Great day out to start the jigging season

I've landed a few sambos here and there in the last few months, but with reports of the sambos starting to fire offshore, when Craig at Saltwaters said he was heading out, I jumped at the chance.

Forecast was to be 12-15kn if seabreeze was to be believed, but the conditions were awesome, and hardly any wind at all. Could hardly ask for better weather.

 

Got to the spot, grabbed my lighter combo (certate 4000 and a smith AMJ) and chucked a jig down. A few pumps from the bottom and bang, it was on. A few other people got good hits and dropped them, only to do two pumps and be on again. It didnt take much longer than about 2 minutes for 6-7 people to all be hooked up.

Not a bad little fish to start the day off. Easily as big as my previous PB at 25kg. Strangely the fish didnt fight much until I got him up halfway, and then he kept running and dogging it out.

 

After that it was just on fire. Barely 10-20m of jigging and you were pretty much guaranteed on, but usually only a few pumps of the rod. Often a dropped fish would only take a few more pumps to be hooked up again.

[IMG]http://fishwrecked.com/files/images/sambo5(2).preview.jpg[/IMG]

You can see that the fish were pretty good condition, nice big fatsos. All about 30kg on average. Unfortunately my spin jigging reel was out of action, but made do with my overhead combo for the day.

 

A couple of fish were lost to sharks (or a shark) but only a few, so not too bad considering quite a few fish were caught. At one point had a white chomp down on a sambo snack and hang around the back of the boat for a few photos.



Landed lots of good fish, about 8 or so. Most were around the 30kg mark, with only one smaller at around 15-20kg. Biggest went probably at 35-40kg (estimated) for a new PB.

[IMG]http://fishwrecked.com/files/images/sambo3(2).preview.jpg[/IMG]

 

Craig put us on the fish drift after drift and great lunch supplied as well. Definately worth heading out with Saltwater if you're thinking of Sambo Jigging.  Great day on the water. Lots of great fish. Lots of people catching their first sambos (and getting hooked themselves, on jigging). Definately the best sambo jigging day I've had by far. Cant wait for the next one.

 


DazSamFishing's picture

Posts: 1518

Date Joined: 19/08/09

Good work Matt. Weather

Tue, 2009-11-24 23:14

Good work Matt. Weather would have been beautiful today.

Craig sure does operate a good charter. Seems like the white is a resident in that area.

Posts: 1321

Date Joined: 05/05/06

Sounds like a great

Wed, 2009-11-25 01:02

Sounds like a great day!
Good pics, is that a mako maybe?

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hlokk's picture

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Date Joined: 04/04/08

It was definately a white.

Wed, 2009-11-25 11:03

It was definately a white. Someone else got a really clear pic of the shark which makes it obvious. Also the deckie shoved an underwater camera and got a great portrait of the head (so it was definately a white).

Faulkner Family's picture

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Date Joined: 11/03/08

would have been an awsome

Wed, 2009-11-25 05:00

would have been an awsome day by the sounds of it . some nice sambo's taken by the looks. well done , the second pic of a sambo ,the fat one that is certainly looks different, are you sure its a sambo as it looks too white and a bit different in the body shape to be one

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hlokk's picture

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Date Joined: 04/04/08

Was just a really pale fish

Wed, 2009-11-25 11:13

Was just a really pale fish (and quite fat). Almost no pigment in the eye which was strange. The body shape is still more like a sambo than an amberjack IMO, but the dorsal count says sambo.

damo6230's picture

Posts: 2029

Date Joined: 07/06/08

nice work Matt

Wed, 2009-11-25 07:00

great day on the water

that second shot is that combo yours?

some quality fish there

how'd the certate/smith hold up? you upgrade the drag washers

PilbaraBrad's picture

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looks good, nice time had by

Wed, 2009-11-25 06:41

looks good, nice time had by all

HuggyB's picture

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Date Joined: 03/08/08

Well done Matt!

Wed, 2009-11-25 06:42

Its days and conditions like that you live for! Getting a ton of fish is just icing.....

 

 

But I reckon that sharky boy is a mako and not a white. You should have sacrificed a slab of sambo to catch it!!

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                    The Terrorist - coming to a fishing spot near you.........

wadetolley's picture

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Date Joined: 27/06/08

Nice

Wed, 2009-11-25 07:00

Nice fish mate! what happened to your jigging reel?

Colin Hay's picture

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Good onya Matt

Wed, 2009-11-25 07:11

Looks and sounds like a great day out. Do you ever work (Lol).

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Bones76's picture

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Date Joined: 03/11/08

Good to hear that you didn't

Wed, 2009-11-25 08:34

Good to hear that you didn't blow the Exist up

chrisp's picture

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Date Joined: 24/05/08

Dont encourage too many people to use saltwater..

Wed, 2009-11-25 08:50

There wont be any room left for me when i want to go out!

Craig's not that good reallyTongue out

Some nice fish there mate..very nice

hlokk's picture

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Colin, yeah, I work, gotta

Wed, 2009-11-25 11:07

Colin, yeah, I work, gotta pay for it all somehow Wink. Luckily, being on contract I have flexible hours so can take the occasional day off (though last week I did more extra hours than one missed day anyways...and I had to stick around for a few hours monday to finish some work off).

Paul, no way I was going to bring the exist out on those bad boys :S Was hoping to get a bit lighter gear out at the end of the day when everyone was too worn out but everyone was fishing right til the last drop, so too many lines in the water.

SamC's picture

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Date Joined: 30/08/06

Nice Matt

Wed, 2009-11-25 11:27

Healthy looking sambos mate!

Sooo keeen to get out there it's not funny...exams hurry up and finish!!

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Sam

Blackknightz's picture

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Date Joined: 29/08/08

Good day

Wed, 2009-11-25 11:38

All quality fish there Matt, hard to go to work when there on like that.

Bones76's picture

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Date Joined: 03/11/08

is that lady using a

Wed, 2009-11-25 11:47

is that lady using a handline in 100m? oh the pain...

SamC's picture

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Date Joined: 30/08/06

Release Weight Paul!

Wed, 2009-11-25 11:51

Release Weight Paul!

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Cheers,

Sam

hlokk's picture

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Date Joined: 04/04/08

Yep. Some could get speared

Wed, 2009-11-25 12:01

Yep. Some could get speared back (helps to let them vent at 20 or 10m), but most were released properly using a release weight.

AmericanBen's picture

Posts: 150

Date Joined: 26/01/09

nice work Matt

Thu, 2009-11-26 19:50

Lucky you could get off during the week as the weekend is looking crap again.  Still looking to get you on the boat and teach me how to jig. 

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Date Joined: 01/01/70

Saltwater Charters!

Thu, 2009-11-26 21:12

Nice work there Matt on the back brackers and a good report!

I've heard only good things from my customers about Craig & Saltwater Charters so we recommend them to our clients!