Tag Archives: GULP Squid Vicious

Iluka – the Clarence River and the headlands – September 2022

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The wet winter continued in September with eleven rainy days through the month. The weather was generally a bit warmer than average. Further south, the inland of NSW got a complete drenching which resulted in serious flooding.

On the safe swell days I caught plenty of small jewfish from the Iluka headlands. On one morning I managed to put eight in the rock pool,in the space of an hour. However they measured between 60cm and 70cm, so I released them all. Over the next few days I did manage to get a couple of keepers, which were both around 85cm long. I was using my latest favourite jewfish soft plastic which is the GULP Squid Vicious in the Nuclear chicken colour. I had it rigged on a 3/8 ounce or 1/2 ounce jighead and 40lb fluorocarbon leader.

After some really heavy rain upstream, the Clarence turned pretty dirty late in the month so I went down to the mouth and fished the Iluka rock wall. In the first session (on the inside of the wall) I caught a couple of GTs on a jerkshad and then a 73cm jewfish. I decided to go back the next day. The water was brown and soupy which is just how the jewfish like it. I started just after dawn and soon found the fish. This time they were schooled up on the outside (ocean side) of the wall. I cast out the GULP Squid Vicious soft plastic and it was slammed on the first drop. I hooked six sizeable fish but just could not get any of them close enough to gaff.

I finally realised I was truly out gunned when a fish just grabbed the plastic and charged off with it straight towards New Zealand. I gradually tightened the drag and it slowed a couple of times but it never turned. I watched the line disappear off my spool and finally tightened right up. There was a momentary pause then snap and the line went slack.

By this time a couple of other fishos had arrived. I moved over to the other side of the wall and after a few casts, was on again. This time I hung on and with the aid of some expert gaffing assistance, pulled up an 85cm jewfish / mulloway.

The birds – particularly the cormorants – were patrolling the river every morning looking for the small tailor that were chopping through the bait schools. I caught a few bream but had more luck with flathead. The juvenile jewfish were ever present especially at dawn and dusk. There was lots of small bait in the river particularly the tiny jelly prawns that the flathead so love.

Jelly prawn Clarence River

Iluka – the Clarence River and the headlands – August 2022

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July rolled into August and although the La Nina weather pattern persisted, we did have a few cool clear days. There was plenty of bait in the river and a few mullet but according to the professionals the floods had killed the traditional autumn/ winter mullet ‘run’.

The birds would show me where the bait was schooled up and I would plan my fishing around their focus, whenever I could reach it. I caught plenty of flathead in the run ups to the new and full moons. In this river system when the bait is up close to the rock walls that line the bank the flathead are usually sitting directly underneath. I like to fish from high tide down to about half way out but I have caught them at any point in the cycle.

There were lots of junior jewfish in the river

With plenty of bait, the mini tailor were around in big numbers and so were the small jewfish. In some sessions it was hard to catch a flathead because these two species would always beat them to the soft plastic lures

The bream were also a consistent catch. Soft plastics, hard-bodied lures and a variety of fresh and frozen baits all seemed to work. On angler even claimed the only thing they really liked is chicken breast marinated in curry powder. I live and learn.

The big swells put the rocky headlands out of bounds for all but a few days of the month. However, when I could safely fish at Woody Head I caught a few tailor and a couple of legal sized mulloway / jewfish. The lure of choice for the jewfish remained the GULP Squid Vicious soft plastic in the nuclear chicken colour.

Iluka – Woody Head – 14/15 November 2020

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Very strong south easterlies had been blowing all week. I had tried a few sheltered spots around Iluka, but had only managed a few bream and small trevally. Everything was just too stirred up and finding anywhere safe to stand was too hard.

The winds dropped off on the Friday and the south easterlies were replaced by a strong northerly wind. This flattened out the seas a little and by lunchtime on Saturday I decided to try fishing at Woody Head. It was an early afternoon low tide at about 2.30 pm. The northerly wind was forecast to fall through the afternoon. The moon would be new on Sunday. The wind was still gusty from the north but the swell had flattened considerably.

Woody Head – slowly flattening seas

I started fishing with my heavier set up – 40lb leader, 40lb braid, casting a DUO Drag Metalcast around. This produced nothing. Then a Gulp Jerkshad (various colours). This produced a 45cm trevally and then a 35cm bream. Initially I was fishing with a 1/4 ounce, size 1/0 hook jighead and then on a heavier 3/8th ounce, 2/0 hook jighead, to counteract the fairly strong northerly wind.

I had been casting a GULP Lime Tiger coloured jerkshad around and I was thinking of swapping to a more natural coloured soft plastic when something grabbed the plastic very close. It initially turned to swim away but soon rethought its strategy and headed under the ledge. The drag was pretty tight but the fish didn’t even pause. My braid was soon rubbing on the rocks and then – snap! I re-rigged and tightened the drag, but things seemed to go quiet for a while. The tide was now pushing in quite quickly. I kept casting and the next fish on the scene was a trevally, about 45cm long.

Trevally and bream

At about 3.30 pm I had moved a little south along the ledge. I dropped down to the light rock fishing rig with 16lb leader and 20lb braid. I cast out a GULP Lime Tiger coloured Crazylegs Jerkshad. This was smacked on the drop and taken straight under the rock ledge – the braid snapped almost instantly. I cursed my impatience and swapped back to the heavy rod with 40lb leader and a 3/8th ounce size 2/0 jighead. I put another GULP Crazylegs Jerkshad on. This paid off and after a few casts something whacked the soft plastic on the drop and took off. Fortunately it decided to swim away from the ledge and this gave me some time. It was powerful but after an initial run I seemed to have it under control. I pulled it up with a wave surge and was delighted to see it was a snapper (later weighed in – gutted and scaled – at 3.8kg)

Snapper – I rarely catch these – very exciting

The next day would be an even lower low tide and I started fishing in the same spot at about 3.00 pm. The swell had continued to drop off and the wind was a light south-easterly. The first taker was a bream. I released it and carried on. About 10 minutes later I felt a fish grab then lure then drop it, a few metres out from the ledge. I cast out again and slowed down my retrieve. Something fast grabbed it and took off with a long run. I got some line back but then it ran again. I tightened the drag and wound like mad as it suddenly turned and decided to swim straight for the ledge. Fortunately, by the time it tried to change its mind, I had virtually locked up the drag and pulled it in on a wave. It was a surprising small (50cm) kingfish. I have only ever caught a few of these and their power and speed always surprises me. I released it, hoping for more, but did not get any.

Kingfish fight very hard

I moved further south to where I had caught the snapper the day before. I was temporarily out of the Crazylegs Jerkshads so I found a 6″ GULP Squid Vicious in the New Penny colour and cast that out. It was now almost 5.00pm and the tide was running in. On about the third cast I thought I had the bottom, then it started wriggling and took off. One long solid run and then a couple of head shakes but no real power (compared to the kingfish). It was decent school jewfish and I was able to successfully pull it up to my feet. It was just over 75 cm long and so it joined the snapper in the fridge.

A keeper jewfish

A couple of great sessions once the weather allowed me to get to the fish, lets hope it stays calm for a while.

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