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Estuary Jewfish on Softies
By Sean Bekkers
Although I have fished all my life, it's in the last fifteen years that I gave up being a hard core bait fisho and converted to soft plastics. Good mate Richo, based down near Nowra, showed me some basics and got me hooked... that and he out fished me 10 to 1 plastics to bait may have had something to do with it!
Back then I spent my time targeting flathead and it didn't take long to rack up some respectable PB's. I suspect that for a lot of anglers getting into soft plastics this would sound familiar. In a short amount of time I built up a false sense of skill and knowledge that led me to target other species and I must say that back then that feeling of disappointment when not catching my target species was a common theme. The upside is that this led to countless hours learning how to use plastics better.
Fast forward ten odd years and what have I learnt about setting out to target new species? Jighead size, plastic colour and types, all play a huge part in being successful. Choose a plastic that is tough and can take some damage and spend some time researching articles and or fishing techniques that work in your local area or area you're travelling to. This is always a good way identify some patterns. Apps like Google Earth can also assist by providing you with a sneaky bird's eye view of fishable areas.
When selecting plastics I like models that represent the bait in the area that I'm likely to fish and when it comes to jewfish (mulloway) their diet is quite broad, including prawns, squid and fish in all shapes and sizes, just to name a few. So where to start? My local estuary system, like many others, holds large quantities of prawns and baitfish. My plastic choice is usually a ZMan 3" MinnowZ in a colour that matches the holding bait, a greenish colour to match a hardy head. Another option that works in my area is a ZMan 3.5" EZ ShrimpZ to represent a greasy prawn. When it comes to matching my plastics up with a jighead, as light as possible for the conditions is my rule of thumb, fishing a 1/4oz in up to ten metres of water, depending on tidal movement, may seem too light but chalks up results.
Finding Jewfish
There is tonnes of information on the internet and in magazines about targeting jewfish. A special few fishos have dedicate huge amounts of time and effort in mastering it. Moon and tide phases always get a mention, along with hours and hours of fishing in the hope of landing a monster. Unfortunately / fortunately, whichever way you look at it, I'm not ones of those peeps, but in recent years I've had consistent results following a few simple tricks.
I stumbled across my first jewfish on plastics by mistake. I was actually targeting large flathead along a deep drop off. Identifying some structure in your local system, including bridges, pylons and moorings is a great start, as these places have all chalked up results. Don't be afraid to work a shallow bank stacked with bait fish though as I have had some small schoolies smash plastics in less than a metre of crystal clear water, generally within a reasonable proximity to deeper water.
It's well known in fishing circles that the slack part of the tide (low or high) are hot bite times for jewfish. Honestly though, I have caught them in all phases of the tide and in my opinion, for smaller jewfish, tide phases aren't the most important factor. The one standout piece of advice that I can give you is to work your plastics in areas that have a good showing of bait, whether it be on your sounder or flicking on the surface doesn't really matter. I'm sure you've heard the saying 'find the bait, find the fish' and when it comes to jewfish this is 100% correct. Match your plastic up to the bait that's holding and a lurking jewfish shouldn't be too far away.
Does scent on your plastic help?
I recently went on the hunt for some jewfish at night, using nothing but plastics. Obviously in low / no light situations you need all the help you can get and the colour isn't going to be the most important choice you make. It was obvious on this trip that a bit of scent on the plastic helped and working my plastic through the water column I got repeated strikes until the hook found its mark on a nice school jewfish. If you're not a believer, just throw some on anyway, lol... it's a confidence thing.
In short, if you're not a super dedicated jewfish fisherman, much like myself and want to chase some on plastics, choose one that represents the likely bait found in the systems you intend to fish, don't be afraid to mix and match your jigheads and tails until you find a combination that works, and keep an eye out for suitable structure. To give yourself the best possible chance of hooking one of these silver bullets, spend the time finding the bait. Bait being hassled is always a great sign.
Good luck
Sean's Gear List
- 2-6 kg spin rod
- 3000-4000 size reals loaded with 10-15lb braid
- ZMan 3" MinnowZ
- ZMan 3.5" EZ Shrimp
- ZMan 2.75" Finesse FrogZ
- 1/4 -3/4oz jigheads
- Pro-Cure Scent (Blood Worm, Bloody Tuna or Butt Juice)