Jigging off Cape Moreton - Sun 15 May

[Anne-T-Dote]

Woke up early Yesterday and went for a quick trip out past Cape Moreton to test out the new hydraulic steering (my steering cable busted a couple of weeks ago while perched atop a very shallow reef during a big swell and I was stuck doing circles like a one-legged duck with a large set fast approaching :o :o :o – but that’s a whole different story).

Anyway, I wasn’t expecting too much yesterday but was hoping for a few pearlies or something to put into the esky. :-/ As I say, more or less just a test run.

Pre-dawn and dawn saw just that – before I knew it I had 3 nice pearlies and 2 sizable moses perch in the esky :D With things going a bit quiet I decided to explore some new ground. I found a nice 15m ledge in deeper water with some reasonable shows but all I could pull off it were goatfish.

Time to head to another spot for some more pearlies, but it wasn’t to be. All I could manage here were undersized pearlies – this was up until I locked horns with something with a bit more gusto which turned out to be a rat king of about 3kg. So I tied on a soft plastic to see if that would result in some bigger pearlies or even another kingy for some fun on the light spin gear.

No bigger pearlies (in fact they appeared to be getting smaller), but a couple of small kingies did take a liking to the plastic fantastic. They weren't jumping on it though, so time to try out a metal knife jig.

WEEELLLL that's when the fun started ;D ;D I had inadvertently found a school of yellow tail kingies that were ultra jig-hungry as the next 10 drops resulted in 10 hookups, all YT King and all around the 2 to 3kg mark (apart from one that wouldn’t have been much bigger than the jig itself). Note big fish by anyone's standards, but heaps of fun all the same. :D

After number 10 I decided to leave them alone – apart from one more cast with the soft plastic ;)

I then ventured back to where I started and found some sizable shapes on the sounder again. Down goes the metal jig and whammo – this fish felt a bit more solid. After a bit of a battle up comes an AJ that went 8kg with about 2 or 3 cobia following it right to the boat. Down again and whammo – another AJ of similar size.

Things went quiet then, so down goes a humble pillie that was quickly scoffed by a nice 7kg cobia. Then I decided to call it a day and headed for home. With the 3 pearlies and the 2 moses in the esky, all kingies, AJ’s and cobia were released to fight another day.

I was stoked to finally have some success on the metal jigs after trying for so long without much luck (even if the fish weren’t big, it was still a LOT of fun). Can’t wait to get out there and do it all again.

Later,

Macca

PS: Also VERY happy with the new steering – sweeeet…

[Anne-T-Dote]

One of the earlier rat kings on a softie

[Anne-T-Dote]

one on a metal jig

[Anne-T-Dote]

another – when bringing them to the boat there were usually 3 or 4 others following them up. I tried to get them in the pic but they were too quick.

[Anne-T-Dote]

this one was very optimistic

[Anne-T-Dote]

This is what they looked like on the screen

[Anne-T-Dote]

When driving back up for each drift there seemed to be more and more fish on the sounder – as though the jig was attracting them and making them congregate together

[Anne-T-Dote]

Last one: 8kg AJ – 2 or 3 decent sized cobia followed this one to the boat as well

[Smailesy]

maybe you should do the steering more often . Nice fish macca well done

[bo_sawyer]

sounds like it was a great trip, nice photos too macca

[Slient]

Hey Maccamania,

Quite large school of kingies out there... :o
Can you tell me what's sort spinning reel? on 1st pic
Well done m8 8-)

Silent

[craigie]

Well done Macca !!

Bait, plastics or metal, you had them covered on all three !!

Sounds like you have some very fishy marks out around the cape 8-)

Cheers
Craigie.

[lucyloo]

hey good goin there hey i got them jigs metal ones do i need to use spinner and wind in fast or just pull them up and let them fall again cause i been using them with no luck out the banks with overhead is that wrong ? wats ure opinion ?

[jake_snapper_king]

goood job

[wayne_cook]

Nice to hear the cobe was released with friends

[kingcobe]

Nice fish there. That is a pretty big jig compared to the fish it almaost half the size of it ;D


Jay Jay

[elephrez1]

well done

[sacman]

Maccamania
Do you get the pearlies and perch on sp's as well and at what depth are you able to effectively fish sp's.

[White_Steenbras]

Great catch there guys, looks like you have that sussed pretty well.

[-spiro-]

Well done on the haul. I didn't know those jigs worked so well 8-)

[Herm]

Hello Macca

I fully blame you for my Ausfish addiction! # ;) and the purchase of the new vessel :) #

Will have to catch up the you and Chris and take her for her maiden run! :)

Good to see you making the most of your last Mother's Day before the bubs arrival! :D

If we end up catching 1/4 as much as you do, we will be very, very happy :)

Janine

[GT_warrior]

Well done Macca , a good read and some top fish...... [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[grant6336]

Great results for a test run, sounds like an excellent day well done [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

[JustOneMore]

Great result buddy. Wish we ran into those schools when we were out there the other weekend.

Awesome read and a good catch. Well done.

[Anne-T-Dote]

G'day Craigie - Hey, did I read somewhere that you took the Cyclone out to the Banks - Awesome stuff. You did pretty well too, yeah? I bet now you'll be doing it all the time, especially with the winter calm weather on the way (touch wood).

Silent, that reel in the first pic is just a cheap Diawa Regal 3500 - I definitely wouldn't recommend it. For jigging I was only using a TLD 15 - it was the heaviest gear I had in the boat at the time that was spooled with braid (30lb). Normally this wouldn't be anywhere near good enough, but the fish were only small and I was well away from any decent structure, so the TLD was OK. I've tried jigging with mono and it just does not work unless the water is only about 40m deep, even then it's not as good as braid.

Lucyloo, I'm definitely no expert at jigging, but what I do know is braid is a must. The retrieve action is what I'd describe as a very violent action - basically retrieving the lure from the bottom to the top in a series of hard fast jerks upwards and winding down each time. It's difficult to describe but to give you an idea it's so aggressive that after one drop you are totally exhausted. The idea is to impart a very sporadic action onto the lure (to immitate a dying bait fish that has just a few left of those last uncontrolable kicks/twitches that rocket it through the water and all sorts of odd angles), hence braid. Some others on here might be able to give you a clearer insight. As for reels, if you are expecting to encounter larger specimens, reels with a drag capability of 20kg or more are necessary, spooled with 80-100lb braid. Spinning reels seem to be the more popular choice (things like diawa saltiga 6500 expedition and the shimano stellas). Some o/heads are good too.

Sacman - I scored a few undersized pearlies on the plastics, but the 3 bigger ones and the moses perch were caught on baits pre-dawn and dawn. As for depth, If there is no wind and no current, you could theoretically fish in 100m with a 2 or 3 oz jighead. TT make them pretty big - I've seen them up to 8oz. I prefer to stick to depths around 50m, coz a bit of current and a bit of wind really plays havock with trying to get the plastics down.

Hey Janine - #:D #:D #:D Chrisso said you had signed up on here - Bewdy. Yeah Anne is a dead set trooper - she wants me to do as much fishing as I possibly can before the baby arrives coz there probably won't be much happening for a fair while afterwards. What sort of boat did you get #:D

Thanks to everyone else for your comments too - cheers,

Macca

[Big_Ren]

Beaut story Macca. You've got me fired up for winter jiggin.

Cheers
Paul ;)

[fishenmick]

Got to be happy with that lot Macca and great pics too.

Mick

[max007]

Nice one Macca. Great read and top photo's. Good advertising for the metal Jigs and plastics - See you out there!

Max 007

[Anne-T-Dote]

Max007 - is that you Webby?

[lucyloo]

thanx macca ill give it a go ;D