess I could have a running surf sinker and two leaders off the crossline swivel?  

Edited December 16, 2016 by Wellzy94

[Jewhunter]

20 hours ago, Crossfire63 said:

Hi Donna

Its pretty simple. Big Jewies do not have a hard boney mouth or top pallet which makes it hard to set the hook. Most jewfish will hook themselves with just a bit of gentle pressure or even just on the pressure of the drag which makes the statement by "Gold Member" "Jewhunter" complete rubbish . Violent striking trying to set the hook will more often than not rip the bait out of the fishes mouth.

He's obviously mistaking Jewfish for Marlin or Tarpon which probably have then hardest mouths of any fish but are not often caught off the beaches of NSW.

With all due respect members should be encouraged to make statements of fact not fanciful notions.

 

 

 

Hi Crossfire. Firstly let me say that I should have worded my response differently when I said hard bony mouths. They certainly do have hard sections in their mouths that are covered only by a layer of skin. Get the barb of the hook in there & it won't come out.

I like to hit them hard & drive the hook home. It works for me. You may think it's rubbish, That's your right. My hundreds of jew off the beach tells me it's not, but like me, you are entitled to your opinion. I don't believe it's a fanciful notion. I'm simply stating my experience.

No, I am certainly not mistaking a jew for a tarpon, which I have caught up here in the canals & in Florida, or marlin, of which I have caught a number of blacks, blues & stripes.

I find your statements about braid v mono quite funny. Braid is a lot thinner. As Jon D has stated when his mates fish mono they end up get washed around in the whitewash. I've found this as well. Braid cuts through the wash & waves much easier. I also don't have a problem with my sinker pulling out or ripping baits out of a fishes mouth.

I run a long shock leader. Bluebottles sticking to braid? Wow, there mustn't be any swell or wash where you fish. Never been a problem for me or any of the members on here that I've taken beach fishing for jew. Probably because you don't really need to handle the braid at all.

Less give in the system? Yes, that would be true if you are trying to pull a fish against a swell rolling back off the beach, but if you use the swell to your advantage it's not an issue.

Braid not being very abrasion resistant is true, but it really isn't an issue off the beach is it?

Anyway, you stick to what you're doing & I'll stick to what I do. You obviously catch a lot of Jew, although I haven't seen many reports, & we will agree to disagree without feeling the need to launch a personal attack on someone from the safety of a keyboard while hiding behind a computer screen.

Merry Xmas.

Edited December 16, 2016 by Jewhunter

[yting]

Just an observation here and although not terribly constructive, I like how everyone is talking about Jews like they hook up every session. I find this fascinating in itself. I'm still waiting for the 1st one so these small issues are neither here nor there for me yet. Having said that I haven't been putting in the hours lately like I used too so don't deserve one I suppose.

looking forward to eventually contributing to these discussions one day.

 

[JonD]

2 hours ago, yting said:

Just an observation here and although not terribly constructive, I like how everyone is talking about Jews like they hook up every session. I find this fascinating in itself. I'm still waiting for the 1st one so these small issues are neither here nor there for me yet. Having said that I haven't been putting in the hours lately like I used too so don't deserve one I suppose.

looking forward to eventually contributing to these discussions one day.

 

Once you've caught a few you find you don't need to waiste hours chassing them and only target them over a very narrow period of time. 

I used tide and moon phase as well as catch report data from Sydney fish markets to narrow my catch to incredible accuracy. I also used an electronic almanac to get the bite time within 15 mins of its prodiction.

Last year my daughter was keen on getting her first Jew so I promised her a trip north from here. I used the same old almanac from my Sydney days and timed our trip away to spend the first two wet and windy days targeting Jews from the shore. First night and first cast she landed her first Jew at 12 kg followed by another at 10 kg on her second cast.

Second night first cast turned out to be a 3.5kg tailor followed by Jew number three. Third cast she hooked into a 20kg+ fish we ended up loosing in the surf due to not changing the rig after the tailor!!

From then on the weather improved and we headed offshore in our boat for the next two days. On both of those days we bagged out on Jews with very little effort, infact we had to move away from them as they weren't releasing well from the depth we were catching them in.

There are many people who catch Jews regularly with great success and there are people who only put the effort in when it suits them and not the fish.

[uberturtle]

Hey mate not sure if you have bought your reel yet but a few people use finnor offshores off the beach so you could have a look at those too

They have a really loud clicker too if you love your reel singing 

[Mike89]

On 17/12/2016 at 0:11 AM, JonD said:

I used tide and moon phase as well as catch report data from Sydney fish markets to narrow my catch to incredible accuracy. I also used an electronic almanac to get the bite time within 15 mins of its prodiction.

Is this data freely available? Where would I go looking for it?

Great info in this thread, I've got to get back out there targeting them!

[JonD]

40 minutes ago, Mike89 said:

Is this data freely available? Where would I go looking for it?

Great info in this thread, I've got to get back out there targeting them!

You can get the info from the fish markets but I believe there's now a cost for it.

As far as the almanac info the unit I have is no longer available but there are several online and paper versions available.

Another good source for up to date information on species is the frdc site, this should keep most fishermen or women occupied for hours http://frdc.com.au/Pages/home.aspx

 

jon

Edited December 26, 2016 by JonD

[bluefin]

My OPINION, EXPERIENCE !    My wife and I have been using Braid , fire line 14 lb and now Fins 40 G  15 lb for over 10 years off the beach. We changed mainly to get more distance, and to hold bottom due to the drastic line diameter difference causing less drag on the line in the surf. I have not encountered blue bottles YET. Please don't jinx me. We do mainly fish day time. When I removed the fireline, repleced it with 40g, there was nothing wrong with it. I just liked the sound of the 40 G Advertising . Has it lived up to it ? Yes. I love it. I haven't had any trouble with abraision, yes it is more time consuming with knots. I use an FG. But it has achieved what we wanted. It casts a mile,and holds the bottom better.  I don't always need to cast that far, But when the gutter is a bit further out, or the whiting are over a sand bank the other side of the gutter, then it's worth its weight in gold! We no longer live in Sydney, We are now 10 minutes from the beach. and the tackle shop has beach worms, live, all year round. We live in Paradise!!! Seldom do we return home without a feed.   The Fins 40G has no troudle with 4 oz sinkers, but I find the 15 lb trace can "fray"/ "Splinter" badly from casting. 20 lb is good .  Howard. 

[Mike89]

Cheers for the info Jon, I'll chase it up.

Had a session firing out blackie heads/strips on two different rods in the bay tonight hoping for a jew. Managed a short burst of a run as the sun was setting, but nothing otherwise!

Oh how I wish I knew the secrets... This thread (and the stickied thread) are a good start though!

[Fishing_Maniac]

On 12/28/2016 at 1:20 AM, Mike89 said:

Cheers for the info Jon, I'll chase it up.

Had a session firing out blackie heads/strips on two different rods in the bay tonight hoping for a jew. Managed a short burst of a run as the sun was setting, but nothing otherwise!

Oh how I wish I knew the secrets... This thread (and the stickied thread) are a good start though!

Try chucking out a legal blackfish live mate. I've heard people do well on them