Setup for jewfish

Apart from generally helping with fishing duties, it means I can approach the water without feeling nervous. I can see the waves coming in, I can avoid getting wet by an incoming wave, which keeps me comfortable and warm. A head torch is also handy. Set up for a big night of fishing for mulloway. Mulloway can be found in many parts of the ocean, estuaries and rivers, but a reliable place to fish for them is on a sandy surf beach.

A sandy, open beach exposed to the surf. So if you want to catch mulloway find yourself a sandy surf beach. Mulloways love to feed in gutters running parallel to the beach. Gutters are simply deeper areas of water along the coast. Gutters are not unusual or special. To find a gutter, look for deeper, darker water, and areas where breaking waves reform and become flatter and wider. Gutters can be right on the shore, surprisingly close, and can also be further out at a distance that is too far to cast to.

Find a gutter you can cast to and target it with your casts. Try closer to the shore and try further away from the deepest point. Avoid areas with seaweed. Even during the day seaweed is a major pain. Seaweed will cause you to give up prematurely. The diagram below shows a cross sectional view of a beach with a gutter. The gutter is where you will catch mulloway. Even gutters very close to the shore are productive.

This is where a beach that you can drive on is perfect. Cruise along, find your spot, and set up shop ready for a mulloway catching session.

Find a gutter and throw your mullie into it. Mulloway will also devour lures, especially soft plastics, but for a land based fisherman bait is the best bet. I catch mulloway on standard surf rigs. A set of gang hooks on a wire trace and a big star sinker to keep the rig out in the surf. No special arrangements, no sliding sinkers, no dedicated live bait setups.

Slap my mullie or pilchard on and throw it in. Wire trace is handy in case you hook up a shark. Bring rod holders. I use PVC piping shoved into the sand. Cast your bait out, put your rod in the rod holder and sit back in your chair.

Reel in to check your bait every now and then. Keep an eye on your rod. Let it hang out in the surf and enjoy the night. Using this technique you can use more than one rod to improve your chances. Hang out a couple of rods, leave them in rod holders, sit back and relax. The last thing you need is a tangled mess to destroy your motivation. Use a star sinker heavy enough to suit the conditions and keep an eye on the line to avoid it getting too slack.

If your reel is spooled with braid, attach several rod lengths worth of mono to use as a leader. Make sure you add enough length of mono so that, when casting, the rod is relaxed by the time the knot passes through the guides, otherwise the knot will violently smack into the guides as it passes through, wearing out the knot and guides. Learn how to do the FG knot and use it for your mono to braid connection since it is very slim and easy to pass through guides.

Casting distance can be an issue when fishing for mulloway if the gutter is far from shore. The braid spooled reel with mono leader is a good setup for casting distance. You get the advantage of light, further casting line from the braid and the improved tangle resistance of mono.

Mono line is also more abrasion resistant and provides some shock absorption which reduces the risk of a break off. For casting distance you want a large surf rod, with oversized guides which help reduce friction as line spools off your reel.

You want your reel filled to capacity to reduce the amount of lip that the line has to pass over when spooling off. Breakaway casting sinkers can be used to improve casting distance and help you cast deep into mulloway catching territory.

These sinkers hold your hooks captive during the cast. This prevents the tumbling action you usually get between hook and sinker when casting, minimizing wind resistance and maximizing energy transfer to linear momentum.

Net result is further casting. The impact with the water causes the sinker to release the hooks, after which it behaves like a normal hook and sinker arrangement. In fact your chances are zero. Summer and closely either side of summer is the best time for mulloway.

Mulloway are strong fighters when fresh on the hook. They tire quickly but you need to give them room at first to prevent breaking off. The drag from the backwash can break you off so take care.

Try to pull it in with the help of a wave, then use a gaff or grab it by the trace to pull it up the beach. Mulloway are delicious. Mild flavoured, soft, tender white meat. Smaller ones are not ideal — they are called soapies due to their soapy texture.

Medium sized fish are called schoolies and are the perfect size for eating. The legal minimum size of mulloway in Western Australia at the time of writing this is 50cm. Mulloway freezes well and will last a few months in the freezer. The morning after a successful night of mulloway fishing. Checkout outbackjoe on facebook. How to Catch Australian Salmon. How to Catch Squid.

How to Catch Barramundi. How to Drive on Sand. I use a mullie or pilchard on gang hooks. I suppose I should update the article with more specifics on the rig, will do that one day. As a backup you could buy a whole fish from somewhere on the way home. Woa nice work, prize catch. That would be a black jewfish I think, close relative of the mulloway, it would be rare to get a mulloway that far north. Nevertheless highly prized. Good eating too. Davemmm Posted December 5, I use a Penn spinfisher combo that goes alright.

I bought it second hand but I think new they are well within your price range. Posted December 5, edited. G'day Nic I mainly fish from boats for Jewies and I would strongly recommend a Shimano Baitrunner c and a Wilson 7 foot 8 kg 7ft live fibre Texalium. I know of two instances where Okumas have broken down on first runs.

For the surf you will need a longer rod - beach Jew fishos can help you there. Edited December 5, by roosterman. Hooked-Up Posted December 5, Mondo Rock Posted December 7, Posted December 7, Nik - go the baitrunner Dorado 2 Posted December 7, Posted December 7, edited.

Cheers Edited December 7, by Dorado 2. Hi Guys, Thanks for all the great information. How do you find out if a rod is built on a blanks? Again, thanks for all the comments Nik. Posted December 8, edited.

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Register a new account. Sign in Already have an account? Sign In Now. Fortunately though, my keen fishing mate Todd was much more generous. Todd the Mulloway Man as I call him was not only prepared to share his secrets with me, but also took me out for a couple of sessions near his home at Newcastle.

Here we put his techniques into action and he shared many of his secrets with me to pass on to you. In that time he has caught over 80 mulloway, so he is clearly doing something right.

Even more interesting is that not all of his tactics are out of the textbook, yet they work and work very well. This article summarises the generous information Todd shared with me. So too are relatively short, deep gutters up to about m long or so with a north and south entry and exit point. These locations are found along a number of exposed NSW beaches and are worth targeting during the peak times of dusk and into the evening.

Holes that have been channelled out next to structure such as headlands, isolated rocks or even shipwrecks are also very worthy locations. Such formations attract baitfish and in turn the bread and butter fish such as mullet, whiting and bream that these larger predators like to target. Very different, yet arguably more consistent and productive locations are steeply shelving beaches, particularly those located close to river and estuary mouths.

It is this type of formation, from Blacksmiths Beach at the mouth of Lake Macquarie to Birubi Beach just south of Nelson Bay, that Todd and other switched-on anglers have found to be so successful. One of the key reasons for the success of these beaches is their proximity to the big estuaries along this strip, which act as both a nursery and feeding ground. Unlike a lot of anglers who choose high tide so that the water fills deep holes and gutters, Todd prefers to fish the low tide in his local Newcastle beaches.

This is because he finds it easier to read the underwater structure along the steeply shelving beaches at this time. Choosing a location along these steep beaches can be difficult for anglers unfamiliar with the area or how to read the water. Apart from the shore break, they may just have one back break and can be harder to read. For this reason, Todd finds that spotting deeper pockets of water or holes and other structure can be easier at low tide.

At this time, he will closely examine the unbroken waves and identify areas where the water is darker and where the waves partly break out further in shallower water, or simply change shape the waves become higher or lower indicating a change in bottom structure.

Other things Todd looks for are the steepest decline in the sand from the shore as an indication of deep water close to shore. He adds that there are also some permanent deeper holes along these beaches, which are best spotted from on top of the dunes in the middle of the day.

Todd likes to fish with set rods as it allows the fish to run with the baits and if you use the right hooks, the fish will usually hook themselves. That said, once the tip of the rod has buckled over indicating the fish has turned and run with the bait , Todd will grab the rod, tighten the drag about a quarter to half turn to its normal fishing position, and set the hooks by striking hard.

In terms of positioning his baits, he generally sets his three rods about 10m apart. That means you need to have a few long rod holders that are set firmly in the sand.

Todd likes to use a variety of baits to cover his bases on any particular night. His favourite baits include king worms thick enough to fit over the eye of the hook , fresh squid, whole yellowtail and live whiting.