Fishing the bottom layers of the water column has always been a popular past time, but in recent years a lot of the more traditional methods used have changed from traditional bait fishing rigs to using soft plastics, slow jigs and octopus style jigs. Where I live on the Gold Coast yellowtail kingfish, amberjack, cobia, samson fish, snapper, mulloway and pearl perch make up the majority of recreational catches in deep water. Bottom fishing is no longer dragging a few hooks and a heavy lead on mono line. Over the past few seasons, we have changed our tactics and tackle a bit and greatly improved our success when fishing the deeper grounds for a wide variety of species.
The catalyst for these tackle changes began over a decade ago with the increasing popularity of jigging with heavy metal lures for kingies, amberjacks and samsons. The catch rates on the jigs were often double that of live bait in the early years. With braided line and a good jig outfit, the hits were brick wall stops, the fights brutal and the fish angry. Over about ten years in the more popular spots jigging became less effective, but as new deeper grounds were explored large schools
