Jigging season & Ajiking reels off to a good start

[Ben Derecki]

After having watched Seabreeze all week we were stoked to see that Saturday's weather was going to hold up so we were up at 5.30am Saturday and on the water by about 6.30 for a day of jigging.

For those that don't know each year from around December to February / March samsonfish aggregate off the coast of Perth to spawn. This is obviously a win for anyone with a boat suitable enough to take 30-40kms offshore to the spawning grounds and for local charter operators.

In the main aggregations the fish are found in water between 80-200m deep, the more popular spots are around 100-120m deep. Last year the average fish size was 35kg but the larger sizes went to over 50kg - which when you think of dragging one of these monsters up through at least 80m of water it represents a fair bicep-tearing, lower back breaking, tackle testing challenge.

This is also a good place to test out new gear and so for this trip, and for the rest of the season, I had chosen a Lemax SlimMax rod (on display and available through most AFO events) and a new Ajiking (pronounced Ar-jy-king) Wahoo reel. The Wahoo reels are jigging and popping reels new to Oz (and available through Four Fish Australia). They boast a 30kg / 10-piece drag, 8BB, stainless steel gearing, waterproof aluminium body and are a cosmetically appealing piece of kit competitively priced with an RRP around $350 depending on where you shop.

Armed with this and a few other new products we made the one and a quarter hour trip to back of Rottnest Island in good time. On reaching the first spot I dropped down a 350g Bakau knife jig and once it hit the bottom I started cranking the jig back up through the water column and was on straight away! Seven or eight minutes later we started to see colour and eventually a 10-12kg fish came to the surface. It wasn't huge, but it was a good start. 'Not a bad way to kick off the day' I said to the guys on the boat.

For the rest of the day fish were harder to come by than they have been in the past but we were still hooking up every 2-3 drifts. The sizes ranged from 10-12kg for the smaller samsonfish to around 25kg for the largest and last fish of the day, also thrown into the mix was also a small amberjack.

All in all it was a good day - the fishing provided us enough entertainment to keep us occupied, the weather was fantastic and the Lemax SlimMax and Ajiking Wahoo handled everything with ease.

On the way back we were cruising along at about 30kms when we saw a huge flash of white underwater about 10m to our left. We pulled up straight away and it turned out to be a large mother humpback and her calf doing a u-turn out of our way... which admittedly was very nice of them. We tried to follow them for a bit but they weren't interested in hanging around, so neither were we.

We stopped off at Carnac Island on the way home for a brief snorkel and a cool off swim, but with the southerly picking up we decided to call it a day and headed back to the ramp.

[Ben Derecki]

Here's a closeup of the new reel

Ask your local tackle store to order one in...

[wesfish]

fantastic report of great fighting fish, bloody stonkers :woohoo: :woohoo: i cant wait to get into them!!!

[ryanyoung]

Awesome Mate, how do I get a job like yours lol!!!

[silver_rex]

nice work Ben.. Cant wait to head over in mid jan, have a trip arranged with bluejuice :woohoo: :woohoo:

how did the reels handle the sambos??

[Old Scaley]

Have seen a couple of features on TV fishing shows on jigging for sambos over there. On Fishing WA everything went well with a few stonkers pulled in. Then I saw Dave Butfield his show on Aurora channel chucking $50 notes away in the form of knife jigs and landing (I think) one fish and getting seasick to boot. Still, looked like a lot of fun and a hell of a workout for the back and biceps :laugh:

[Ben Derecki]

wesfish wrote:

i cant wait to get into them

You coming over here soon mate? It's great fun, you'll love it if you are.

ryanyoung wrote:

Awesome Mate, how do I get a job like yours lol!!!

Ryan this isn't my day-job mate, it's something I'm doing on the side to help get things moving. It does get me access to some great fishing tackle but most of the trips are at my own expense... currently, hopefully

[Ben Derecki]

silver_rex wrote:

nice work Ben.. Cant wait to head over in mid jan, have a trip arranged with bluejuice

how did the reels handle the sambos??

Great to hear you're heading over mate, if you're up for some company let me know and depending on when it is I'll come out with you on Bluejuice or hook up for a beer or something.

I've been out on Bluejuice a few times, they're pretty good. If you want to get the best value for money though look up Shikari charters, nothing but top-end tackle, smaller boat than the converted cray boats BJ use and the guy who runs the show is a legend from everything I hear. Prices are the same as the others.

Re the reel - no problems. Smooth drag, smooth wind, good cranking power. All good. Can take it out with you when you're over if you want!

Old Scaley wrote:

Have seen a couple of features on TV fishing shows on jigging for sambos over there. On Fishing WA everything went well with a few stonkers pulled in. Then I saw Dave Butfield his show on Aurora channel chucking $50 notes away in the form of knife jigs and landing (I think) one fish and getting seasick to boot. Still, looked like a lot of fun and a hell of a workout for the back and biceps

Yeah it can get expensive that's for sure. Not sure if you need to spend $50 on a knife jig though hey. Some of the guys over here have caught them on spanners, heavy metal rulers and large sinkers rigged with assist hooks. I'm sure the more expensive gear might benefit you a little, but not that much.

The seasickness thing is definately a factor, it's a long trip out to the grounds and the summer months are pretty windy here so the swell can pick up. In most charter boats it's probably a 1.5 hour trip so if you haven't got your sea-legs look out!

[bootyinblue]

Some good looking fish there.... and nice scenery shots to break it up a bit.

Love the challenge of pulling up big fish from down deep. Biggest was about a 14kg jewfish from 100m of water outside Port Stephens.

[FishoDave]

wow, looks like great fun on those fish there, would of pulled pretty hard.

the reel looks sweet, i'm more a smaller fish kinda guy though, estuaries are more my cup of tea

[free2rome2]

Hi Ben,

Great fishing!

Gets my adrenalin pumping after viewing the pics... :woohoo:

I, too have the Lemax Slimmax, and it's a very good rod...

Am planning a trip to Perth in Feb, just during the Chinese New year holidays to target them Sambos. Hopefully, I can get a couple... :laugh:

Was thinking of Apache Charters or something...

Cheers!

Jonathan

[Ben Derecki]

G'day Jonathan

I haven't been out on Apache mate but have heard reasonable things about them. With the samsonfish I guess the bottom line is that all operators will get you onto fish. It's not like normal charter fishing where you're looking for something for the plate, there are a lot of prominent spots so it's not hard to find them.

With Shikari, even though I haven't been out with them the main reason I recommend them is a) because of the gear they offer; because they've been in it the longest; and c) Al Bevan (skipper / owner) is the guy who kicked the whole sambo jigging thing off and who has poured a fair bit of his own money and effort into the industry. Google "samson science" (with the " "), this is one of the initiatives he is behind.

[free2rome2]

Hi Ben,

I did google them and found that they're in Rockingham... a bit far out for me tho', cos I'll be staying with relatives in South Perth.

Still, i'll try and google the address that you mentioned and check it out...

A big thanks for your report, makes me really want to get them Sambos... :woohoo:

Merry X'mas to you and a Happy New Year ahead as well!

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Brian D]

That report is a ripper, has a pro feeling about it. Great fish and great photos, thanks.