If there is a more comprehensive estuary mulloway walk-through on Australian YouTube this month, it has not been released yet. Shroom - the Sydney lure designer behind ShroomTail soft plastics - has filmed the full live-bait sequence from wharf to release, and the payoff is a 50 cm jewfish boated on the very first proper drop.
The target was stated up front. "In this video, I'm going to show you how to catch a mullaway, otherwise known as Jewish on live baits," Shroom told the camera, laying his gear out on the bait board.
His main outfit is heavier than most estuary rigs. A 6-to-12 kg 8T rod, a 4000-size Twin Power, 20 lb braid, a snap clip, a glow bead, a heavy-duty swivel, 30 lb leader, and a 5/0 circle hook tied on a five-turn uni knot. The sinker is a Star Sinker size two, with anything from 40 g up to 110 g working depending on what the rod can hold.
The livey rod is the opposite extreme. "This is just a really basic 1,000 reel. This is just a 1 to three pound. The important part is I've got a small hook and a split shot," he said, rigging a size 10 long-shank on six-pound leader to harvest yakas - yellowtail scad - on small slithers of pilchard.
The bait grind itself is half the lesson. After hooking a Sydney cardinal first ("this is not what I'm after"), Shroom worked through a fat adult yaka to a target-sized lollipop, hooked it cleanly behind the head, and lobbed it back into the deep edge under the wharf lights. "Usually the smaller the yaka, smaller the live bait, the more likely it's going to get eaten," he reasoned.
The first two livies never came back. One returned to the surface dead with the body torn and the jaw mangled - clear evidence of crushing power below. The second was hit hard at the surface by a chopper tailor that snipped the 30 lb leader and was lifted onto the wharf with the 5/0 circle hook still hanging from the corner of its jaw. "Don't put your fingers in there. You'll lose your finger," Shroom warned as he released the green-back back into the water.
That left him with one livey in the bucket and one shot at the target. He rigged the last yaka, lobbed it gently into the deep zone with the glow-tip set as a strike indicator, and dropped a piece of straightforward advice along the way. "One thing about live bait fishing is don't assume that nothing is going to happen. Even if nothing really is happening, you're chasing big fish. You don't have too many opportunities, but when it does happen, you'll know exactly when it happens," he said.
Minutes later the tip lit up. He trusted the circle and the rod load, never struck, and walked the fish up the wharf wall by hand. The result was a 50 cm mulloway hooked perfectly in the corner of the jaw - exactly where a circle is supposed to find a mouth. "That's the catch we all want. That's the stuff that I'm sure everyone's trying to chase," Shroom said before releasing the fish on a clean tail kick.
For estuary anglers who keep losing live baits without converting, the playbook is now on record: heavy rod, 30 lb leader, properly sized circle, head-hooked yaka, glow-tip indicator, and the patience to let the rig do the work even when tailor steal the first two attempts.
