King slayer

Hi all, I love how so many have contributed to this, its cool. A few things have come to light on the subject for myself and good fishing buddies and I was wondering if any of you had something to add to these: 1. I catch jewies semi-regularly form the boat in my usual waterways, doing more or less the same thing I have done for a while now. Fish with squid just caught, maybe a yakka, tailor or mullet just for variety; Always around moorings, drop offs, reefs in sheltered deepish water (between 6m and 22m depending on the area, but usually the deepest part of the the immediate area. Now this is all fine and it works..for school jew. I am still rather keen for BIG jew, but haven't cracked the meter yet. I have heard some interesting theories on fishing shallow areas of tidal creeks and sandflats etc in expectation of big jew, but I have been reluctant to give it much of a go. Anyone have any experience with getting Big jew on any particular method or type of location? 2. I have just about completely thrown the tide change theory out the window, having caught many more jew on sunset/sunrise, usually hours away from any tide change. On the beach it seems the general action heats up on the rising tide about half way up and then dies off completely about an hour to half hour before the tide change where we fish, and quite consistently too. Mind you only a smattering of jew have ever graced our presence on the beach, so its hard to say if they also fit the category. Most captures are salmon, sharks, flatties, tailor and occasional suicidal bream who eat live poddies on 10/0 hooks! It does happen. What do you guys reckon? Dave

I put my squid into a zip lock bag as soon as it dies in the tank, then keep it on the ice till home(same treatment if i am using it while out there in the same session. I fill the sink up at home with water and carefully lower the bag in to push all the air out, then seal it at water level.But...dont let any fresh water EVER touch your squid. I freeze it right away, unless i plan to use it within 24hrs, then into the fridge. Ive caught a fair few jew on this frozen GOOD squid, and no matter what anyone tells you, you cant buy it that fresh. Have also found that opening the guts is not a good idea if you leave it in the bag with the rest of the squid as this significantly reduces the quality. My best guess is digestive juices?! hope this helps. i just hate to see a good squid wasted as so many are. Dave

Mate I can offer one bit of advice from my own experience.. The beach might not be the easiest place to locate Jew in a short time period. Myself and best mate have been fishing the beaches for jew for 2 years quite seriously, and it took most of that time to just work out consistency on the the other species like salmon and bream/tailor. Only two jew landed in that whole time between us on the sand, and we go once or twice a week on average. On the other hand I fish in the harbour on our tinnie for jew once every week or two and more often than not I get a few. It might just be me, but it seem a whole lot easier in the harbour to locate them, and if I only had a month to get the monkey off my back, I know what I would do. Good luck though Dave

Cheers guys, I was hoping it was a brown. He was 60cm. caught him on a storm live Brown trout plastic in the river, about 4 casts after a bust off on the same lure and a similar sized fish. Tasted great too. Dave

Can anyone tell me which this is? Caught at thredbo river a few months back Cheers, Dave

saw a few rat kings, salmon and decent whiting further up stream last week, but couldn't get a taker. quite cold up that way now. There are some fish there if you can get them to eat something!

Here's me hooked up on a little king on my Trion 3-6kg a few months back! I had a Diawa CY 3000 on it then, but as you can see, the way it was used/abused eventually required a better model.. Hence the Sol

I can certainly recommend the Pfleuger Trion range. You'll want a 1-3kg or a 2-4kg for that reel I suppose. They come in two peice or one and 6'6, or 7'. I have just purchased a Sol 3000 for my Trion 3-6kg 7' (such a nice reel!). I run 20lb braid. They match well in terms of weight/size and performance.

I hate to burst bubbles..and welcome to fish raider! But this new member may need to alter his site name me thinks??!! a little to close to yours truly perhaps? Dave

Hey Mike, Long time no see mate! Good to see you out in winter too!! Thats a new one for you isn't it? I have been thinking about kings lately since I have not targeted them in some time. Might have a go this weekend!? Mate there are heaps of jew in middle harbour, but fresh squid is key. I have not had a fishless middle harbour jew session in the last 6 outings. No crackers mind you, with most between 55cm and 70cms. All taken on fresh or live squid, some on self caught and carefully frozen squid. I try other baits every time, but they rarely get looked at. I've tried twice in the Hawkesbury recently too. One great session on shop squid and live/fresh tailor in dirty water, and one crap session in dirtier water a few weeks later. Can't go past fresh squid. The arrows have been around in some numbers too lately. Spit did well last weekend for me. Cheers mate. See you out on the water. Dave

You look like you're 3 feet tall and have massive clown feet shaped like sharks!!! You are one of few people I know who can make decent regular catches from the surf, nice one. See you out on the sand sometime.

Sounds like a shark!

Hi all, Over the last year or so I've put in some grueling hours and nearly torn my hair out more than a few times chasing Jew. So I thought it appropriate to share a little more of my recent experiences in the hope of helping someone else to take the next step. I still have a lifetime of learning to do with these fish, so there are no claims of expertise here. I will say though, The difference between my sessions now and one year ago is that I expect to catch Jew, and do so on around 1 in 3 sessions on average, and sometimes have better runs too. That certainly beats how I started at 3 in one year! So a few lessons I've learned recently include the following: They don't only bite on the tide turn! So many people believe this, but as the more experienced ones will know, it's not true at all. In fact I've come to the conclusion that they will bite on the turn more so in the feeding grounds near where they live e.g. wharfs and shallows etc, and more on the running tide in the holding grounds like the back of a deep reef or a channel edge where they are traveling through with the flow. So in short, try lots of different spots based on this theory and you'll soon find some more reliable locations as I have. Screw the moon! The fish don't wait two weeks until big tides to eat. They eat when it's easy to do so and they need to eat most days I'm sure. so fish all the time and you need to work out where they are and put a bait in their path....easier said than done though. I believe the reason the moons crop up as a "Jew time" is because the high tides tend to be around sunset, providing ideal light levels for ambush, which will create one scenario where you could find some on the chew. There are many other scenarios all month long though and they seem to be more affected by a vast combination of factors, like rain for example, which will discolour the water to a certain light level at a different time of day/night at a different point in the system than it would have before the rain came..if that makes any sense. my point/theory here is that I believe that Jew, while not wholly, do partially rely on sight for hunting and being quite slow, with their level of site at a particular level (I'm assuming they have much better night vision than we do) would prefer when feeding by site to do so at a particular light level so it becomes easier for them to ambush. So in short the bright moon will make it hard to hunt in shallows, so I fish deep, with the exception of dirty water, when I'd move down stream from my usual spots till the water colour got a little more favourable, but still green, or even a little brown on top. ok that was a bit of waffle...but hopefully the point is clear enough. Don't believe what people tell you until you've tested it thoroughly and proven it! Including what I'm writing too I suppose..remember, I'm just venting experiences, not professing to be an expert. I've tested all kinds of ideas that didn't work out and caught Jew when I wasn't supposed to by most popular theories (even from prominent experts. I put it down to individualities in fishermen and their techniques, even down to really minor things t you might not consider, like confidence in your ability. It could also just be location specific. So in short you gotta find your own way based on snippets of knowledge that might work and many experimentation's that will mostly fail. If you have the passion coupled with a near idiotic persistence (like me) you will come to turning points in your ability and 'luck'. My last major one for example was my fourth Jew ever, closely followed by numbers 5 through to 10 in a 45 min session on the way back to the ramp after a less than successful night. It was a bright full moon, clear water and three hours into the runout tide. we anchored over a reef that has a small amount of current over it, cast over the Back edge with very lightly weighted squid strips and pulled in one after the other (all small, but who cares at that point right!). I broke a huge drought of about 7 months and it began a string of success that has been getting better and better. Now I can think of a few reasons (according to popular theory)why that night should have not been so good at that time, but it was. The trouble was I got addicted to this spot after a lot of good sessions there and had no where else to go when it was quiet. After a little nudging from my best mate and fishing buddy I have tried other locals and ideas again and what do you know, it's going better than ever. I hope this has provided some of you with at least a little encouragement if nothing else that although it's a hard road to travel, it's a very rewarding one when it goes well from time to time. Happy Jewing Dave

That's a pretty general question! It's always worth it if you're an addict like me.... If you want some good fish, why don't you try off the rocks at Longy? Good kings, drummer and snapper I'm told. I've only been there once and got into some whalers and big pike. good fun though. Try live yakkas under a float. Dave

Hi all, I was hoping to get some slimeys to put out for big kings, possibly around the heads (my tinnie is not for off shore), and was wondering if anyone has seen or heard of them around a particular area in the last few days? Thanks in advance if you can help Dave

Hey, don't dis-count a fishing day just cause the barometer is low! My best mate and fishing companion reminds me often that my best jew to date was taken in 5m of water with a barometer below 1000! It was a short session too. I went out this morning pre dawn in middle harbour. found mullet on the bite at the ramp, squid were easy and we got one jew, all between 3am and 6am. no action for us on the jew front aftyer sun up and the leatheries were on our case by then. By all our experiences, the idea of a low barometer being a reason not to fish is just not worth worrying about. It's probably a factor and no doubt this can be proven, but the weather was awsome and we had a reasonable fish too, so well worth going out. Dave

I almost always hook livies in the nose or shoulders, including poddies which survive well like this when left stationary. When tails go missing I just put the hook in the back half of the fish as Jewgaffer said above the lateral line and bang, the tailor will come in. As far as I know, tailor are the only predator in these waters that attack from behind as a rule. Most others from the head. I know Gofish pete down rigs mullet, but not sure how he rigs it, Maybe bridled with a rubber band I'd say. Dave

What a fight, what an effort. that's fish of a lifetime right there mate. Dave

My mate read an article by Neil Tedesco on squidding and the moon. In his experience, the best (or rather most concentrated) squidding was to be had around the new moon at dawn and dusk, because they have trouble feeding at night with no moon light, and they will always be a little shyer by day with predators around. At the time of the full moon, they find it easier to feed all night and so won't be so ravenous at particular times. This theory is currently under test and observation by myself and Brett (The Calamari Kid). Once you work on it enough, you can get a good number of squid anytime though, I reckon.

My God..... I'd hate to think of how much each jew fish has cost me.. Ouch!

Sounds nice out there, some reds about too. Looking forward to a fish at longy soon.

Myself and mate Brent hit Middle harbour for a fish after work on Friday, The plan was to go out to the squid grounds, load up before sunset and head to a jew spot somewhere. I had already caught a bucket of live yakkas the night before for variety. We eventually got to the ramp after beer and traffic delays at about 4.30pm. The motor wouldnt go into forward and after 1/2 hr of fiddling, I found the culprit, fixed it and we were ready. Noticing the rapidly falling sun, accompanied with a brisk southerly and Brent wanting to only fish until 7pm due to betting commitments on the finals series, I thought it might be wiser to dash home and grab some frozen stock instead. So now its after 5.30 and we're off to our new spot in middle harbour, squid defrosting in anticipation. Found the mark, anchored up and the variety of baits was deployed. Squid strip and gut baits cast off the back of the structure on lighter lines, a nice head below us along with two kicking yakkas. By now the sun had gone down and so as i was trying to organise some glow sticks, brent jumps up in an almighty panic and wrestles his rod out of the holder... He's on! At first he said "feels like a big flattie", but I watched the fight a little longer and we both agreed it was more likely a good jew. It put on a good show half way up, wrapping him around the anchor rope twice and going everywhere but up. Eventually surfaced revealing a big silver streak and our hearts just jumped out of our chests trying to calmly to get it in the net. and net it we did, a lovely 82cm jew, taken on squid guts. Ten minutes later I had calmed down and was just elbowing Brent about how this was the latest of many sessions where he had come on my boat and out fished me. He also took the opportunity to mention he had to go soon... So I reluctantly said, "yeah ok give it about twenty". Trying to get back to those glow sticks and my light rod starts bouncing...Pick it up and..Oh yep, I'm on!! Ha. I thought it was a jew, but clearly smaller than Brents. Up it came and it was a nice one, well nice enough anyway. Didn't measure it but it was around 70cm. Caught on a 1/0 hook, small ball sinker and 90mm squid strip. Both fish taken a good hour or more before the high, about 6.15pm and 6.35pm. As per the last visit to this spot, the livies and baits below the boat on heavier outfits went untouched. New moon. Southerly blowing quite strong. Water temp on surface 16.9 deg Sun set around 6pm. Moon set 5.17pm. Didn't check barometer, but the wind was supposed to be easing and it did by the time we got back in. Total time on the water: under two hours, ramp to ramp. Cheers all, Dave

May I suggest going for squid instead? We went out on Sunday too, for kings. Got heaps of squid in a half hour, then nothing at all for the next four hours. I've heard about and seen some good kings off the headlands lately, so they can't be too far off coming inside.

Honker! Butterflied yakka hey!? mmmmm..... might go fishing tonight!

Good one mate, plenty of fish about it seems. We were haunted by big PJ's too on Sat night. The first one or two we thought were jew, but after loosing a fair few hooks and squid, the fun wore off. Dave