Coffs Harbour Weekend

[Coach]

Went out of Coffs to catch up with some mates and do some fishing..

Here is a rundown of what happened

Saturday Morning

Went out on Charter and went out to the Fad, where there was a small school of Dolphin fish running around about a metre mark

Tried Yakka's, strips and cubed baits, jigg's.. they just wern't biting.

headed back to the lighthouse for a shot at the kingies.. Everyone fished bait, I just fished livies.

My livie goes nuts and the blokes rod next to me buckles over..

A jewie about a metre and a half comes up to the boat (I was robbed I tell ya!!)

A few kingies and "fuselleers" come up to the boat and everyone is hitting into them with strip baits.

I still hold onto my Livie.. waiting for the big one..

still waiting..

waiting..

livies goes a bit nuts.. but nothing hits it..

All day and not one fish to me!!! but that's fishin I guess.

Saturday Night

Head back to shore and have a power kip and find myself on a beach (about three beaches north of the harbour), spinning those big soft plastic Stom shad things..

Bait was working in close and i was just jigging it though them slowly.

I would take a cast, jig back.. walk twenty metres up the beach..

then cast again.. jig back..then another twenty paces.

ened up doing a few laps of the beach (bait was everywherre)

at about twenty to nine (been jigging for around 3 hours now)

I feel a slight bump...

Still asleep, I look down to wonder why the reel isn't turning anymore..

then all hell breaks loose.

The Jewie takes a long run out to sea and then starts arcing back and forth..

everytime i got him close, out he would go again.

it wasn;t a fast run like a kingie, more of a mid paced charge.. like being attached to a bulldozer.. but faster than a shark

the thing that really got me was the headshakes.. not a rat-a-tat like you get on smaller fish, but you could actually feel the head moving back and forth.

Ten minutes later he is close, but I had left my torch in the car and was having difficulty trying to see him or the angle of my line

There was a deep gutter right on the edge of the beach and he was holding in that, running up and down ( i had covered an area of around 50 metres two or three times by this stage)

All of a sudden, line snaps and he is gone. ( I think he was trying to rub my line against the top of the gutter and he won)

Only thing your could hear was my knees knocking...

In hindsight...I don't really think I got any control on that fish with 8Kg line,

He wanted to get into that gutter and when i cam close to getting him up and over. he would just put it in low gear and drag me back in.

I am going to up it to 10Kg now and hope my casting distance doesn't go down too much.

I'm addicted to this jewfishing thing now, am gunna start going down to the northern beaches after dark for a few hours of spinning I think.

Sunday Morning

Next day, I drove onto Boambee beach for a fish, the wind was up and there was heaps of weed in the water.

Found a dead snapper on the sand, he must have been nearly 60-70cm's.. not sure what killed him, but its good to see fish that size are out there!!

Wind proved too much, so went out to the creek for a chance at a flattie and a bream. Got nothing so decided that the meat tray in the fishermanc club had better odds.

Sunday afternoon

Bought 10 tickets and won a tray of prawns, a tray of chicken and a ham.

Took prawns down to the Co-op and ate them whilst beurlied them up for some trev's.

there were a coupld of 1Kg models there (fun on bream gear) but it got emotional with a 2Kg+ model started swimming around.

Didn''t do as well as expected in the end so packed up and drove home.

Spent the next six hours driving comtemplating my next Jewfish spin session!!!

(I'm well and truley hooked now!!)

Cant wait for the next weekend!!!

Edited December 12, 2005 by Coach

[clutch]

Excellent report Coach!

Hard luck on that charter .......and the beach Jew

I''d up my line weight too....I find it very frustrating getting busted off

.......maybe disappointing is a better word

Anyhow, better luck next time and keep the reports comin

[Guest madsmc]

Nice trip report there Coach.

Shame about the charter results though, and the beach jew. It's always a rush to hook up on the big one, and heart breaking to feel/hear/see the line fail. Happened to me on my first big flathead, and haven't managed to get one anywhere near as big since.

Just a thought on the rig your using. Are you using a leader at all, or just tying the shad straight onto the running line? If you don't want to upsize the running line you could keep the one you've got, but tie on a leader of say 10-15kg. Keeps your casting distance and gives you a stronger connection around the head/gill region on the jewie.

Hope you get the big one soon mate.

Shane

Edited December 12, 2005 by madsmc

[Spanker]

As Clutch said excellent report there mate. I know what you mean by actually being able to see the blighters spoils the fishing. I had a seafood platter on a restaurant where you through the scraps in the water, which was boiling with enormous bream. I came back later and had a go from a nearby jetty but ended up fooling around instead of applying the usual craft.

I find beach fisging so frustrating as my line is endlessly being washed around with the current and casting is never ending. If you throw out in a gutter does your line stil wash in?

Dan

[Coach]

I find beach fisging so frustrating as my line is endlessly being washed around with the current and casting is never ending. If you throw out in a gutter does your line stil wash in?

Dan

I used to have the same problem, but was using normal snapper leads.. A mate of mine started me using those leads that are shaped like a Pyrmaid.. and they hold bottom a heap better.

I gotta admit, I have and prefer the boat.. but sometimes it nice just to go out for a spin without the hassles of towing, cleaning etc etc..

Just a thought on the rig your using. Are you using a leader at all, or just tying the shad straight onto the running line? If you don't want to upsize the running line you could keep the one you've got, but tie on a leader of say 10-15kg. Keeps your casting distance and gives you a stronger connection around the head/gill region on the jewie.

Shane

I am also debating that as well, (A lot of thinking happened on the 6 hour drive!!!) gotta admit i was a bit unprepared on this trip (left torch in car, had mobile in pocket so couldn't wade out etc etc).. will probably go the 10Kg anyway as it gives me a bit more "go" on some of my snapper reef's... but will try casting with the leader as you suggested. (do you think about a metre should do it? or can I go shorter??)

Edited December 12, 2005 by Coach

[Guest madsmc]

I am also debating that as well, (A lot of thinking happened on the 6 hour drive!!!) gotta admit i was a bit unprepared on this trip (left torch in car, had mobile in pocket so couldn't wade out etc etc).. will probably go the 10Kg anyway as it gives me a bit more "go" on some of my snapper reef's... but will try casting with the leader as you suggested. (do you think about a metre should do it? or can I go shorter??)

A metre to one and a half metres for the leader should be fine.

Good luck with it mate.

Shane

[Coach]

Update to the story....

(Apologies for the length, i have had company sponsored drinkies today)

I went back around 4 weeks later, this time with slightly heavier line, trace and a head torch...

(made a mental note to remove wallet, phone and anything else that didnt like getting wet)

Same place, near same tide and three hours later i looked at my watch...9:30, about the same time as the last one hit..

sent out a cast with a "well, its now or never" prayer and slowly retreived it in..

nothing..

sent another cast...

nothing

and another

and another

Oh.. and another...

Started to wonder why I spend so much time on a beach...

debated the meaning of life, the complexities of wemon,the life cycle of a star.. the beauty of burbon etc etc...then.. and you guessed it..

Bump..

Again he hits, 5 minutes after the exact time of the last hit four weeks earlier.. He does the same run up the beach with me following behind. whilst doing the whole "hide in the gutter" thing..

Judging by the head shakes he was smaller than the last one, but still had a lot of power..

after 5 minutes, i rembered that i had heavy line and a trace so i upped the drag a little more.

soon after, I was running into the surf looseing the drag as he took a run that I didn;t think he had in him.

Ten minutes of "Gently Gently" later and he was in sight

Two more minutes of prayer and "come to pappa" (Said repetivatily) and he was on the sand, as I ran to grab him, a wave hit me..tangling the line around my watch band.. \

I saw the Jewie flash before my eyes, fearing a line snap.. i took no chances and jumped on him.

With Sand in every orrifice, and being soaking wet i dragged my first beach jewie and my first Jewie on Plastics out of the surf...all 18Lb of him..

I think I discovered the answer to the "meaning of life" question!!!

Apologies for all in the coffs area who were disturbed on the night of the 27th by a lone fisherman howling at the moon and doing what could only be best described as "the chicken Dance".

Just to add to this ...just another quick story, I picked up another, same size a few nights later, but this time on bait on a new rig.. Now bait is great..but i think spinning on softplastics is just that little better I think!!!

I gotta move up north!!!!

Thanks all for the tips, they were gold!!!

particullary on the trace as I dont normally spin with it and I never realised how sharp their gills were until i tried to pick him up by them!!!

[Martin]

Hey Coach, top report and congratulations on that jew, a well deserved fish after so much effort.

What beach were you fishing?

I was up there on holidays from the 10th Dec to the 24th Dec and fished Diggers beach as I was at the resort Aanuka Beach . I only caught bream and whiting.

Also took a charter on that 60ft Areo Cat to come back wit a dolphin fish on a livie at the fad.

Cheers

[OWZAT]

Went out of Coffs to catch up with some mates and do some fishing..

Here is a rundown of what happened

Saturday Morning

Went out on Charter and went out to the Fad, where there was a small school of Dolphin fish running around about a metre mark

Tried Yakka's, strips and cubed baits, jigg's.. they just wern't biting.

headed back to the lighthouse for a shot at the kingies.. Everyone fished bait, I just fished livies.

My livie goes nuts and the blokes rod next to me buckles over..

A jewie about a metre and a half comes up to the boat (I was robbed I tell ya!!)

A few kingies and "fuselleers" come up to the boat and everyone is hitting into them with strip baits.

I still hold onto my Livie.. waiting for the big one..

still waiting..

waiting..

livies goes a bit nuts.. but nothing hits it..

All day and not one fish to me!!! but that's fishin I guess.

Saturday Night

Head back to shore and have a power kip and find myself on a beach (about three beaches north of the harbour), spinning those big soft plastic Stom shad things..

Bait was working in close and i was just jigging it though them slowly.

I would take a cast, jig back.. walk twenty metres up the beach..

then cast again.. jig back..then another twenty paces.

ened up doing a few laps of the beach (bait was everywherre)

at about twenty to nine (been jigging for around 3 hours now)

I feel a slight bump...

Still asleep, I look down to wonder why the reel isn't turning anymore..

then all hell breaks loose.

The Jewie takes a long run out to sea and then starts arcing back and forth..

everytime i got him close, out he would go again.

it wasn;t a fast run like a kingie, more of a mid paced charge.. like being attached to a bulldozer.. but faster than a shark

the thing that really got me was the headshakes.. not a rat-a-tat like you get on smaller fish, but you could actually feel the head moving back and forth.

Ten minutes later he is close, but I had left my torch in the car and was having difficulty trying to see him or the angle of my line

There was a deep gutter right on the edge of the beach and he was holding in that, running up and down ( i had covered an area of around 50 metres two or three times by this stage)

All of a sudden, line snaps and he is gone. ( I think he was trying to rub my line against the top of the gutter and he won)

Only thing your could hear was my knees knocking...

In hindsight...I don't really think I got any control on that fish with 8Kg line,

He wanted to get into that gutter and when i cam close to getting him up and over. he would just put it in low gear and drag me back in.

I am going to up it to 10Kg now and hope my casting distance doesn't go down too much.

I'm addicted to this jewfishing thing now, am gunna start going down to the northern beaches after dark for a few hours of spinning I think.

Sunday Morning

Next day, I drove onto Boambee beach for a fish, the wind was up and there was heaps of weed in the water.

Found a dead snapper on the sand, he must have been nearly 60-70cm's.. not sure what killed him, but its good to see fish that size are out there!!

Wind proved too much, so went out to the creek for a chance at a flattie and a bream. Got nothing so decided that the meat tray in the fishermanc club had better odds.

Sunday afternoon

Bought 10 tickets and won a tray of prawns, a tray of chicken and a ham.

Took prawns down to the Co-op and ate them whilst beurlied them up for some trev's.

there were a coupld of 1Kg models there (fun on bream gear) but it got emotional with a 2Kg+ model started swimming around.

Didn''t do as well as expected in the end so packed up and drove home.

Spent the next six hours driving comtemplating my next Jewfish spin session!!!

(I'm well and truley hooked now!!)

Cant wait for the next weekend!!!

Hey coach ,

A lot of fellas now are loading up their reels with 50Lb Braid , with a 50/60Lb mono Leader ( Not Me As Yet !).

50 LB feels Like I2 Lb mono , and my son who has been using it for a few weeks now has been duly converted .

Perhaps you should consider this yourself.

mick

[Coach]

Hey coach ,

A lot of fellas now are loading up their reels with 50Lb Braid , with a 50/60Lb mono Leader ( Not Me As Yet !).

50 LB feels Like I2 Lb mono , and my son who has been using it for a few weeks now has been duly converted .

Perhaps you should consider this yourself.

mick

yeah, its a thought....and I do now have a reel loaded with it,

but I gotta admit, I like fishin the lighter gear and am not a big fan of casting braid in the surf at night. (Too many tangles!!!)

I will pack the heavy reel when I'm up your way next, it seems like you guys have a good jewie population...Might go up and make a weekend of it in a few weeks!!!

[Guest madsmc]

Congrats on the jews Coach!

Great to hear when a plan comes together. Can't wait to read the report of your next one as well.

Shane