we were at the boat ramp at 5 am and steaming out towards the horizon just as the sun was starting to rear its head, the forecast of moderate north easterly winds was pretty well on par, we pushed out wide and soon reached a spot I hadn't fished in a very long time on a 37m edge. The sounder wasn't showing any fish but the ground looked promising, the plan for the day was to jig for demersal species, I was using a shiamno stradic ci4 4000 spooled with 20lb fins braid on a storm gomoku kaiten pe 1-3 rod, these rods are definitely my favourite go to rod when light tackle jigging comes to mind.
Matt was the first to drop and was hooked up within seconds when the rod loaded and line started peeling off the reel extremely quickly I knew we had hit a school of Samson fish, these brutes are famous for being incredibly tough fighters and love to eat jigs! my daiwa bala jig was hit hard and i had a solid hookup i landed my fish first as it was only a rat sambo of about 40cm matt soon had his 90cm sambo boat side for a quick snap and a successful release, the sounder was now showing a school of Samson fish sitting about 12m off the bottom so we both dropped our jigs straight back down, we let them hit the bottom then started a quick double pump and wind jigging technique, with samson fish as long as the jig is moving quickly the actual technique doesn't matter to much especially when they're in a frenzy like they were. pictured above the storm gomoku kaiten rod.we had multiple double hookups and we were both getting smoked by sambos on the light gear the biggest for the day was just hitting a metre, after 5 drifts and hooking and landing about 12 sambos between the pair of us the small school dispersed we spent a while driving around trying to find them but the north easterly was really starting to blow hard, after copping a few waves over the front of the boat we decided to head into shallower ground for some protection.
Jigging for samson fish is a not a new thing and is a huge sport here in WA with people heading out to the barges in chase of some monster sambos on big jigs and big gear, the pain these fish put you through is incredible even on the lighter gear with the smaller fish they will stretch your arms till they're about to drop off! but it is so much fun you just don't want to put the rod down especially when you are hooking monster fish that are peeling line and heading for the bottom quickly you have got your drag at almost full lock your arms have extended another 6" and your just waiting for your shoulders to pop. then the fish gives and you pump and wind slowly getting this freight train with fins towards the surface. once you have that fish in your arms and its nearly as long as you are tall....there is just no better feeling.
it is the main reason so many anglers spend huge $ on top end gear and jigs, its the reason i get out of bed to head out wide on some days i should have stayed home!
to target sambos on jigs i prefer to use the lighter gear and the gomoku for $150 rrp is a rod i recommend to everyone who wants to get into jigging as you can jig all day when its matched to a 4-5000 size reel as the combo wont weigh more then your can of beer, and we can all hold one of them for a few hours. with jigs you want to fish the size that suits the currents and winds on the day, traditional knife jigs work well for speed jigging but if you want to target demersals as well i recommend jigs like vexed and the daiwa bala and pirate jigs when you work these jigs slowly they flutter around the bottom and pink snapper, dhuies, red bight fish and baldies will happily swallow them as well. my next trip out i will be getting a sambo on a soft plastic that will be one less to tick off the bucket list.
catch ya next time
corey chandler
