Episode 209: Lake Macquarie Jewfish With Mark Williams

Mark’s Top Jewfish Fishing Tips

• Fishing for jewfish in the cooler months is all about deeper water, mostly from 8-10m depth.
• Mark likes the turn of the tide, especially where it coincides with an early morning. The low light periods tend to fish best and there is less boat traffic in the mornings.
• Fish your lures slowly and (usually) close to the bottom. Jewfish will often come up off the bottom if they’re really feeding aggressively, but are often schooled up close to bottom and it’s important to get the lure right in their faces.
• Be patient when playing a jewfish. They are strong and fast but don’t usually dive for cover, and there isn’t a lot of structure in Lake Macquarie in any case. Take your time and you’ll lose less fish.
• Finding Lake Macquarie jewfish in winter is all about finding the bait schools. Side scanning sonar will reveal schools that are being hunted by pelagics as you’ll observe holes and gaps in the school where the predators are working.
• Look for working birds and signs of tailor feeding near the surface, jewfish will usually be beneath the tailor schools.

Lake Macquarie Jewfish Fishing Tackle

• There’s no need to go too heavy on Lake Macquarie jewfish. A 7’ 3-5kg or 4-6kg spin rod with a 2500 size reel, 20lb braid and at least 1.5m of a good quality 20lb fluorocarbon leader is a good outfit for most anglers. Experienced anglers can go lighter, if they wish.
• Jewfish will test tackle, so make sure that your reels are good quality and are well maintained. A silky smooth drag system is essential.

Marks Preferred Jewfish Fishing Lures

• Mark likes the Samaki Vibelious Thumper Tail for jew that have aggregated beneath schooling tailor. He prefers the 95mm version, but others targeting jew prefer the 125mm size. Work this lure close to the bottom (less so if the fish are up higher) with large, slow lifts, being sure to let the lure sink between lifts and keeping in touch with a semi-taut line. Quality soft vibes like the Samaki will flutter and vibrate on the drop, which is when most fish hit them. Cheap vibes will spin unnaturally and take a lot less fish.
• Large Paddle Tailed soft plastics are effective on jewfish but are also susceptible to being quickly chopped to pieces by tailor before they get down to the jew. Mark recommends using 10x plastic lures that are tougher and longer lasting. He likes the Samaki Bomb Shad or the Z-Man MinnowZ on a ⅜ to ½ oz jig head, but the new Samaki Mega Bomb Shad 7” lures are proving to very effective too. Use a quality jig head so you don’t straighten hooks and simply let the lure get to the bottom and then slow roll it back close to the bottom. Lareg 
• Hard body lures are surprisingly effective on Lake Macquarie jewfish and Mark particularly likes the Samaki Redic Jerkbaits, which are silent, suspending lures that have a range of diving depths that cover all of Lake Macquarie. These lures are perfect for trolling whilst you’re looking for schools of jewfish, or can be worked near feeding tailor (be careful not to go through the school, work around the edges).