Quest for the mighty Mulloway [Updated 20/01/22]

[Restyle]

G'day raiders,

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be able to catch a quality jewie, a quality jewie for me is ticking of a 1m specimen.  I'm also going to document my  trips along with tactics, rigs, bait etc. My goal is to also be able to catch them more constantly. 

I have caught 3 Jewfish before I have made this post all of which around that 60-70cm mark, and ill be taking a more open & serious approach on them, as the tactics I have used previously have not worked for me. The tactics I have used previously have been

- allowing the fish to run with the bait with ether loose drag or bait runner reels

- leader too heavy for the area I'm fishing

- persisting at the same spots constantly with no result because others have caught fish there. this is basically most of the bridges in the Georges river

one point I have learnt is if you want to catch jewfish consistently, you need to take them serious. Don't just head down to a local bridge or drop-off and throw a line out. 

 

Below are the methods I use currently to catch jewfish. I have listed them from both the kayak/boat & what I do when I fish from land as well. I'm yet to find a spot that suits the style of fishing I find successful with jewfish from the kayak but I have had some successful trips. One of my goals are to catch these fish more constantly from land & beach. 

 

Tackle, Rigs & Bait

Everyone has their own way of successfully catching jewfish and over the past few months of now targeting them I have my tactics pretty much nailed down. To start with gear I use on the kayak is a 7'2ft Shimano Terez with a braided line rating of 15-30lb paired with this is a Shimano Stradic 5000 spooled with 20lb braid.

My land based setup is a Diawa sensor surf 132S with a bait runner ci4 8000 spooled with 30lb braid. I do not leave the bait runner on all the time, I use it to feed line out to get the bait moving

my rigs are a twin hooked, owner 7/0 & a 9/0 for the bottom hook, 20lb leader. space the hooks a little further apart then the size of the bait you'll be using so the bait sits naturally and not curled up. The bait I have successful on has been whole 'Lolli pop' squid. In the past I thought flesh baits & mullet would be more successful then squid in the mid to upper sections of the Georges due to the lack of squid up there.

 

Tactics 

My tactics while fishing from the kayak is to use as light of a sinker as possible to get the bait close to the bottom & open the bail arm of the reel for a few minutes to let the current take the bait and then close it. Let it sit for 5 or so minutes. Most of my fish have taken the bait a minute or two after the bail arm has been closed. I like to fish about an hour before slack tide and a couple hours on the outgoing but this can vary on the bite activity. I have had much more success on the high tide turn then the low tide turns. 

From land I do a similar method but I use a 180gram sinker to keep the line in the area I'm casting and I still open the bail arm to let the bait drift with the current. try to avoid your sinker getting dragged along the bottom by the current, but I have also had success with just leaving casting it out into a good drop-off.

some spots have good structure where the tactics from the kayak will also work. long jetty's, points etc

From the beach tides aren't too big of a deal as there wont be as much current moving compared to rivers and bays, Find a good gutter and fish that. As the tide changes the gutter my get too shallow or the fish my move to a different area. Being mobile is key on the beach.

 

Location
 

I've had my success fishing along deep drop-offs in the mid to upper sections of the Georges river, especially the edge of mangroves that drop off into 5 meters. 

One of the great things about fishing is sometimes methods some may use may not work for others and there is never a wrong way with catching a fish & the exact same can be said with some spots. Everyone has their go to spots for certain species weather that be a sand flat, drop off's, man made structure like brides, groynes, break walls or a beach

The point I'm making is don't heavily fish 1 or 2 spots that one of your friends have caught, or even a spot you've seen someone catch fish from on Facebook or YouTube. Although there is nothing wrong with trying these areas but if you don't have any fish or bites in a few trips & you feel like your doing everything right you can ether try new methods like fishing it at different times, tides etc or just forget about the spot and spend some time to go out and try some new areas out, have a checklist and use apps like Navionics to see if the spot your thinking about has a drop-off, hole or a channel you can cast baits into. Its a lot of trial and error but once you find that honey hole the weeks or even months of trial and error from various locations will pay off.

 

Future plans

 

My plans for future jewfish fishing is to master the beach & land based fishing. I do not fish beaches very often but id like to fish them more often in the future because the quality of fish are generally better in both size and flesh quality. Trying out baits like beach worms which I have heard work well on jewies and maybe even live whiting.

id also like to constantly catch jewies from land as well. I have caught a few and have had a few hook-ups & a a lot of dropped fish as well. I have a list of quite a few spots & I'm always looking for more. Its just a matter of looking on google maps and Navionics & checking if the tactics I use from the kayak can work at these spots as a moving bait is a more natural presentation then something that's anchored down  

Id like to also catch legal fish more regularly which seems more achievable from the beach then in the rivers.

 

Pervious trips

 

17/1/2022 -     George's river      - jewfish caught 10:45pm @80cm                                             - Tide; 10:31pm high

8/1/2022 -       Stockton beach  - jewfish caught 11pm @110cm                                                  - Tide; 1:44am high

6/12/2021 -     George's river      - jewfish caught 11:50pm @65cm                                             - Tide; 12:20am high

19/11/2021 -    George's river      - jewfish caught 11:26pm @60cm                                             - Tide; 10:28pm high

21/10/2021 -    George's river     - jewfish #1 11:33pm @69cm, jewfish #2 12:13am @57cm      - Tide; 10:50pm high

10/10/2021 -    George's river     - jewfish caught 1:43am@49cm                                                - Tide; 1:33am high

6/10/2021 -      Georges river      - jewfish caught 9:44pm @104cm                                            - Tide; 9:05pm high

 

All fish so far on squid

 

1/6 trips were doughnut's  on the kayak

3/5 trips were doughnut's from land 

 

I do hope this post will assist in others to being able to catch these fish.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Restyle

[BigHorse]

Don't know much about catching Jewies but if you've got a plan like that you must have a pretty good chance, right?

Good luck on your quest!

[kingie chaser]

From what I have red mulloway being a bit of a territorial ambush predator like to sit in natural channels & holes formed from tidal flows as well as holes made from man made structure & tidal flow.

A mate caught a nice one(legal) when we were fishing in a channel that runs along kangaroo point on prawn so you dont always need live baits. Water depth was only 2mtrs.

 

There is also some good info in here-

 

Im also going to be doing a bit of targeted jew fishing this spring/summer once we get let out of the cage, I really want to catch one on SP's.

 

Good luck, you have a plan/strategy so just get out there & test your theories, thats half the fun 

Edited October 5, 2021 by kingie chaser

[Rebel]

Great read. Thank you.

[Restyle]

Alrighty, a pretty action packed trip last night! Got out a bit later then I would've liked and paddling over to where I was fishing took a little bit longer then expected. Arrived at around 8.15pm and sounded out the bottom and decided to anchor on a river bend on the edge of a drop off which drops from 2.5 down to 6-7 meters not to far from Alfred's point bridge 

First rod - a whole pille/ mullet strips with a heaver sinker

second rod - whole fresh squid, set up with a small sinker and I would open the bail arm every 5 mins to let it drift with current
both rods had 14 pound leader/ 20lb braid to begin with

Had a third rod to try and catch some of mullet or tailor which came close to my burly bag, while putting bread on the hook my rod with squid over and take a few meters of moderately tight drag, i grab the rod and as soon as tension was applied the line cut - bullshark

Upgraded leader to 20lb and threw out another whole squid also replaced the pilchard with a fresh mullet strip

9.40pm rolls around and i put my second jacket on, as I sit back down my rod with squid buckle's and the drag is flying off, this run easily took 75meters of line and I'm thinking of when is it going to cut me off, then the famous run ends, and dead weight until under the kayak where I loosen the drag and i finally feel those  big thumping headshakes and it makes a few small runs.

I tangle with my other line somehow but the fish is on the surface, a few attempts netting it. finally goes in, my god, its big.

Colossal tangles in the net and a large jew taking up the entire deck of the kayak, I sat there looking at it in awe, spent a stupid amount of time cutting lines, untangling the net  and struggling the even lift the slimy basted of the deck never alone release it without flipping the kayak, I knew it was too late, the fish would release poorly so I made the decision to put it out of its misery and eat my first ever jew.

Im a catch and release guy, but if i do get a feed I like to keep the slightly above legal models and leave the big ones for someone else to catch, my only regret of the night is not trying to release it and not taking so long just looking at the fish, trying to measure it and also untangling the net.

The fish was 104cm, stoked to have cracked the meter. took it over to Georges river national park where I fillet the fish, some for me and some for the neighbour and gave the other half of the fish to a group of boys fishing for jews along the shoreline there. Forgot the fish had a tag, hopefully they see it and know what to do with it, as it was still in the fish.

 

So, a few lessons learnt, all of which is handling the fish. That is basically loosing myself once I netted the fish and having no idea what to do next, even though I did I just went... blank. space restrictions on the kayak meant that handling a large fish like this was extremely difficult. Hopefully everyone who I have given some fish to make good use of it. I would've loved to have entered to tag data but silly me didn't even see the fish had a tag till I was scaling it. Should've take then numbers right then and there 

Here's the picture and its final measurement 

 

 

 

104cm, caught 9:55pm on a whole fresh squid just after the change of the tide which was at  9:05pm, Georges river, near Alfred's point bridge. 

Not sure when the next trip is, but ill still post my journeys here. 

[Green Hornet]

Great catch and report.

Now, keep a record/dairy of your fish with as many details of the conditions as you can think of. Jew are a creature of habit and likely to be in the same place when everything lines up again.

[mii11x]

On 10/7/2021 at 1:31 PM, Green Hornet said:

Great catch and report.

Now, keep a record/dairy of your fish with as many details of the conditions as you can think of. Jew are a creature of habit and likely to be in the same place when everything lines up again.

A diary is a must for having any sort of regularity with successfully landing mulloway. 

11 years of records allow me to be more than confident on getting one every trip from the Georges River.

Patterns definitely become apparent for all months and seasons of the year in every estuary system.

@Green Hornet so far they have eluded me in the Shoalhaven River and the Basin on both lures and baits.  Just havnt quite sussed them out in the little time i do get to fish at those 2 locations.....persistence will pay off though

[Green Hornet]

6 hours ago, mii11x said:

A diary is a must for having any sort of regularity with successfully landing mulloway. 

11 years of records allow me to be more than confident on getting one every trip from the Georges River.

Patterns definitely become apparent for all months and seasons of the year in every estuary system.

@Green Hornet so far they have eluded me in the Shoalhaven River and the Basin on both lures and baits.  Just havnt quite sussed them out in the little time i do get to fish at those 2 locations.....persistence will pay off though

My experience with mulloway down here is in the Crookhaven rather than the Shoalhaven and I have 2 spots that regularly produce. One on the run in tide and the other on the run out.

Basin fish are all about doing the miles, sounding out bait schools with obvious signs of predators, then hitting them with lures. Just my opinion, but the mobility of lure fishing in there is the most successful way to target them.

[bluefin]

A lot of this aligns with Jew in the Hastings!

I fish with lures. With Sax Scent. Troll and cast.

I fish deep holes and channels at slack tide.

I look for Baitfish.

Early morning my favourite.

Look for them on the sounder.

Stolen from a charter facebook page

[Restyle]

Love the diary idea, just jotted down my first fish, many more to come.

Only recently started on plastics and have had flicks along some solid structure using 4 and 6in paddle tails, but no jew's yet.

[mrsswordfisherman]

10 hours ago, Restyle said:

Love the diary idea, just jotted down my first fish, many more to come.

Only recently started on plastics and have had flicks along some solid structure using 4 and 6in paddle tails, but no jew's yet.

Like lots of raiders do you can use fishraider to “diarise” trips and captures. 
You can use the gallery here to keep pics. 
Perhaps add a tag to these posts so you can search quicker. 

Deckee app has a Trips function. It tracks your journey and you can make notes. Pics are an example of a Hairtail outing last year. In notes I put the link to the post I made in fishraider. 

Of course there is the old exercise book and pen and paper. 

I have only ever caught mulloway on plastics in the Cooks River. 
 

Good luck with your quest and thanks for the post. 

 

[Restyle]

g'day, went out last night, this time land based for jews at a spot I scouted out after looking on google earth thoroughly. 2nd time fishing here, first time we went was mostly for scouting, but did drop a fish right on the shoreline a few weeks ago.

This time we pull out one of the smallest jews I have caught coming in at a whopping 49cm. Quick pics and safely released him.

Caught - 10/10/2021, 1:40am, (high tide 12:43am), Weather was calm, partly cloudy and fair. Whole semi fresh squid on snelled 9/0 and 7/0 

Mate also dropped a nice fish as the tide turned which sucked (his drag was loose).

2 trips and caught jews on both trips. stoked.

 

[mrsswordfisherman]

@Restyle you are doing well

You have 2 posts in this thread that are actually fishing reports. 

Can you copy and paste and put into fishing reports please. 

I could merge with a new post but it would be under my name. 

pm me if you want help

[Restyle]

2 hours ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

@Restyle you are doing well

You have 2 posts in this thread that are actually fishing reports. 

Can you copy and paste and put into fishing reports please. 

I could merge with a new post but it would be under my name. 

pm me if you want help

gday, I have my first fish also in a separate report, I was meant to ask while typing the most recent report up weather I should continue in this thread as I reckon it would be a good way for newer fishos to help understand the silver slab a little bit better, Or move the thread into fishing reports as it will only be fishing reports and I don't want to spam the forum with separate reports of small fish.

[Restyle]

When writing the OP, it seems I have overlooked a very important point - technique 

In short, 2 rods, one has a light sinker which will be heavy enough to get the bait to the bottom and a 40cm leader This rod is casted along the drop off/structure
Second rod has a larger lead that shouldn't move and is casted out into the channel and has about 50cm of leader.
both rods are double hook 9/0 on the bottom and a 7/0 further up with 20/lb flurocarbon leader, Can be increased if your fishing rocky areas or near nasty structure 

basic rigs are pictured above. The 170gram sinker isn't necessary but in the currents of the Georges it is needed to keep a whole squid from drifting into your other line & to keep the line further out, especially as your let larger amount's of line drift.
Both rods have the bail arm open to let out a few meters of line every 5 odd minutes the aim of this is to try and get the baits in areas the jewfish will be sitting naturally waiting to ambush. with one rod in close along the structure/drop-off your fishing and the other further out, you will be covering quite abit of ground by letting the baits drift with the current instead of just leaving it in one spot 


I wouldn't even bother doing this in very snaggy areas.

 

 

So, Now I'm going to list some of the successful things I have noticed and also improvements that have made fishing for jews & also landing them that much more successful 

- Fishing with the drag setting I want to fight the fish on has been successful so far as to what I noticed, larger fish take the bait and run and hook themselves while the smaller fish like to peck the bait or pick it up and drop it multiple times they generally require a strike to set the hook, You only get one chance to strike, so only strike when they pick up the bait and you feel abit of weight

- When fighting the fish, when its under the boat I have been loosening the drag off abit, mostly to let the fish take more line and tire itself out more. Makes netting it a whole lot easier and they also don't thrash around nearly as much which decreases the chance of them throwing the hook

- Releasing smaller jews through the mirage drive hole in the hobies makes releasing the fish a lot easier to revive as you just hold it by the tail till they kick away, this is compared to lifting a 3kg fish over the side of the kayak and potentially dropping it or worse - capsizing. kayak jewfish seems to be a challenge and the challenge is only releasing them 

- Been bringing a burley bag with bread/mullet or pillies in it to attract the smaller bait fish which jump along the shoreline all night. Abit cautious as it won't only attract bait fish, but maybe also a 3meter bull shark to take a chomp our of the bag. Abit hard to say if this is even effective.

[Restyle]

Gday, I have updated the original post to make it easier to read & to hopefully allow others to possibly get themselves some silver slabs. the methods I have I theorized when i made the thread haven't changed, I have just made it abit easier to read.