Make Jigging Great Again
David writes about his new downrigger. His brother also bought one – shipped separately – last Thursday:
Out of Sydney on Saturday to give my new downrigger technique a try. Feeling very fortunate that, because it’s my job, I can still fish – while most Sydney anglers are restricted to quarters:
On that topic I should mention that I spent pretty much all Thursday working on a story and getting photographed on the water for an upcoming news story on fishing restrictions. Basically, asking why you can’t go fishing on your own, but it’s okay to go to the beach, to the golf course etc.? Will put a link to that in the next report. Anyway, offshore on Saturday – solo, to comply with virus regulations. When I got to the reef I knocked the old girl into neutral to check rate and direction of drift. Surprised at how fast the northly current was! Put the Minn Kota on anchor lock at the northern end, and set the burley can ten metres off the bottom. Had no bait so it was jigs only – which I prefer, anyway. I wasn’t marking any kings, but the burley can off the downrigger still worked its magic:
The fishing was by no means hot! But the deep burley system was steadily bringing kings under my boat, from the humps and bumps further south:
One thing to mention? When the jigging is slow, it’s all about persistence. And unless you’re a musclebound gym junkie the weight of your rod and reel is the key. I was using our Bay Jig combo. The rod, reel and line only weighs 500 grams. You will jig a lot longer with a light, comfortable outfit. And I’ve caught some absolute crackers on this combo:
Just $265 for rod, reel, line and jigs. Check it out here:
Ended up with three kings in two hours jigging. There weren’t a lot of fish around and, during that time, all the other boats bailed. Confident that what delivered success was- A light combo, that made for comfortable jigging;
A burley can off the downrigger, attracting kings at the same depth they’re operating. Not using the burley bucket on the boat, because in deep water - with a current - your burley doesn’t get to where the fish are operating, until its hundreds of metres away:
On the topic of our downrigger, I received some amazing feedback from client Andrew T, in Cairns. His downrigger arrived just in time for the light tackle billfish competition up there last week. Check this out:
Thanks for reading
Andrew Hestelow
Also in Tackle News
Target: Kingfish
Two Sydney offshore sessions targeting kingfish with live yellowtail and heavy knife jigs, including fish to one metre, sharks and an amberjack.
Mackerel, Kingfish and Sharks
TUESDAY! Wanted to downrig small live bonito around Long Reef for a stud kingfish. Our purple trolling lures accepted the challenge:
