Episode 169: Nhulunbuy Turrum With Jessie Baker

Jessies Top Tips For Nhulunbuy Turrum

• Turrum are prevalent in the shallow waters surrounding Nhulunbuy and are an eager taken of many different styles of lure.
• This species is a year round option that isn’t affected too much by tidal or lunar cycles, although the low light periods around dawn and especially dusk tend to be prime times.
• Finding turrum is not too difficult, although they don’t seem to be associated with any particular structure or habitat. Usually it’s a matter of motoring around, covering ground and looking for signs of birds working or bait balls being harassed by predators.
• Typically the fishing is in clear, relatively shallow water and often it involves sight casting to fish that have been observed feeding.
• Turrum are expert at shedding hooks, so it’s important to maintain tension on the line during the fight.
• High speed spinning is effective, crank the lure as fast as humanly possible and keep up the pace right to the boat. Often quite large fish will lie in wait under the boat and will dart out at the last moment and nail the lure.
• Shore-based fishing for turrum is a definite option in the Nhulunbuy area. Jessie suggests looking for areas around points, mangroves and sand islands, and reckons the turrum are especially active in these areas around dusk.

Jessie’s Turrum Fishing Tackle

• Jessie uses a Samaki spin rod coupled with a 3500 or 4000 size Shimano Stradic Reel, 20 or 30 lb braid and a rods length of 60-80lb Samaki fluorocarbon leader.

Jessie’s Recommended Lures For Turrum

• Metal jigs and slices such as the Halco Twisty are very effective on turrum. Jessie has a range of sizes from 20 to 100g, rarely she’ll use lures over 100g also. The basic technique is to cast long and beyond the school of feeding fish, let the lure sink for a count of five and then retrieve at full speed. Jessie will choose the size of lure based on the water depth and current.
• Halco Roosta poppers are another top choice for targeting turrum and have the added attraction of spectacular, splashy strikes. Jessie mixes up the retrieve to find what’s working on the day and may use short, sharp pops or longer sweeps of the rod as the occasion dictates. Poppers are a good option on the lower tides and in shallower water, where metal jigs have a tendency to be lost to snags.
• Gold Bombers are a great option for slow trolling around mangroves or reef edges in 4m or so of water. They’re also good to flick at schools of feeding fish.
• The Zerek Barra XPro is a lighter hard body that isn’t so suitable for trolling but works well for flicking at feeding fish.