Working walls and headlands for jewies

There’s a lot of ways to catch jewfish, or mulloway, but these fish are arguably at their best when they congregate around rock walls and headlands following floods or rough weather. During these periods, large jewies in excess of a metre will come within casting range of shore-based fanatics to feast on the smorgasbord of bait that’s been kicked up by the rough conditions. The usually deep feeding jewies will start looking up for surface dwelling prey such as herring and mullet, and can often be seen smashing these hapless little morsels off the surface! It doesn’t get much more exciting than that.

The key with this style of fishing is timing, and in river scenarios it’s worth checking out the local breakwalls during and straight after a large river flood. The water may be stirred up and sometimes brown, but this is what these large silvery slabs love. In the old days handy anglers would cut bits off broom handles and chair legs to make long baitfish profiles to throw at these fish. Luckily for us, we can leave the chairs and brooms intact, and turn our heads towards the purpose-built jew lures available!

The Morry Kneebone Handcrafted Jewfish Lure 200mm 90g, Westin Swim Intermediate Hard Body Lure and Zerek Cavalla Long Cast Hard Body are great casting lures for breakwall jewies.

Soft plastics and are also an option, with ZMan Streakz Soft Plastics, Zerek Flat Shad and Berkley Powerbait Bubble Shiner Soft Plastics good options for hungry jewies.

On the headlands, the principal is similar, with the catalyst for feeding usually being rough weather. It goes without saying that extreme caution should be taken if fishing during or following rough weather on the rocks. If you don’t feel comfortable, don’t risk it. If you deem it safe to wander out, make sure you have a plan for if something goes wrong, and preferably fish with a friend.

The same lures mentioned above can get excellent results on the headlands. The only thing to remember is that headland jewies can be even bigger, sometimes hitting the fabled 40kg mark, and exceeding 1.5m. Therefore, using slightly larger lures than what you’re used to using in the rivers might be a good idea!

Remember, flooding and rough weather doesn’t have to put a halt to your fishing. There’s always something to fish for if you’re a smart angler, and many smart anglers choose to tangle with jewies when the conditions turn bad!