amberjack frustration

[samsy]

the day started off great. i think i only woke up once last night before the alarm went off. i always have trouble sleeping the night before a fish. too much excitment and anticpation of the big one.

weather was great. calm seas and blue skies.

had a look around our local bait grounds but no success once again. the live bait have been very scarce this year. i have no idea why but i should would like to know.

our plan was to head out wide towards the shelf and troll for marlin before the sun got to high. well that all changed when we reached the 48's. there was a good showing on the sounder that was worth our effort. down came the trolling gear and out came the bottom bashers. on the first drop with a large lucanuas rig i pull up a 2.5 kilo pealies. u beauty. than a few more smaller pealies and squire.

i tried jigging this spot as i was chasing a amberjack. 1 hour later and no success however the boys were going great on fresh squid. i think they had 5 to 1 on me at that stage. i lost cound after that.

we changed locations and the boys hook up on amberjack whilst I continue jigging. i was up to my 10th jig change by than. this happened for another couple of hours. i ttied using 100 gram jigs up to 400 gram jigs in all sorts of colurs and shapes. the boys were landing plenty of good quality fish whilst i was working soft plastic, octi rigs, metal jigs or basically anything artificial. still no luck. bloody hell. i was copping ^%%^* shit all day.

on the very last drift for the day at 4pm i wanted to give the pink knife jig one more crack. on the 4th crank i feel a hit. missed it. keep cranking. 7th crank and i am on. i love the feeling of big fish hitting metal jigs. the sphereos was screaming and the t-curve was buckling. after a few tense moments i was glad the aussie plait tied to a 100 pound wind on leader stayed together. up she comes. a beautiful 8.4 kilo amberjack. after tirelessly trying all day and coping crap from my mates i finally landed a amberjack. i may have not caught as many fish as the other blokes but i did land the biggest one. i got the last laugh :)

[deepfried]

it would have been tempting to drop baits down when your getting slayed by your mates. Like you said at least you got the big one. Have you tried the those samiki hustlers ? fairly cheap and they work well out there.

[samsy]

g'day scotty

No i havent tried them. were did you get yours from?

Jobo grab some 250g off me last week. he is hoping to stop some of those big ones that got away last year?

are you fishing over easter?

[deepfried]

I got mine from Brett. The 350g one goes well. I missed most of those ones that got away last year but heard about them. See what happens in the next few months though.
Will be down at Woody hd for easter and hoping to get a bit of fishing in around the headlands and wall in between drinking and catching up with some mates.

[samsy]

i will check em out next time.

should be a few mackeral around still at woody. you may even land a longtail tune from the rocks.

[deepfried]

I will prob have a go land based but i am not looking forward to the crowds down there this time of year.

[La Vida]

the day started off great. i think i only woke up once last night before the alarm went off. i always have trouble sleeping the night before a fish. too much excitment and anticpation of the big one.

weather was great. calm seas and blue skies.

had a look around our local bait grounds but no success once again. the live bait have been very scarce this year. i have no idea why but i should would like to know.

our plan was to head out wide towards the shelf and troll for marlin before the sun got to high. well that all changed when we reached the 48's. there was a good showing on the sounder that was worth our effort. down came the trolling gear and out came the bottom bashers. on the first drop with a large lucanuas rig i pull up a 2.5 kilo pealies. u beauty. than a few more smaller pealies and squire.

i tried jigging this spot as i was chasing a amberjack. 1 hour later and no success however the boys were going great on fresh squid. i think they had 5 to 1 on me at that stage. i lost cound after that.

we changed locations and the boys hook up on amberjack whilst I continue jigging. i was up to my 10th jig change by than. this happened for another couple of hours. i ttied using 100 gram jigs up to 400 gram jigs in all sorts of colurs and shapes. the boys were landing plenty of good quality fish whilst i was working soft plastic, octi rigs, metal jigs or basically anything artificial. still no luck. bloody hell. i was copping ^%%^* shit all day.

on the very last drift for the day at 4pm i wanted to give the pink knife jig one more crack. on the 4th crank i feel a hit. missed it. keep cranking. 7th crank and i am on. i love the feeling of big fish hitting metal jigs. the sphereos was screaming and the t-curve was buckling. after a few tense moments i was glad the aussie plait tied to a 100 pound wind on leader stayed together. up she comes. a beautiful 8.4 kilo amberjack. after tirelessly trying all day and coping crap from my mates i finally landed a amberjack. i may have not caught as many fish as the other blokes but i did land the biggest one. i got the last laugh :)

one thing I have found when jigging for ambers or kingies is if when retriieving if you let the jig fall backward just slightly it will put the fish off. think about how a squid moves forwards or sideways. never backwards especially if being chased.

learnt this off some jap fella on a charter that pulled 3 to everyone elses.
one. once i got the technique my strike rate went right up.. dont even touch bait for these guys anymore

regards Marty

[samsy]

thansk for the heads up La Vida. Thats useful information. i tried varios techniques on that day, slow retrieves, fast erratic retrieves. long and fast retrieves. she finally bite on the last one. its a long lift of the rod and whilst keeping the line tight i can usually get 2-3 full turns of the reel cranked. all of these techniques have worked well in the past.

There are plenty of youtube videos displaying these techniques.

Just curious to know something. who uses a spinning reel or overhead for their jigging?

[La Vida]

while I still use my trusty old shimano 16N trinidad on a japansese jig stick, with 50lb braid

I now prefer using a Daiwa Catalina 4500 on a catalina rod. drops weights quicker and a better reteive rate. will look at a saltiga 2010 4500 later this year when the missus aint looking or one of the new saltiga s extreme 4500.. they are the bling!!

or if you are a shimano fan look at a twin power or stella sw

definately I have found when jigging with ambers sambos or kingies, this is where buying the better gear comes into its own.. I have had midrANGE STUFF PULLED INSIDE OUT:-[

[deepfried]

I am using a 6500 catalina with 80lb out there. So far so good but i do want to give my 4500 catalina a run.

[Dignity]

samsy, good fish, glad you kept trying, sounds like there was enough on board for a feed. Here is a pic of my mate with a 36 kg Amber which was caught on a jig but not in the strictest sense. He makes his own bait jigs as he often chases coral trout which hit his baits on the way up so he makes them strong just in case. In this instance he was jigging for bait and bringing them up to the surface when this beauty hit, fortunately he was a good 15 metres off the bottom at the time. The other surprising thing is that he was quite close inshore to get this one, not allowed to say where as he plans to get back out there as more fish followed the hooked one to the surface.

[La Vida]

that is a corker, mate that would have been harder to pull than the misses out of myer when a 80% off shoe sale is on !!!!!

[Dignity]

he has had to retire his favourite Daiwa reel though and he was so stuffed he didn't even bother throwing another line in to chase his mates and forgot to chase the trout.

[samsy]

i'd like to see your 4500 reels hook up to a big one boys. that would be a sweet sound when that reel starts to scream. i recently bought a stella 8000. cant wait to use it. gotta buy a rod to match it though. i want to use it for jigs upto 250 grams. i want something a bit lighter than my current heavy duty jigging outfit so i am considering a Diawa Demoblood 762x 228cm 2 pc spin PE 5-6, suited to 90G - 230G jigs to match the stella 8000. any feedback appreciated.

hey dignity. a mate hooked up to a similiar size fish a few years ago. i think he caught on the 32s with live bait. i will try post a pic. epic fish man. apparently he went light on the drag and as a result the fish swam horizontal as opposed to trying to reef ya.

[La Vida]

couple of mates have got demon blood rods, they are a really good piece of kit.. your suggested line rating should be on the mark as well.

my self I love fishing as light as possible if you jump on you tube these is a great video of a bloke pulling some decent kingies with a Daiwa certate 4000. now that would be tough and patient work.

[samsy]

i picked up the new jigging rod yesterday to suit up to 250g jigs. the rod label said it could handle jigs up to 230g but the rod felt really light. I tied a jig to it last night and stood on top of the BBQ table and let the jig hang freely in the air. The rod felt like it could JUST do the job but i still wasnt convinced it was up to the task. i checked the specs of the rod on a number of websites and they dont match up to what the rod says. I brought home a Diawa Demon Blood 64CJ. The rod says its rated upto 230grm jig but the websites say its rated up to a 120 grm jig. I guess that explains why i was doubtful. Looks like i will be going back to the shop. Pitty i cant use it on my fishing trip today as planned.

[Captain Incredible]

one thing I have found when jigging for ambers or kingies is if when retriieving if you let the jig fall backward just slightly it will put the fish off. think about how a squid moves forwards or sideways. never backwards especially if being chased.

learnt this off some jap fella on a charter that pulled 3 to everyone elses.
one. once i got the technique my strike rate went right up.. dont even touch bait for these guys anymore

Spot on La Vida. You have let the secret out with your post. I have done a fair bit of jigging with Japanese groups since early 2002 and more recently with the Jones Tackle team. Very important to keep the jig going in the one direction with small lifts and winds rather than making large jerks and letting it fall back.

There is gome good video on U Tube of Jones jigging off Cape Moreton. It is worth while to study their techniques as a bit of further information.

[Brent_P]

i picked up the new jigging rod yesterday to suit up to 250g jigs. the rod label said it could handle jigs up to 230g but the rod felt really light. I tied a jig to it last night and stood on top of the BBQ table and let the jig hang freely in the air. The rod felt like it could JUST do the job but i still wasnt convinced it was up to the task. i checked the specs of the rod on a number of websites and they dont match up to what the rod says. I brought home a Diawa Demon Blood 64CJ. The rod says its rated upto 230grm jig but the websites say its rated up to a 120 grm jig. I guess that explains why i was doubtful. Looks like i will be going back to the shop. Pitty i cant use it on my fishing trip today as planned.

Those are the specs for the Saltiga S-Extreme 64CJ - both rods are red, so I'm guessing it was a mistake at the factory. Unfortunately, the S-Extreme sells for more than double the price of the Demon Blood, and I think it would be pretty difficult to find a good quality, jig-specific spinning rod 6 to 6'6" that can jig 250g, for under $400 in Australia. The 5'10" T-curve Deep Jig 200, which can jig up to 225g, or the 6'5" Lucanus Heavy 2-4 PE, which can jig up to 200g (but not ideally, in my opinion, because it's rated for the more sedate jigging of up to 200g Lucanus/Octo-style jigs), are the closest rods I can think of in that price range.

If you don't mind buying overseas, you could buy this JDM Daiwa Catalina 65-S CJ, which seems to be what you're looking for, at a good price. The JDM Catalina rods are not the same as the Australian market Catalinas.

http://www.plat.co.jp/shop/catalog/product_info/language/en/products_id/11602/cPath/21_38_45_903/saltwater-fishing/daiwa-catalina-65s-combination-jerk-ems.html

Brent.

[samsy]

Thanks for the info Brent. I think you maybe onto something there. I sent Diawa Australia an email last week asking for confirmation on the discrepency. i am yet to hear back from them.

I cant find any info on the catalina rod. do you know of any reviews on this rod?

JDM tackle also have a good range of jigging rods but out of my price range.

[Brent_P]

I couldn't find any reviews either - it's a JDM model, so if there are any reviews on the internet, maybe they're in Japanese.

A few years ago, a workmate did have a JDM Catalina Nabura PE3 rod, which I think would've been built on the same kind of blank. He had it matched to a Daiwa Certate 3500 HD, and I saw him jig with it on a couple of charter trips. He seemed to have little trouble with 8kg kingies, using almost full drag, and I can remember thinking, "How the hell is that rod not snapping?", it was flexing so much. Definitely a very good, strong, light blank.

Brent.