One of the biggest lures of chasing mulloway is that they are accessible to all anglers meaning you don’t necessarily need a boat to catch big fish. Jewfish of 20kg plus can be caught from the shore and for some it’s a lifelong obsession. For this Gear and Guide we’ll focus on finding jewfish from the sand. The east coast is littered in beautiful beaches and autumn is an awesome time to fish them! The water is warm, the summer crowds have died down and the fishing is great! Yes, even Sydney’s busy city beaches can provide meter plus fish! Let’s break it down.

Headlands

Good places to start are the corners of beach headlands, these generally have deeper water running parallel with the rocks and the rocks also provide some good hunting ground however, the rocks can also pose an issue when fighting fish.

Beach Gutters 

The best beach structure is a deep gutter that leads out to sea with channels running parallel with the shore. This type of structure creates a natural burley. As the waves crashed and was ashore that water funnels back into the ocean following the channels and eventually leading back out to sea via the gutter carrying with it worms, crabs, small fish and the like. A deep gutter also provides an access point for hunting jewfish to cruise into to find food. If it’s deep enough, big jewfish can push up almost to the shoreline. 

Holes 

Holes are a little different to a gutter. These deeper parts of the beach don’t drain back out into the ocean.These holes can produce big fish too. Around higher tides jewfish will venture into these holes and cruise around waiting for food. They know these areas can be good spots for small mullet to congregate. 

Light

A big thing you need to consider when finding a beach to fish is the amount of unnatural light that may affect the beach. Things like street lights, party lights, car lights etc may annoy hunting jewfish. Especially car lights. There’s nothing worse than cars shining their headlights on the water every 10 or so minutes. Imagine trying to eat your dinner with someone shining a torch in your face (Those with young kids will know this feeling) 

This, in our opinion, is very important for beach fishing. Even if you find the perfect gutter the wind and waves can ruin a fishing session. Firstly, let’s talk about the waves. Waves are important to churn up the water and encourage fish to feed. If the swell is too big it can be difficult to keep your bait in one spot. Alternatively, if there’s too much current or “sweep” generated by the waves can be extremely annoying as it washes your bait down the beach all the time. It’s important to check the wave forecast before fishing. You want to avoid big north east swells (on the east coast) as these swells produce the most sweep and you also want the swell to be lower than 4 to 5 feet or under 2 meters. Some locations have smaller swell due to the direction the beach faces (South facing beaches will be smaller in north east swell but become a magnet for waves when it’s a south swell)

One thing we have to highlight is the cold water phenomenon that occurs on our east coast beaches during summer. When there are repeated seabreezes over a few days this generates what we call a north east wind swell. These swells are small but pack a punch in their ability to sweep water from north to south. Not only it is going to be difficult to keep a bait in the water but the water temp can dramatically drop. You may have gone for a dip in the middle of summer at the beach only to find that it’s freezing. What happens is that the warmer surface water is literally swept away and replaced by cooler water from the deeper parts of the ocean. This cool, clear water can be a real pain and in some cases it stops fish from feeding close to shore. Sometimes the change in water brings algae and you’ll notice this if using braided line as it can stick to the line as you wind it through the water. 

This is something that sometimes gets overlooked when beach fishing. We’ve found that when the water is clear and calm the less fish actively feed off the beach. Even bread and butter species like bream and whiting prefer a little bit of churn. As for jewfish, they especially like a bit of churn/discolouration in the water to promote feeding. Big swell can churn the water to make it murky or after lots of rain the water can become murky from the run-off/stormwater drains. Try and fish after big swell and heavy rain as the beaches tend to be more appealing for jewfish to make a visit into the shallows to find food.

When the swell has been small for over a few weeks the gutters tend to be filled with sand and the water is quite clear. This isn’t the best for jewfish and fishing these conditions tend to produce undesirable fish like rays and blind sharks. 

Beach fishing rods are generally between 10 to 14 feet in length. The extra length helps keep the line above the waves and also provides a longer cast but not all beach rods are made the same. 

There are two main types of rods - fibreglass and graphite. There are hybrids of these but the majority of options are made with these two materials. Graphite tends to be lighter and stronger but can be very stiff and less forgiving whereas the fibreglass rods will be heavier but are much more durable and flexible.

For bait fishing or for those getting into beach fishing we recommend fibreglass rods or a hybrid rod that’s graphite at the butt section and fibreglass at the tip. These rods are not only budget-friendly but are much more forgiving when fighting fish in the surf. Unlike fighting fish from a boat, the beach environment it’s a little more difficult to navigate since you’ve got to fight the fish and navigate waves, shore breaks and strong currents. Fibreglass rods are soft enough to absorb the power of the waves and the aggressive headshakes of the jewfish to help prevent throwing hooks in the shoreline. Rods like the Daiwa Beefstick Z are a great option. These rods also feature a sandspike which just makes life a little easier in preventing sand getting into your reel.  

Reels 

When taking on mulloway from the surf it’s not power you need in a reel but line capacity. Most of the time the fish won’t have rocks or structure to snag you on so you don’t need the power to pull them out of the water rather you need something that can handle the long runs these fish make when hooked! For us it’s the Penn reels that are the best option. The Penn Spinfisher VII or the Penn Pursuit are great reels. These reels are tough, durable and budget-friendly. The best feature of these reels is that they feature carbon drag washers. Carbon drag washers not only create a smooth drag but are much better with handling heat. If you’re catching sharks and jewfish from the surf you’ll soon notice that the long, blistering run put a lot of pressure on your reels and we’ve found that the Penn range is able to handle the heat, sand and salt over and over again.