Tutorial on catching jew

We’ve had a couple of good weather windows this month and the fishing in the bay has been consistent, with catches of flathead, squire or snapper, bream and tailor being pretty much the norm on every charter.

I had a couple of customers recently who only wanted to do a jewfish tutorial to learn how to catch jew in the southern bay.

This is not something I often do because going out to catch jew is a lot harder than going out to catch some flathead, squire, bream and various other fish.

One of the biggest reasons I don’t do it much is because these guys usually only want to chase jew all day, so the possibility of coming home with nothing is quite high.

I explained this to the guys and after they fully understood this potential outcome I agreed to pick a day for them.

I would take them out to learn the fundamentals of chasing one of these elusive creatures.

My favourite time to hunt jew is somewhere in the week prior to a full or new moon on a turning tide.

I prefer the week prior to a full moon, however.

 

I also like the turn of the tide at sunup or sundown for getting a better bite period.

So, after agreeing to the trip, I picked a day prior to a full or new moon where we would have the turn of the tide early in the morning as the sun was coming up and, with a bit of luck, we would also get a rise in pressure in that early morning period as well.

In certain areas I like the turn of the tide on the high tide and in others I find the turn of the low tide fishes better.

On the chosen day, I met the guys at the pontoon and talked through our game plan.

We were going to try a few areas on the high tide and then a couple of areas on the low tide so we could all be finished and done by about 1.30 in the afternoon.

We headed to the first location for the turn of the tide early in the morning and sounded up what looked like a couple of good fish around a wreck.

There was plenty of bait and everything was looking good.

I explained to the men what gear we were going to use, which for us was a 6-20lb Blade N Tails rod paired up with an ATC 4000 spin reel spooled with 20lb braid and 25lb leader using a Zerek Fish Trap lure.

 

It didn’t take them long to learn the retrieve technique, so we soon started casting.

We picked up a few tailor and small mackerel but couldn’t get the bigger fish to bite and so moved on to another wreck.

I sounded around and could see some bigger shapes, so I positioned the boat and the boys started casting

Unfortunately, we only picked up a couple of tailor and some small mackerel again.

Then the wind picked up and we ended up with the wind and tide against each other, so once more we had to move on.

I explained that we were wasting our time fishing for jew in this area with the weather against us and would have to move and fish down towards the bottom of the tide.

Another change of location!

 

The new location still had a little too much run in the tide, but we sounded around anyway and found some large bait schools sprinkled with bigger shapes,

We decided to position the boat to cast into the bait schools and ended up with some nice flathead, but unfortunately no jew.

It was now our last shot to move on and see if there was anything to cast at.

If we didn’t catch anything in the next hour, the tide would start running hard back in and that would be the end of the day’s fishing.

I was finally lucky enough to pick up a couple of larger shapes on the Lowrance, so we positioned the boat for good casting and retrieving.

The fish kept moving around the boat, visible to the side scan and sounder.

I could see when they were on the left or right side of the boat or whether they were underneath, which made it easy to direct the guys where to cast and retrieve.

 

When the fish were on the left side, I’d tell them to cast there and then change sides when the fish moved.

Well, it didn’t take long before one of the boys hooked up.

It wasn’t a big fish, but as it came to the surface that lovely silver colour emerged out of the green water.

We put it in the net and the boys had their first jew for the day.

After a couple of quick photos, we released the fish to fight another day.

There were more fish on the Lowrance, so we continued with the same plan and 10 minutes later they were hooked up again.

This fish was bigger but still not a legal jew, so we released it as well after a few pics.

At this stage we were all pretty happy.

 

We’d caught two of the target species but with the tide ready to run hard again we only had about 20 minutes of good fishing left.

I could see some bigger fish on the sounder, so we had another shot.

The boys smeared their lures with our trusty fish goop and began casting.

Sure enough, they were soon hooked up to a decent fish.

After a good fight and three solid runs it came easily to the surface and once again that lovely silver colour emerged from the water.

The boys had caught themselves their first legal jew and to say they were happy is a slight understatement.

It goes to show that by following a couple of simple rules – picking the right day, fishing, the best parts of the tide and knowing the local area, and with a bit of luck thrown in, you can catch your legal jew.

The boys learnt plenty and caught their target species, and for me, I had happy customers.

 

As for the month ahead, there should be plenty of flathead and squire around poking their heads up in the usual spots, as well as a few tailor and bream among them.

Let’s just hope we get some good weather windows on the right days.

We now have Gobbly Goop fish attractant back in stock for those who use it.

The only difference now is that it’s called Fish Goop, so if you’re interested in purchasing some, feel free to send me a text or give me a call.

Our busy jobs and lives can mean we are time poor, so optimising your time on the water is important.

Remember, knowledge is the key!

Until next month, stay safe on the water and, if you’re interested in any of our tuition classes or want to do a fishing charter, give me a call on 0432 386 307, send an email to seanconlonsfishing@hotmail.com or check out the Facebook page Seano’s Inshore Fishing Charters and Tuition.