Juvenile Jewies

They say things come around in cycles and certainly in fishing that rings true. Quite often you hear certain species have bumper seasons in terms of fish biomass and then seemingly disappear the following season. Tuna seem to be a prime cadidate for that... and when the catch rates are studied, most times the fall in numbers can be attributed to seasonal boom and bust type cycles that have been a constant pattern for decades. Being such an important commercial target, catch rates have been very closely monitored for some time...

I dont do too much offshore fishing, mainly due to not owning an adequate vessel, but cycles are still apparent in estuaries as well. It's perhaps not as noticable in enclosed waters due to the variety of species on offer. For instance, if i go cubing for tuna, chances are i might not catch a fish all day. I have a lot of time to think about where the fish have disappeared to! Whereas if i go fishing for bream, chances are i will catch a host of other species in the process. Ultimately, though the by-catch can distract you to the real situation at hand, bream numbers might be down on last year!

Which leads me to my next point! Over the last few months i have been putting a lot of recon work into the Hawkesbury River. In the process i have found a number of new 'gun spots' and new techniques to catch fish on plastics. The one thing that has been highlighted here is the sheer amount of juvenile jewfish that seem to be around this year. I have fished the Hawkesbury for a number of years but i have never seen so many soapy jewies come up as i have in the last few months. If our current catch rates are anything to go by, fishing for jewies in the Hawkesbury will be mind blowing over the next few years. I reckon in the past few months alone we have pulled over 100 undersize or just legal fish. Obviously they will take time grow to a decent line peeling size but when they do...its game on!

The funny thing is the Hawkesbury is one over-harvested waterway. Is it that commercial trawling nets now allow small jewies to escape? or is it just another case of a boom cycle of fish? Who can tell! But the signs of juvenile life are encouraging.

The only drama is trying to keep the soapies away from my lures long enough to catch a schoolie.