Episode 258: NSW Central Coast Jewfish With Leon Gaston

Leon’s NSW Central Coast Jewfish Fishing Tips

• Fishing for jewfish from a kayak requires some planning. It’s not possible to travel as far (or fast) as you by boat, so you need to have a good idea of where to expect jewfish will gather before launching.
• Look for water that’s shallow and then drops away to 8-10m depth fairly steeply. Leon isn’t usually fishing structure, just sandy bottom, although he might go looking for rocks etc if the fish are hard to find.
• Leon generally fishes mornings and likes the last of the run-out tide best for jewfish. He’s usually on the water before dawn and off again by 10am. Slightly windy, overcast days usually fish best.
• Look for schools of fish or baitfish gathered up and jewfish won’t be too far behind. Tailor are a good sign as the jewfish may sit beneath the school and feed on scraps that come down, or may decide to chow down on the tailor themselves.
• Prawns are also high on the foo list and Leon has been doing very well with a prototype soft plastic prawn being developed by Pro Lure. He wouldn’t share details as the lure isn’t yet available, but stay tuned.
• It’s worth fishing bait balls, even if there are no bigger, predatory fishing marking on the sounder. This is especially the case if the bait are tightly balled up in midwater as it usually means they are being hunted from below.
• Leon focuses on the last half of the runout tide where possible and finds that a low tide at around 7am is a good opportunity. The low flow and slack water periods allow the use of light tackle and lightly weighted lures.
• It’s worth working a school of jewfish or baitfish over from multiple directions, as sometimes changing the angle at which the lure is travelling can entice a strike when nothing else seems to be working.

Leon’s Jewfish Fishing Tackle

• A spin rod in the 6-8lb line class, 2500 size reel loaded with 10lb braid and one and a half rod lengths of 12lb fluorocarbon leader is a good setup for central coast estuary jewfish from a kayak. Leon typically has 4 such outfits on his kayak, each rigged with a different lure.

Leon’s Jewfish Fishing Lures

• The Prolure Fishtail is a great soft plastic lure option. Leon has rods rigged with both the 80mm and 105mm version and switches between both, depending on what the fish are taking on the day. It’s best to fish these on light jig heads and to cast them long, letting them sink to the bottom and retrieving them with short 0.5m or less hops back along the bottom. It’s important the lure stays near the bottom and it’s also important not to cast the lure too close to feeding tailor, which will most likely result in a tailor hooking up or worse, snipping off your lure. A 1/4 oz Jig head is plenty when the water isn’t flowing too hard.

• The Prolure 105mm Prey Minnow is great for a more subtle action or when the fish are feeding close to the bottom on prawns. It’s fished in a similar way to the Fishtail, but can sometimes get bites when a more subtle action is required.

• The Prolure V-Vibe is a 35mm blade that is surprisingly effective on jewfish. Cast it long, allow it to sink to the bottom and work it in small hops with just enough pace to get a few vibrations on each rod lift before letting the lure sink down. Strikes usually come when the lure is on the drop and are typically a small “tick” on the line that requires an angler to be alert and to set the hooks at the slightest sign. Leon likes this lure when the bait are small or he can’t make out what the bait species are.