trigunner54 Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Yesterday headed out to Mrs Macquarie Chair fishing from 6:15pm- 8pm (running in tide). Thought i would like some revenge (Got long shank hooks) on the leatherjackets as they torn through my line last time, resulting in losing 10 hooks. Used a running float and casted about 6m's from break wall. First 5mins and a down. Pulled in a wrasse with amazing colours, emerald green and neon red streaks running through it. Chucked it back and continued fishing with another wrasse pulled in. 10mins with no bites, decided to berley up with a can of cat food in a berley bucket and wow, results were there. Just 5mins later, a school of yellow tails turned up, and float goes down every 5 seconds from casting. Managed to pull 2 big ones in at around 25cm long. I was rebaiting my rod when suddenly i saw a leatherjacket about 20cm long grabbing a piece of berley just 2m from breakwall. Around 5mins later, the school was there. About 20+ leatherjackets (counted only those that could be seen from wall) all between 20-30cm+ turned up, all trying to eat the cat food from the berley bucket. Quickly switched rods and fished with no sinkers. BUT.... no matter how many times they swallowed my bait, they got away free, without any hooks up. 10baits later and saw a 35cm eating my prawn. Hooked!!!. But just 3seconds into the fight it still managed to bite my line off. Dam!!!. 3 more baits later and i hooked another, wasn't a terribly big leatherjacket (26cm) but managed a nice fight before getting pulled up and into the keeper net. Spotted another big leather jacket close by and casted to it. Hooked up again!!!. and came up at 31cm. Managed to pull another large one up at 32cm and multiple small ones (chucked back) before they started leaving. It was pretty dark by now and the bites had ended. The next hour or so only produced another undersized snapper so decided to leave. In all of it, had a awesome day, if i had a long net i could of just scooped up heaps of leatherjackets. Also the 1st leatherjacket that went into the net somehow escaped so only 2 keepers for the day. Sorry for unclear picture, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Cooked prawns are a little bit tougher than raw prawns, and squid is tougher again. You only need a small piece of bait, no more than 1 cm long, size 10 longshank hook, or size 8 for those around 30cm or bigger (as you were catching). I use a strip of squid, cut the strips about half a cm wide and a piece about 1 cm long. Hook in towards one end of the bait, bring the point out and into the other end with the point just out of the bait. Maintaining a tight line to the hook reduces bite offs, but when jackets are in a school, first one in will grab the bait and try to swallow it straight away to beat the others. When the jackets are biting and hard to hook, pulling the bait away a short distance, a few cms, may induce the jacket to swim after the bait, grab it and be easier to hook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trigunner54 Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 Thanks Yowie for the information, but if you have a piece of bait that small, wouldn't they not bite? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldfella Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Hi Trigunner; Another thing to remember is not to get any tiny pieces of bait on your line. The jackets will go for that too. A bait just big enough to cover the bend of the hook is the way to go. Jackets are beautiful eating but cook them simply. Shallow fried or grilled. An ideal fish to feed the kids as there are no loose bones floating around. Eat one side, pull out the backbone and keep going. Cheers. Oldfella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattGb1989 Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 You really do learn something new everyday. Would have never thought that those ugly looking things would be good eating, will have to keep that in mind. Keep trying bud you will get your sweet sweet revenge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldfella Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Hi Matt; Maybe I should clarify my comment about frying. I DID NOT mean drowning the things in beef fat. ( Would completely ruin them) What I meant was just a little canola or olive oil in the pan to stop them sticking. If you are using a non stick pan you could get away with just a spray of cooking oil. Personally I prefer a neutral flavoured oil like canola or rice bran. Grape seed is good too. Either way, jackets ,chips (Oven baked if you prefer and salad is food of the GODS. Especially with a chilled glass of white to wash it down. Cheers. Oldfella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trigunner54 Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 Oldfella, thanks for the cooking tips :D, ill try that next time (already cooked mine haha) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 17 hours ago, trigunner54 said: Thanks Yowie for the information, but if you have a piece of bait that small, wouldn't they not bite? Jackets will find the bait, no matter how small. The size I mentioned is what I use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 dunno if this helps but I used to catch them on a blackfish rig baited with prawn and also on a bait jig with bait on the hooks the bait only needs to be small as previously stated Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trigunner54 Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 dirvin21, yeah im using a blackfish rig to catch them haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattGb1989 Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 On 12/03/2017 at 4:55 PM, Oldfella said: Hi Matt; Maybe I should clarify my comment about frying. I DID NOT mean drowning the things in beef fat. ( Would completely ruin them) What I meant was just a little canola or olive oil in the pan to stop them sticking. If you are using a non stick pan you could get away with just a spray of cooking oil. Personally I prefer a neutral flavoured oil like canola or rice bran. Grape seed is good too. Either way, jackets ,chips (Oven baked if you prefer and salad is food of the GODS. Especially with a chilled glass of white to wash it down. Cheers. Oldfella. You had me till you mentioned white wine. Nice red or a crisp cold beer is more my style but sounds amazing non the less. Now to get away from fishing the George's so I feel ok about eating my catch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldfella Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Hi Matt; Nothing the matter with a beer or a red. This time of year personally I would choose a light red or a rose. Something you could chill. Room temperature reds at this time of year no way!! I live in Tassie and yes, a room temperature red in the middle of winter is OK but CERTAINLY NOT when it is 100 degrees in the water bag. No way a room temperature red here today either. Launceston Temperature 30 degrees. Have what you like with it mate. One thing I ain,t is a wine snob. Cheers. Oldfella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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