Out fishing on Friday with friend and client Bruce. His easily managed 420 Renegade meant we could launch from the Little Manly boat ramp – which is notorious for surge, and slippery conditions. More about that later:
First stop was the Centurion Wreck, just inside North Head:
This thousand tonne wooden ship, loaded with 400 tons of coal, sank back in 1887. Over the years it has produced thousands of quality live baits for us and sometimes, kingfish and John Dory (in winter.) I was there two weeks ago and found the wreck to be swarming with big slimy mackerel:
These make fantastic live baits. Knowing how much they like our 40 gram jigs, I tied one on and dropped it down. About 10 seconds:
That mackerel into the bait tank and back over the side, with the little jig. About 60 seconds:
We now had prime quality baits for our planned kingfish mission. As we motored up to Long Reef, I thought back to how many times these little metals have saved the day for me. Most recently, with this Rainbow Beach queenfish last month:
They come in five colours, with the assist hook pre-fitted:
Of course I’m biased. But how well these produce fish needs to be seen to be believed. There is two situations where they work particularly well. The first is, what we did on Friday. Mooring up in 15 - 20 metres of water, and getting the burley going as you do for snapper. Casting these way down the trail, and slow jigging them back to the boat. First catch Friday was this small kingfish:
The other circumstance is, casting for pelagics. These little jigs cast like a bullet and will go 65 metres on our 702 combo. That puts you right in the strike zone for fish like long tails, mackerel tuna, and mahi:
I've even used them to jig for hairtail, after dark. In that situation I add a treble to the jig tail and a red chemical light just above. These fish have a tough mouth but the rod upswing drives the hook home:
You probably know these small jigs are pretty expensive, from the big brand names. Shimano Snipers are $14 each, on eBay:
Samakis are $13 each, at Mo Tackle:
Ours? Four dollars each. Why? Because we import 2000 at a time. When you buy that many you get a good deal - which we pass on to you. These are $48 for 10 including delivery, anywhere in Australia. How good is that, for something that works so well, on everything from live bait to kingfish and tuna? Click here to order:
CLICK HERE TO BUY 40 GRAM KNIFE JIGS
Or click here, if more information needed:
Thanks for reading,
Andrew Hestelow
Managing Director
http://www.downriggershop.com.au/
Tel. 0402075000
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POSTSCRIPT:
Back at Little Manly boat ramp after a top morning’s fishing with Bruce. Two blokes having all kinds of trouble after their boat trailer dropped its rear axle over the end of the slippery ramp. They tried everything including shoveling sand under the tyres for more traction. Nothing worked and no rope available. So we hooked up their anchor chain to my tow bar. Out she came: