I have been chasing Billfish since I was a kid and to me they were always the Holy Grail.
Now when I first started, livies were the go and a well bridal rigged tuna was always number one.
With skipping Gars or swimming baits a close second. The only problem was getting the bait, no bait no fish simple.
Then as we moved through the eighties trolled skirted lures started to appear and we could cover more ground and we didn’t need to rely on catching bait. Just search for bait schools, current lines, up wellings, temperature breaks and the fish are usually not to far away. The move away from bait also meant we didn’t have to learn to rig the baits (which is a dying art) and it was a much cleaner easier day out.
About two years ago something changed my thinking towards billfish that has been in my head until now. We were fishing the Riviera light tackle billfish tournament in 2007 I was a deckie on Craig Newtons 37 foot Steber “Grinner” we had a crew of juniors on board and after day one we were leading the competition. We were tolling skirted lures and as day 2 ended we were in second outright. We were beaten by the team on a boat called The Phantom which was crewed by women.
So here we were fishing a major east coast billfish tournament and the women come first and the juniors come second, how good is that. I am sure there were some hurt egos on presentation night.
The thing that stood out for me was the fact that “The Phantom” had no fish on the first day and had a blinder on the second. The reason, they changed to skipping gars. Now the appealing thing about skipping gars is they look good skipping along the surface they’re natural, they also smell and that usually triggers a strike.
Now when I first started, livies were the go and a well bridal rigged tuna was always number one.
With skipping Gars or swimming baits a close second. The only problem was getting the bait, no bait no fish simple.
Then as we moved through the eighties trolled skirted lures started to appear and we could cover more ground and we didn’t need to rely on catching bait. Just search for bait schools, current lines, up wellings, temperature breaks and the fish are usually not to far away. The move away from bait also meant we didn’t have to learn to rig the baits (which is a dying art) and it was a much cleaner easier day out.
About two years ago something changed my thinking towards billfish that has been in my head until now. We were fishing the Riviera light tackle billfish tournament in 2007 I was a deckie on Craig Newtons 37 foot Steber “Grinner” we had a crew of juniors on board and after day one we were leading the competition. We were tolling skirted lures and as day 2 ended we were in second outright. We were beaten by the team on a boat called The Phantom which was crewed by women.
So here we were fishing a major east coast billfish tournament and the women come first and the juniors come second, how good is that. I am sure there were some hurt egos on presentation night.
The thing that stood out for me was the fact that “The Phantom” had no fish on the first day and had a blinder on the second. The reason, they changed to skipping gars. Now the appealing thing about skipping gars is they look good skipping along the surface they’re natural, they also smell and that usually triggers a strike.
Now with the introduction of Gulp Jerk shads, they had the shape and size of a gar and they also had smell so my next problem was how to rig them and would they skip right.
Well I found two ways to rig them, one way was shown to me on Adam Royters movie clip “rigging soft plastics”, rigging Jerk shads using your favourite hook. The other was when I was helping out Matt Fraser and he was showing me some Elevator hooks that he was doing for the New Zealand market. Here was a nice and strong sharp hook that had a nice lead keeper on the shank that when rigged in a jerk shad would not pull out. My next idea was when rigged would they skip properly.
Well I found two ways to rig them, one way was shown to me on Adam Royters movie clip “rigging soft plastics”, rigging Jerk shads using your favourite hook. The other was when I was helping out Matt Fraser and he was showing me some Elevator hooks that he was doing for the New Zealand market. Here was a nice and strong sharp hook that had a nice lead keeper on the shank that when rigged in a jerk shad would not pull out. My next idea was when rigged would they skip properly.
Thankfully a trip to Exmouth in Western Australia gave me the chance to try out this technique and to say I was surprised would be an understatement. So much for the knockers, I was told they would break up after an hour, they would just spin and no smart fish would bother looking at them. How wrong they were. Trolling out the back of a 26ft Blackwatch and setting the jerk shad about 15m back it was skipping perfectly, even the skipper who regularly uses skipping gar commented how well it was working on the surface. We didn’t have to wait long, within a half an hour of setting one in a trolling pattern at six knots a nice mackerel speared up through the air with a seven inch jerk shad in blue neon pepper hanging out of its mouth after a brief fight it was at the boat The hook was removed and upon inspection the Jerk shad was still in good condition, so straight back in it went and it skipped perfectly again. Now I knew it would work. Over the week we caught a few more fish on the Jerk shad.
The best way to rig the Jerk shad is to use a 7/0 hook for seven inch and a 5/0 for five inch and take your time to get it straight and get the hook to sit well back in the jerk shad
I haven’t found the perfect colour yet, I will have to leave that one up to you, as everyone will have there favourite. The best speed is anywhere from dead slow to eight plus knots and will have them skipping well. At eight knots you can mix them up with skirted lures. With the high price of fuel at the moment dropping back to six knots or less can save a lot of fuel for the day. Also dropping the speed back to Six knots when it is rough will help them skip better
I had finally found a good substitute for Skipping Gars. So next time you are out trolling and can’t find any bait. Grab yourself a pack of Jerk Shads and take your time to rig them straight slide a small skirt over the head if you want, or just as they are, and you are ready to fish. This summer I will have a spread of jerk shads and I look forward to giving those billfish something new to have a go at. Give it a go. What have you got to loose …..A big fuel bill?
I haven’t found the perfect colour yet, I will have to leave that one up to you, as everyone will have there favourite. The best speed is anywhere from dead slow to eight plus knots and will have them skipping well. At eight knots you can mix them up with skirted lures. With the high price of fuel at the moment dropping back to six knots or less can save a lot of fuel for the day. Also dropping the speed back to Six knots when it is rough will help them skip better
I had finally found a good substitute for Skipping Gars. So next time you are out trolling and can’t find any bait. Grab yourself a pack of Jerk Shads and take your time to rig them straight slide a small skirt over the head if you want, or just as they are, and you are ready to fish. This summer I will have a spread of jerk shads and I look forward to giving those billfish something new to have a go at. Give it a go. What have you got to loose …..A big fuel bill?
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