Jewfish (mulloway) is one of my favourite fish to catch, particularly off the beach. Once hooked, they turn themselves side on to the waves, parallel to the beach and run up and down the beach with powerful thumps of their tails.

It’s an exhilarating but nervous few minutes but because there are very few snags or rocks on the beach a patient angler usually wins.

To increase your chances of catching a jewfish you need to fish the deep holes, gutters of channels on the beach or in the rivers as they like to school up in deep water, especially around ledges or drop offs.  The best bait to use is live mullet or herring, strips of mullet flesh or a large beach worm. I like to use 20 pound line so if I hook a big one I can slow that first long run down before I run out of line on the reel.

I use a long trace (50 – 75cm) and, depending on the bait of choice, a snooded hook rig.  The bigger catches are usually at night and a week either side of full moon, a few hours each side of high tide.  Over the last three weeks lots of jewfish have been caught in the Maroochy River, from the mouth up to the Bli Bli bridge, with big numbers found around the Motorway bridge.

Another hot spot has been in the gutters around the Surf Life Saving Club at Coolum Beach.  Let us know if you catch a big one.

Happy hunting!