Out for a final jig with Bluejuice...
Made a last minute decision late Friday arvo to head out for a jig, made a call to Bluejuice after getting the okay from the better half (with a one month old bub) and got on board for Saturday.
Wanted to try these new rods from Ajiking while I was out, Anglers' Spot in Willetton has just started bringing them in to Oz. The Duo Maxx comes with two blanks which provides a smaller blank for jigging and a longer blank for popping, only for heavy duty stuff though as they're rated to PE 8.
Anyway it was a nice morning, the wind was down and the temperature was pleasant, the dock was busy as both BJ and Mills were leaving at the same time and both companies had two boats heading out.
We finally hit the road and two hours later pulled up in the usual spots out the back of Rotto. We worked the place hard for a few drifts, worked a few more spots, and another spot, all for one amberjack at around 700mm. We had expected it to be tough fishing this late in the season but it's still disheartening farting around for so long without any fish landed.
Eventually the skipper said we were going to try out to the Derwent so off we steamed and half an hour later we hit the spot with a school on the sounder. Everyone was fired up except for the thought of having to winch one up off the bottom where the school was holding up - 180m below. A couple of smaller fish were pulled up and then the school moved up to 120m where we managed a few more. They weren't honkers but that didn't matter, we were just keen to get something.
This one went to about 6kg
I got this one at about 8kg (with a weird tracking antenna sticking out of its back 
)
After a while they started to die down so we shot back to 120m and found a school there which proved to be a lot of fun. About five fish were landed here and there were a few bust offs. Because of the slow fishing it got pretty messy and at one point there were about nine lines over the side. A few of the bust offs looked like braid cuts from someone elses line. Such is life, we just wanted to catch fish.
I got this baby which was 12kg and the others were around that size too. The largest caught for the day was 15kg.
Anyway all in all it was a good day for me, I was happy with landing three and having a couple of great fights which resulted in bustoffs but I felt for some of the other people who didn't even get the fun of hooking up let alone landing one, but that's the way it goes.
Ben Derecki
Posts: 1926
Date Joined: 10/10/07
Bit more...
Few other random pics from the day:
One of the other local operators in the area :lol:
Probably a bit hard to see but this huge flock of mutton birds came through, no idea what they were doing because they weren't busting up the surface or anything like that, just enjoying being on the water together like mates do...
Some of the other jiggers
A bit of resuss action after this bloke didn't want to go back down after being released. The crew eventually got him back down.
soupster51
Posts: 2724
Date Joined: 29/11/06
Blue Juice
Good report. At least the skipper worked hard at getting everyone on to some fish.
Three days without it and I get a little jumpy
The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow.
Big J
Posts: 129
Date Joined: 16/12/07
What did you think of the
What did you think of the rods?????
And what price do they come in at???
kaitan
Posts: 418
Date Joined: 18/06/07
hahah sorry matt!!!! this guys beat ur 22kg sambo!!! haha
NO PAIN NO GAIN!!!
Colin Hay
Posts: 10407
Date Joined: 23/10/07
Great report there Ben
The charters c an be hard work but at least you got onto some fish.
(Colin 1 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
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Ben Derecki
Posts: 1926
Date Joined: 10/10/07
Thanks guys. Yeah all in
Thanks guys. Yeah all in all it worked okay, if the fish were on then nine lines over the side wouldn't have worked but because they only came on sporadically it seemed to work well enough.
Big J - I'd probably feel more comfortable giving a heads up on the rods after I've tried them a few more times and on fish the size they are designed for but taking all that into account - it held its own, nothing gave it any troubles and it handled 400g jigs without a sweat. The action seemed okay but only getting onto less than 1/2 dozen fish I just didn't get a good enough look / feel for it.
Personally I didn't like the length, at 6'6" I felt it was a bit too long for me. I'd prefer knocking a foot off the length. I also think the length of the popping rod is a bit too short (7'0"), not that I've tried it yet though. Keep in mind this is for the overhead model too. The spin model is more on the money for what I would be looking for - the two lengths there are 5'8" for the jig which would be fine and the popper is 7'6" which is more along the lines of what I'd be looking for.
RRP for the rods is around $300 which is pretty good value for what you're getting. I'm heading up to Exxy in a couple of months so I might see if I can grab the spin model and see how they go. Ajiking has another dedicated popping rod too so that one might end up coming instead.
chrisp
Posts: 1217
Date Joined: 24/05/08
nice report ben
At least the skipper worked hard to get you on the fish...Went out with blue juice round xmas and the sambos were pretty thick ...hope theres afew when we go out on the fishwrecked jig day...
Rowie
Posts: 9
Date Joined: 23/12/08
Nice Fish. well done
Nice Fish. well done
Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting.
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15653
Date Joined: 29/11/05
Top report
Top report Ben, cheers for sharing.
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Ben Derecki
Posts: 1926
Date Joined: 10/10/07
Thanks peoples...