Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Saltwater-Estuary » Mulloway Magic
Mulloway Magic
By Sean Bekkers
So, it’s not every day that you head out fishing and manage to land a PB fish. In fact, it often seems to come along when you least expect it, which is exactly what happened the other day when I landed my person best mulloway (jewfish) from the kayak. Even now, days later, the stoked factor is high, so let me walk you through how this all came about.
Like for many people work has been super chaotic of late, leaving me keen to hit the water early and sneak a few hours in chasing the odd flathead and anything else that wanted to play ball for the morning. For a change of scenery, I decided to hit a creek that I don’t fish very much. The plan was pretty simple, hit all the good-looking structure that is likely to be holding the bait on a dropping tide. For example, this could include little drains, rocks, mangrove edges and all the current break areas where the fish are likely to be resting on an outgoing tide.
As I was working deeper water, often a few metres deep, I opted to use the ever-faithful ZMan 3” MinnowZ, rigged on a 3/8oz 3/0 TT DemonZ jighead. For up in the skinner water, I would throw around some ZMan 2.75” TRD BugZ and 2.5” GrubZ so that I could comfortably cover all bases. So, after a quick bit of rigging the night before, I was ready to hit the water on first light.
The following morning, a few hours from launch time, I was greeted to a perfectly still morning. Not a breath of wind in the air, which left me a little surprised as there was meant to be some wind earlier on. Nevertheless, I’ll take it and after a quick coffee I was off. Once getting to the launch area it was obvious that I was in for a cracking morning. A killer sunrise was inbound, zero wind, the sound of bait slapping the surface and even an occasional boof for good measure. I’m pretty sure I set some sort of record getting the kayak ready as I was launching and reaching for a rod before I knew it.
The first rod that I reached for was my 7’, 2-4kg Okuma Cerros, matched up with an Okuma Epixor XT 30 spin reel. I find this combo a good place to start as you never quite know what is lurking about. As for the ZMan MinnowZ colour, I opted for Space Guppy. Granted this is not my go-to colour choice, however, after watching my mate Gav whack a heap of flathead the weekend before, I knew it would spark some interest.
Positioning the kayak casting distance off a rather steep bank, complete with a few drains, I started casting and slowly hopping my plastic back out, ensuring the presentation had great contact with the bottom on each pause. As I drifted down the bank, I could see there were quite a few people keen for a feed of mud crabs as there was pots littered all the way down the edge. Not that this bothers me too much because the pots make for excellent berley buckets, often attracting fish overnight.
After five or so minutes and not even a hit, I got to my first area. Here there was a back eddy, which was creating some nice slack water as the tide rushed out. Thinking back to a trip up north I had done earlier in the year, I was pulling respectable sized grunter out of a similar back eddy. On my first cast bingo, the rod loaded up. Nothing huge but I had just landed my first jewfish (mulloway) out of the kayak.
A quick happy snap and I sent him on his way. It’s not surprising that I landed a little one because from all reports, up and down the coast, there has been heaps being caught. To be honest, this would have made my morning. As any good angler would, I sent afew more casts in. After a while though it was obvious that the fish had moved on or didn’t want to play ball anymore. So, back on with the drift.
Another series of casts along the bank and I stumbled upon the next current break. This area had a bit more visible rock and like the rest of the creek it was stacked with bait. I just want to mention that I hadn’t been on the water for no more than forty minutes. I sent the Minnowz straight into the middle of the bait and let it get to the bottom. Just like before, I made sure the plastic made good contact with the bottom, watching for the line to go slack on each pause.
Don’t quote me but on the third or fourth pause I felt the lightest of touches and proceeded to sink the hook. Almost as soon as I sunk the hook, the spool started peeling line and some very distinctive tail beats came pumping up through the line. This had me calling it for a good size creek GT. From here the kayak went into chaos... line peeling off all over the place, me setting the Hobie pedals into reverse and attempting to steer this fish out of the structure as it made a beeline for the rocks. Did I mention that I was running 8lb braid?!
It was at this point that I was giving myself a pep talk to calm down and be patient. Then, to my surprise, the fish turned and came out into the current. The weight of the fish became evident, and I was confident that I was locked onto a jewfish (mulloway). More dancing occurred as the fish ducked and weaved behind the yak, under it and even went for another sneaky run back to the structure before I got a glimpse of it.
I remember thinking to myself holy hell I don’t have a big enough net! Luckily though I had a set of lip grips and as the fish rolled on its side and was heading to within arm’s reach, I saw its mouth just open wide enough for a shot with the lip grips. Lucky for me they hit their mark and I was able to pull a very angry and still somewhat green mulloway onto the deck. At this point in time, I was confident that I had just managed a PB and to do it out of the yak on a perfect morning, I don’t think the planets could have aligned any better.
After some quick photos and a measure, I had scored myself a 93cm mulloway (jewfish) on 8lb braid. Where can you really go from here? In my case I headed back in search of coffee, lol. I’m still extremely stoked and this is going to be one catch that will be hard to beat.
Thanks for reading and I hope your finding some fish
Screaming Dragz, Outcast angler
Sean’s Tackle Box:
Okuma Cerros Spinning Rods – CER-S-701ML 7’ 2-4kg
Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reels – EPXT-30
Platypus P8 Braid – 8lb
Platypus Hard Armour Leader - 12lb Supple
ZMan 3” MinnowZ – Space Guppy Colour
TT DemonZ Jighead - 3/8oz 3/0