1.22 Meter Kayak Jewfish

[kingfish101]

2022 was my best year ever for catching big Hawkesbury jewfish. 2023 thus far has been the slowest.

There were still some big fish around until May but I had lost my mojo and 4 hookups in succession ended in tears. On 3 occasions the fish got into rough ground and the line parted and on the 4th I locked up the drag to stop the run and had the ignominy of a capsize.

During the past month or so I have caught some just legal models on (small) mullet in Berowra Waters but the serious fish in the river have eluded me with no adrenaline pumping runs for several months.

For this outing I loaded up with 5 big rod caught mullet in the live bait tank and headed for the river.

Fished the usual likely places for 3 hours to no avail and just as I was contemplating the long paddle back to the ramp I got the hit. The fish dropped the mullet initially but I left the bait down and he came back for another bite of the cherry.

The gusty Southerly working against the ebb made for difficult conditions and it was hard going to get the fish off the bottom. After my previous experience I was reluctant to apply too much hurt and risk another swim.

I subsequently found that the leading hook hadn't taken and the trailing hook was deeply embedded below the gills which gave the fish some leeway to manoeuvre. That also made the gaff shot difficult and I stuffed it up so many times I didn't deserve to catch the fish.

After 20 minutes of excitement the fish was finally in the hatch.

Stopped off on the way back at the Twin Beaches to commemorate the catch with a photo and met 2 lovely couples who kindly took several pictures.

This fat 18 kg jewfish was caught with the ebb in full swing on a 30 cm live mullet on a double 9/0 hook rig. Water depth was around 7 meters.

 

[onearmedfisho]

awesome! well done

 

[Burger]

What cracking fish!!! Congrats!

[noelm]

Got to be happy with that, well done! When can I expect my fillet??🤪

[Yowie]

Another great jewie.

Tipping over in a kayak or a canoe is not good, especially with fishing gear on board.

[Isaac Ct]

Great stuff mate, good to see you're ok after your capsize, great fish to get back into your mojo.

Well done.

[XD351]

Awesome mulloway!

[whiskey299]

What a massive unit, congrats!

For someone who has never really tried to target mullet, what bait and rig do you use?

 

[Hoods]

There's that P word again!! Well done on an awesome catch.

Don't fotget to donate the frame to Fisheries for their studies.

[Larkin]

Big fish! Well done! 👍

[bessell1955]

What a fish!!!  

[zmk1962]

Cracker of a fish mate- just shows big baits = big fish (with a lot of downtime in between 😜). Congrats. 
cheers Zoran 

[jenno64]

The mojo is back! Cracker!

[Pickles]

Outstanding result - earned by time, effort & perseverance.

[noelm]

On 10/19/2023 at 1:46 PM, Yowie said:

Another great jewie.

Tipping over in a kayak or a canoe is not good, especially with fishing gear on board.

Saw one tip over in front of my place yesterday, the little Estuary is very popular to launch ‘yaks to fish the ocean, most use the tides to come and go, but one left it a bit late coming back and didn’t time the “sets” surfed for a little bit before going over, it is shallow once the tide drops and I think he got most of his gear back, I gave him a hand to look at get the Kayak sorted again.

[faker]

Well done. How deep water was it at?

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, faker said:

Well done. How deep water was it at?

Posted at 7 metres.

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, noelm said:

Saw one tip over in front of my place yesterday, the little Estuary is very popular to launch ‘yaks to fish the ocean, most use the tides to come and go, but one left it a bit late coming back and didn’t time the “sets” surfed for a little bit before going over, it is shallow once the tide drops and I think he got most of his gear back, I gave him a hand to look at get the Kayak sorted again.

Use to paddle a surf ski, and if I was a little bit out in direction, over I went and donged with the ski.  

Any fish in that river at present?

[noelm]

It fishes really good if you get a high tide on daylight or dark, right where all the families swim, pump Nippers at low tide, or Beach Worms, there’s a sand flat with scattered rocks covered in green weed, attracts all sorts of fish when the tides up. During the day it’s completely dead, except for Poddy Mullet and Nippers, and a hundred swimmers/picnickers/families. It’s an easy spot to fish, you could probably cast from your car……..it’s where mugs like me Flyfish!