big shallow water samson off rotto again

[Marko Pekic]

Went jigging a couple weeks ago again with saltwater charters off hillaries in the 40s and 50s and did well with most coming up at around 20 kiloes to 25 kiloes. Was using pe2 and got smoked a few to many times so  then upgraded to pe4 gear. Got one beauty in on a 200gram jigging master alien jig and then lost a few more. Could have used the pe6 gear but was enjoying my new overhead combo so wanted to catch fish on that. Here is the fish didnt get a weight but was a solidddd fish. Maybe you lads could judge. Marko

[Marko Pekic]

If they aint taking jigs drop down big 11 inch mccarthys in lumo colour on one of those big 5 ounce jigheads because they got the right size hook and you should defs do well. On one day they wouldnt touch jigs and smashed my plastics every time and i was the only person on the boat with those monster placcys and cleaned up and no one caught a fish. But jigs are defs more fun. I did well on shout stays aswell.

[Mark Harris]

Nice fish Marko, really solid.

Are the sharks staying away?

[Marko Pekic]

Hey mate im just dropping the plastics down on my normal jigging gear which is on my twinpower 5000 with a saltiga s extreme or my JM pe4 with saltiga s extreme or my stella 8kpg with JM powerspell. Most times they hit it on the drop or just lightly twitchin it around the bottom soemtimes not even moving it and they smash the plastic so i duno what the go is with that haha.

as for the sharks my mate took me out for my birthday last week mark to the barges (deep stuff) and we got a fair few up before the sharks moved in so its on and off.

[Chris Thomas]

Nice fish , I was there 2 Christmas's ago and no one was even running jigging charters due to sharks.  Went on a bottom bashing charter and went jigging anyway. Got a couple of smaller ones at 12 kg plus, fast and furious. The bottom bashers didn't know what was going on which was quite funny.  The charter guy was good for running over a few good reefs for me.

[daniel.saville]

hey mate awsome fish! how long do they hang around for? would love to make the trip over from bris in the near future if there are still plenty of fish getting around

[Dan Konig]

Few and far between at the moment. They can still be found, but if doing a dedicated trip from interstate you'd be better off waiting till later in the year

[Marko Pekic]

Yeh as dan said wait till the hotter months, just dont leave it to late or they start to move out deep and sharks are all over em.

[daniel.saville]

What time of year would you reccomend? Also any help on charter operators would be greatly appreciated

Cheers guys

[Sean Costello]

December has generally been the best month over the years on the deep spots but it is plauged by sharks out there now

There are good spots in closer that seem to fish better in october/november in recent times

Shikari charters or Saltwater Charters are the best bet

[daniel.saville]

awsome sounds good guys, thanks for the help

[Marko Pekic]

yeh mate sean is spot on there, those times and those charter operators
Marko