Catching jewfish or mulloway
Satellite tagging by NSW DPI reveals some interesting facts about mulloway and Sunday boat traffic...Ever wondered why mulloway can be so fickle and hard to catch? Well, a joint study by DPI and UNSW may provide some answers ...
The study, which concluded earlier this year, used acoustic tags to track an array of popular recreational fish species including flathead, bream, luderick, whiting and mulloway.
One of the key findings of the study detailed how boating noise affects mulloway activity and foraging habits.
Increased boating noise resulted in mulloway "shutting down."
For example, weekends, when more boats are on the water, saw mulloway feed and move around far less than weekdays, when there's generally fewer boats around.
Mulloway also feed on different prey when they've been disturbed by boat noise, favouring easy-to-catch bait such as prawns and shrimp as opposed to fish.
These findings go a long way towards explaining why mulloway experts tend to fish during unsociable hours and with a fair degree of stealth.
Food for thought if you're keen on targeting these iconic estuary sportfish. More exciting info from the NSW DPI/UNSW study to come over the next few weeks!
We have reprinted this mulloway finding, the fishing tips and pics courtesy of NSW Fisheries and DPI in the interests of better angling.
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