Micro jigging in upper Parramatta river

[lhan]

Hi raiders,

To make it clear first, this report would contain photos from some previous sessions I did. I just had a very good session today and several good ones in the past which I though this method might be worth sharing. So please don't use this as a reference for winter fishing at this time as it's really the colder the harder. However fish are definitely around still, so tight lines 

I took some time off due to a quite heavy flu recently. And with the fever gone and the sun came out, I think it would be a good idea to stretch a bit, find a bank and cast along. Packed light with a few hard bodies, jigs and my trustworthy Abu veritas ultralight rod I just randomly stopped by Gladys bay in Gladesville. My very first time here so no expectations.

Tied on a atomic 38mm deep diving crankbait first, I wanna get a feeling how deep the water is and what's in there - it turned out even the tide started to run in, water is still quite shallow around 0.5m - 1m within 20m from the bank. Good news is it's not too snaggy even there're oysters everywhere near the shore, seems very breamy! However another 10 casts of crankbait didn't score anything. So I decided to switch to a small 7g metal jig I've been using a lot recently, a flathead magnetic I would say.

First cast (prob 2x further than crankbait), jig hit the water and take the bottom in ~2 seconds, one-pitch jerk off the bottom, bang - an unusual tension straightened the line and rod bent beautifully. Gave it another strike and I started to reel it back. It's a good fish as I can tell but with a pretty locked jigging drag, it's just desperately playing with my nicely curved rod. There's not much run from it when I though it must be a flathead. But when I finally drag it out of water, it's a big whiting! My first whiting on metal jigs and my new PB at 35cm! It looks bigger irl I promise!

Just keep casting around the same area and within a couple of tries I got two flathead ~40cm in a row. They didn't fight much as I kept their head well under water until I have to beach them but still quite satisfying catching fish in a burst. All the same techniques, one pitch jerk once or twice, let it sink, repeat. Essentially the same SP technique but with jigs on tension fall.

After these two I moved a bit and got several good hit but no hook up. After a big cast the line was caught by wind and sit slack on a tree, I tried to reel everything back quickly but didn't realise the jig could actually, by its momentum, swing in the air and wrap around the tree branch... I'll definitely miss you, I lost your brother to a monster flathead but I lost you to a even bigger tree, RIP.

Changed to another 7g jig in a different profile - a long stick type, I'll give a few more casts before calling it a day. It got some interests and even bites, but definitely not as popular as the previous one. Tried to mix up with a bit of slow shaking retrieve after jerk to mimic a fleeing bait and maybe just only 3 meters from my feet, boom, big hit, heavy weight, skull drag it and another flathead!

Measured at 50cm, this one really gave some weight to my hand! Happy enough and feeling revived, I called it a day!

I essentially started micro jigging because of windy days in the past several weeks but it turns out very effective especially on flathead, even in really shallow water. Here are some I got from previous sessions:

A 39cm flathead from blues point on 28g jig...

And interestingly, a bream...

 

There're a couple of flatheads/tailor I didn't take photo at that time but hopefully the above will give you enough interests to give it a go

In terms of gear, I just use normal 7ft light rod pair with whatever reel with pe0.6/pe0.8 braid. I use leader from 6lbs-10lbs depending on the situation but tbh the target species won't bother heavier leaders anyway. The jigs are from 5g-10g, which I found perfect for 0.5-3m depth of water.

Hope you enjoy this report and I'd be more than happy to discuss anything about micro jigging.

Tight lines,

Henry

[Little_Flatty]

Great report @lhan and interesting to read about a kind of fishing that isn’t much discussed here. Not many bread and butter fish are targeted on micro jigs, but they seem to like them. I have a couple in my tackle box, but have only caught undersized pinkies on them so far. Should give them another go.

[Larkin]

Good mix of fish Henry.
Been seeing a few people fish with micro jigs lately. Catching snapper, whiting and even a meter plus Jew.

[kantong]

great stuff mate, some quality fish that would make many fishos smile

[linewetter]

You're inspiring me to pull out microjigs and give them a go.  I bought some a long time ago when I didn't know much about fishing but have hardly used them...maybe only a handful of times.  But damn seeing your success, I have to give them an honest go!  

[bessell1955]

It appears that micro jigs bring home the prize.

[nutsaboutfishing]

Nice catch!!

 What brand and weight micro jigs do you use?

[lhan]

Just now, nutsaboutfishing said:

Nice catch!!

 What brand and weight micro jigs do you use?

I was mostly using metal addict type 6 10g (and 7g knockoff) when this report posted. But I find they all work the same at the right time. Where I fish often is pretty shallow flats (Morrison bay, max depth at ~1.5m land based reach I think) so 10g is the heaviest I would use. This is also the max lure weight my ultralight gear could cast. Hope this helps.

[nutsaboutfishing]

44 minutes ago, lhan said:

I was mostly using metal addict type 6 10g (and 7g knockoff) when this report posted. But I find they all work the same at the right time. Where I fish often is pretty shallow flats (Morrison bay, max depth at ~1.5m land based reach I think) so 10g is the heaviest I would use. This is also the max lure weight my ultralight gear could cast. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice

[nutsaboutfishing]

4 hours ago, lhan said:

I was mostly using metal addict type 6 10g (and 7g knockoff) when this report posted. But I find they all work the same at the right time. Where I fish often is pretty shallow flats (Morrison bay, max depth at ~1.5m land based reach I think) so 10g is the heaviest I would use. This is also the max lure weight my ultralight gear could cast. Hope this helps.

Hi just one more question, what type of retrieve do you use?

[lhan]

3 hours ago, nutsaboutfishing said:

Hi just one more question, what type of retrieve do you use?

one pitch jerk - basically jerk the rod once and at the same time crank once. Let the jig does tension fall till it hit the bottom (usually less thanba second with 7ft rod&small reel retrieve rate). Repeat this basically. Be aware of the bottom to adjust when you do jerk during the fall. Can also mix it with a couple more jerks/fast retrieve/slow retrieve.