Mulloway in Australia

Identification and biology

Mulloway, jewfish, jewie, butterfish when small: Argyrosomus japonicus is the big silver drum of the southern half of the continent, bronze-silver with a row of silvery spots along the lateral line, a large mouth and the drumming sound it makes that named it a croaker elsewhere. It grows past a metre and past twenty kilograms, lives for decades and matures late, which is why every state sets a high minimum size and why the agencies ask for released fish to be handled well. It lives in the estuaries as a juvenile, in the surf gutters, off the rock platforms and on the inshore reef as it grows, and it feeds on mullet, tailor, squid and whatever schools it can find, mostly after dark and on the tide change.

Where they live through the year

Summer and autumn are the mulloway months on the east coast: the fish are in the estuaries, at the breakwalls and in the beach gutters, and the best of it comes after rain, when a fresh pushes the bait to the mouths and the mulloway follow. Winter fish are fewer but bigger, on the rocks and the deeper reef. In South Australia the Coorong and the Murray mouth are the mulloway fishery of reputation, with the fish moving along the beaches of the Coorong through summer, and the Port River gives them in the city; in Western Australia the Swan and the south-west estuaries hold them. Everywhere, the night and the tide change are the time.

The mistakes that cost fish

Fishing in daylight on a sunny day at the wrong stage of the tide; mulloway are a night fish and a change-of-tide fish, and the two hours either side of the change after dark is the session. Using stale bait when the fish want fresh mullet, tailor or squid, or a live bait if one can be had. Fishing too light in the breakwall and the rocks, where the first run of a big fish goes for the structure. And keeping a fish under the minimum, which is high in every state for a reason; the species is slow to mature and the agencies say so.

Reading the report for mulloway

The tide panel on the coastal pages gives the change, which is the mulloway window; the rain row matters because a fresh brings them to the mouths; the moon module matters because the dark nights around the new moon fish better on many estuaries. Pressure counts less than for the bay fish. The species card rates the month; the calendar shows summer and autumn on the east coast and the Coorong summer in the south.

Tackle setups

Playbook by water temperature

The plan the daily report picks for mulloway in each band; the water temperature on each page is a seasonal estimate for its type of water and says so.

Month by month

Activity for the southern year, 1 slow to 5 peak; January is midsummer. Current month highlighted.

Waters we cover for mulloway

120 Australia waters carry mulloway on their species card, each with a daily report.

Common questions