Mr Squidy

What a stonker of a Jew, well done mate. FYI this is a good website for allowing you to guestimate your fish weights by measured length Link Puts him at about 25kg.

I always put it down to the fact that your line lights up like a christmas tree, reckon this is more than enough to spook a fish from hitting your bait.

Top Stuff Stuart!!! You been down squidding lately? With all this cold weather i haven't been out for a few weeks now, may have to head down one night next week. Richard

I've only tageted them a few times but have never had any trouble hooking up on circles. As for the crabs look under the ledges at low tide and you'll find them. i usually take an old wire coat hanger along and bend it into a long hook to pull them out of their hidding spots.

I'd be worried about pulling a 1/0 hook. For me, a red rock crab with legs removed on a 5/0 circle, line choice should be ok, lock up the real and hold on. When it reaches a cave (inspite of locking up it usually will) then you free spool untill it swims off, then repeat the proccess a couple of times. A big advantage with the circle i find is you'll get less snags due to the point being less exposed.

Another great page from BOM. Usually pretty reliable from my short experience. They update it very regularly. Link Rich

Wonder if they got a photo with him and a pair of pliers, scissors or cutters??

That’s incredible, was fairly dubious but seems to check out: Australian Museum Link Photo's from Abyss Scuba Hope the big fella makes it out of the bay without tangling with any boats.

Well done on some top fish, especially considering you've scored them landbased How good has this last month been for the Jew?!?! Here's to hoping they stick around for a few more weeks yet. Richard

Definitely depends on the boat. I've got a 4.5m Hinton Fibreglass half cab and it really used to struggle getting up on the plane. Recently added a permatrim and i cant beleive the improvement, feels like a totaly different boat and i absolutley love it No more asking the passengers to move up near the nose to help get it on the plane. Guess the only way to tell how it will work with yours is to take them off an see how it feels. R

Top work Great fish and by the sounds of it well deserved. Jew fishing is a dangerous addiction and there is nothing like your fist Jews to lock you into a life of long,cold, wet nights spent sitting watching the rods and waiting for that big run. They are definitely on big time at the moment in just about all the systems so keep at them over the next month or two until the water starts to cool. Richard

Top effort guys, you got to be happy with that. Richard

Nice catch!! Would love to get a yak but having forked out over 15k getting my boat all set up in the last year or two its hard to justify. R

Reckon your on the money there Grant (no surprise). I have definitely noticed over the last month or so the bigger Jew have really turned up in numbers and the prefered bait has switched from squid to freash fish baits. Richard

Hey Mate, Glad to be able to help you onto to your first Jew After you missed those other bites and it got to 1.30am without a fish in the boat i was starting to think it wasn’t going to be our night but as always with the Jew, patience paid off. I’m glad it grabbed your heavier outfit, i don’t think the 4pound set up you had would have stood up to that, especially when it made to to the anchor rope. Anyway, well done and enjoy the feast. Richard

I believe it relates to genetic variations between the two populations over such a long period of time rather than availability of feed or fishing pressures. Its the same in a lot of species, if two populations are completely separated for an extended period each will develop its own different traits including variations in size, colour, etc. Still, perhaps its time for fisheries to import some fingerlings from SA for their stocking programmes would love to come across a 66kg model!!!! R

So when is Wacko Fishing Charters starting up?? Seriously, that is probably the most amazing days fishing i have heard of in Sydney, just unbelievable. Well done guys. R

Hey Alan, Have you tried contacting the Department of Primary Industires? For fisheries maters their number is 1300 550 474. I imagine they should keep info like that on their records. R

Dont really know the area myself but the NSW Maritime have free maps covering most systems. Click on the links below. Windang Map NSW Maritime Maps R

Ten out of ten for that effort, congratulations. I think your probably selling yourself short at 6kg, check out the following link: Link She certainly looks a healthy specimen so on that basis she's probably more like 7-8kg at least. R

Hi Jamie, 90% of my fishing time is spent pulling school sized Jew out of the Hacking and through summer there is quite a few around. If your landbased one spot well worth the effort is Gymea Bay Baths. Fish for squid until the light goes out then put them out the back and wait. The main problem at this spot is keeping the fish away from the moorings once hooked, you'll find you'll loose a few but anything up to about 90cm is easy enough to put the breaks on. Wallys warf is another good spot landbased and tends to produce some larger fish at times. Only problem there is dodging the crowds using the ramp. The main problem i find landbased at these spots is all the people that go there and the noise and light they create. Drives me mad when people turn up after midnight whilst i'm fishing and start thumping around and shining their lights in the water out of curiosity. There is no coincidence that all the jew i have ever caught at both locations have been after every one else has left for the night. Keep your lights off and keep quite, in the clear water of the hacking Jew spook very very easily and from my experience, the bigger the fish the more cautious they tend to be. If your fisihng from a boat there are lots of spots around, one great peice of advise is not to overlook the effect moorings have as structure. Many of my most productive spots are at the mouths of the deeper bays just along the outer edge of the moorings. Hope some of that helps. R

The Tailor schools are still around but they are certainly not a prolific as the last few years have been. About three weeks ago i was out and Turreal bay was busting up across the whole bay for about 2hrs with schools of 50cm plus tailor mixed with a few rat kings. Great fun. R

Link Sad to read it ended up wasted as garden fertilizer but still one hell of a capture. R

I'd be thinking its a Common Bullseye although its hard to tell for sure without seeing the whole fish in the photo.

Two years back i was spinning off the rocks out at Kurnell with a family frined and lost a diving lure to a snag right in front of us, oh well. 30min later this guy snags on the same section of weed/rock but this time after a few minutes off pulling the lure comes free, what was amazing though was that when it came up it had the first lure hooked through one of the split rings so ended up with both lures back. Definitley a one in a million that one. R