Steve at Tackle HQ was kind enough to arrange another jigging tutorial on Whitey's boat with some 8 fishwrecked members attending.  Amongst the fishers were four jigging virgins, Lester, David (a Dhuie virgin as well), Damo and myself as well as  the four seasoned professionals (well if you saw the selection of jigs and gear they were using you would think they were) Steve from HQ, Jeffrey, Paul and Simon. 

It was an early start with Whitey leaving the wharf at 5.30 and overcast conditions only made the early morning start even darker, after motoring for a little less than an hour we arrived at the first drop.  On the way us virgins had been entertained by Steve showing us how to tie the most ridiculously complex bobbin knots which supposedly provide almost 100% knot strength but, whilst I might accept that for casting purposes such knots might be warranted (GT fishing in particular) I fail to see the need for such extremes for bottom jigging when a simple double and improved albright will adequately do the same job.  Still I enjoyed the lesson immensely but as an old fart I might stick to what I know and can actually see with my old eyes.

Steve rigged up all us virgins and at the first spot walked around giving instructions on how to work the jigs, not allow them to get too far from the boat on too shallower angle and how to work the rod to get a suitable "injured baitfish action".

Second drop Simon, Damo (with a Steve assist) and yours truly all hooked up on snapper with mine being the largest displaying the distinct hump head of a good one 

Hell that was easy, second drop and an good snapper - this jigging thing might well be the bees knees .......................Hmmmmmmmmmm

Jeff then hooked a stripey on a fast retreive but the snapper shut down quickly to Whitey quickly indicated a move and we all "lines up". 

Well the initial buzz of an early fish quickly waned as we moved from spot to spot with little other than srgt. bakers being caught and all of us virgins struggling to even get a hit.  

Time ticked on with Whitey repeatedly trying to find fish which might chew on our flash bits of metal - the pro's were repeatedly changing jigs from their massive arsenals but even these experienced operators were doing it tough.

Ian and Simon quickly took a break after the first spot to yell at the ocean and then proceeded to sleep with neither seeming too enthused with the fact that the breeze was getting up and the boat rocking just a little more.

Whitey had warned us that fish had been hard to find in the three days prior with even the local wetliners strugging to raise a scale so we were not that confident of doing too well but Steve never let us virgins flag and kept us to the task of dropping, jigging and retreiving over and over again as he was confident we would catch fish.  Lunchtime rolled by and fish were still scarce so Ian finally decided he had seen enough of our poor attempts, roused from his disturbed sleep / seasickness and immediately hooked a good dhuie causing us virgins to renew our efforts

It was like a light switch had been flicked on, fish started to come in with some regularity and, whenever a fish was caught Whitey would reposition  and redrift the area to ensure that we had covered all bases - great tactic as often more fish followed. 

Ian did it gain with a second dhuie but we wont count it as a "capture" as it wasn't hooked at all - the jig had been inhaled by the fish, turned sideways across it's jaw and locked into place without a hook even scratching it's flesh

Double virgin dave then broke his duck with his first ever dhuie

And Ian really rubbed salt into the wounds by securing a truly specimen dhuie which was initially called as potentially in excess of 20kg but proved on certified scales back at the wharf to be 17.8kg - either way it was a bloody good fish even if he doesn't look happy but that may have been because we kept him holding it for ten minutes or more and he was a bit ****issed at us.

 Steve then demonstrated brilliant jigging technique by securing the catch of the day

- for which I thank him as I was laughing that much that I forgot to jig and almost lost the rod when a good dhuie obviously took a shine to my jig left fluttering down deep and engulfed it.  I claim this as a legitimate catch even though the jig was again wedged in the jaws and the single assist was left swinging in the breeze (hook inserted only for photographic purposes)

The side bet between virgins Damo and Dave was won resounding by Damo and I am sure he will enjoy the two cartons of his choice. 

Finally on the trip back to the marina Jeff did his usual 

Before suddenly springing up to grab the inside corner trolled skirt only to come up with a sambo

 Summary and accolades

Jigging - hmmmm, personally the jury is out, I have bait fished Jurien a lot and caught plenty of fish but I am sure that jigs might indeed generate a "bite response" when bait drifting by might not.  I will try it again!

Tackle HQ's tutorial - I saw some negative comments on a prior trip about the guys fishing rather than tutoring, bluntly I could not fault Steve though he fished a lot of the time he encouraged, came over and pointed out faults in technique and assisted whenever called upon to do so - BRILLIANT DAY Steve, thanks and equally thanks to all the other members for their help and encouragement and bloody good laughs - I would not hesitate to go on another. 

Whitey ...........................YOU ARE A BLOODY LEGEND............Second to none, I have been on charters all over the world and can say without a shadow  of a doubt that you worked harder and longer and went further to find us fish than ANY skipper I have ever fished.  I had heard good reports - bluntly they are under-stated - utterly professional and passionate about given us fishos a good time .........Thanks

Sunshine 

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