Black Jew Fish

Without doubt Dundee Beach Fishing Charters has almost a legendary reputation for putting their clients on to one of the top ends hardest fighting fish, the Black Jewfish.

Jewies are in abundance in the waters off Dundee Beach but finding them and actually catching them comes down to years of experience. We have learnt a stack over the years on how to target these awesome fish.

Black Jew fish are by far easier to catch on a slack tide. They seem to school in fast running tidal areas which makes it hard to hold bottom when fishing, so a slack tide makes it easier for the fish to hunt and for fisho’s to target.

Interestingly enough many think these fish are only found in deep water but that is far from the truth. At Dundee with have caught them in depths from 4 metres through to 30 metres and even up the creeks at times in even shallower water.

Despite the depth the easiest way to catch them is using the good old paternoster rig with a big snapper lead and a big chunk of squid or some fresh cut baits. Don’t hesitate to put out a big bait as these fish have no problem swallowing them down. We often catch them on vibe type lures to like a Zerek Fishtrap.

One mistake that many fisho’s make on these fish is trying to strike at the fish when they think they have a bight. The key to a good hook up is to wait while the fish is sucking on the bait and allow the fish to swim away to load up the rod. At that time you slowly lift the rod and more often than not get a perfect hook up in the corner of the mouth. Then its time to hang on! The bigger Jewies over a metre will really test you with big runs targeted at any structure they can find.

The gear we use is normally a 8-10kg rod (I use a venom rod) coupled with a 5000 size reel (or smaller depending how sporty you want it to get) with 30 pound braid and a 60 pound leader. Thats more than enough grunt to pull up one of these awesome fish while providing enough sport to make it loads of fun.

Remember the bag limits though because these fish do not release well suffering badly from barometric trauma so only keep a couple.

There’s no guarantees in fishing but I don’t remember a time when I fished with Dundee Beach Fishing Charters and not caught a trophy Black Jew Fish. They really know their stuff when it comes these magic fish.

Bergie