Beginner Jewfish Fishing Combo

Beginner Jewfish Fishing Combo:

Trying to capture your first Mulloway/Jewfish can seem like a impossible hurdle to cross, the stigma around the 'Silver Ghost' or 'Ghost of the Estuary' can lead you to believe that you need years of experience to sucessfully land of these fish. We're here to tell you that with the right gear and some professional advice we can help you catch a Mulloway for the first time.

The Rod and Reel:

We suggest that you use a 3000 sized reel on a 7ft rod rated anywhere from 1-4 kilo to 3-6 kilo. The 22 Nexave 7'2 slots into this bracket and has many features which punch above its pricepoint. The Nexave rod has a fast taper which is essential for fishing with soft plastics and vibes, you'll be in constant contact with your lure whilst working it which makes it easier to tell when you lure is hitting the bottom or when you are having bites, these features make it the ideal rod for a beginner fisherman. The 3000 Nexave is a lightweight reel, this will make lure fishing easier, it has a smooth drag system and is water resistant meaning it is extremely durable even when its being used in saltwater. 

What to use for Mulloway:

We insist that beginner fishermen use vibes and blades when learning the art of lure fishing, this is because of their design means they are fundamentally foolproof. When on the boat you simply drop them down the side of the boat, wait until it reaches the bottom, lift your rod tip about a meter and then let the lure sink back down.. repeat this action until you hook a fish! When fishing off the land its the same idea except you cast out the lure and retrieve it back to you in the same manner. 

Some of our favourite vibes are 

- TT Switch Prawn

- Samaki Vibelicious

- Berkley Shimma Fork 

- Nomad Squidtrex

 

Where to go?

The main systems which hold Jewfish near Sydney are the Parramatta River, the Haweksbury and Port Hacking. Most holes, wrecks and wharves in these systems will have Mulloway sitting around them. Youll find them in water anywhere from 3 meters deep to 30. 

Tides and Moon

The best time to fish for Mulloway is the 2/3 hours which surround a slack tide, depending on where you are these fish will feed aggressivley when water movment completely stops or when it slowly begins to move again after being slack. Fortunatley these are also the best times to work lures as their action and movment is less interupted by water movment. Moon phases are also important, Jewfish love a full moon especially if you are fishing at night, the slack tide is especially productive around these times as the tides are bigger narrowing down the feeding window for Mulloway. 

Although there are tide and moon phases which are better or worse for chasing Jewfish dont let poor factors disencourage you from fishing, 

Fighting the Fish 

Compared to fish such as Kingfish and Snapper, Jewfish actually dont fight too hard as you should feel confident once you hook up. Our main advice is to set your drag at the start of the session and do not touch it when fighting the fish (we cant emphasise this enough!). Ideally, for Jewfish you should run a relativley light drag, it shouldnt be hard to pull line off the reel but also make it tight enough so that line isnt taken when working the lure. Jewfish have a signature headshake once hooked which you cant mistake for any other fish, remember to let them run when they want to run in order to avoid pulling the hook, which is a common mistake beginner anglers make.