bojulabah

Down rigging. Bait grounds in middle harbour - off the crane near China mans beach

The Big kingies have returned. I am winding down from full time employment and have a midweek day off - perfect for getting out early and beating all the boat traffic on weekends. last week I defied the odds of reported crook weather and headed out to the middle harbour bait grounds for some yakkas. Unfortunately there were only XOS yellowtail, none of the small "kingies candy" size. However the old adage "big bait, big fish" certainly proved to be correct and the results speak for themselves. Caught and released 10 and kept a few for the table, only 2 under 65 and most around 85.

I started my fishing career on "blackies" (can say that - Gundungurra mob") but haven't chased them for 30 years also, but love float fishing for live bait when the yakkas and slimies are on the surface, so I might give it a go. As I mostly fish out of a boat now I guess there should be more spots available than shore based? well done - the flame has been rekindled.

Great fish mate, it's not hard to workout why they are called "King fish" - real thugs. Was your stick bait a floater or sinking and a blue/green "pillow" pattern?

Bad luck about the Kingie Luke, nice bag of Bonnies though. I know how it feels to get a screaming run -I've just upgraded to a Stella 1400XG with 100lb braid and 120lb leader - sick of getting busted up or broken off.

Nice report Tony - my understanding is that Grotto to Canae Pt which includes Dobroyd, is a "No Squiddig Zone". Maybe other 'Raiders could onfirm this? If so the penalty is quite hefty.

Hi Jono, the lure I have had most success with is a Rapala CD 11 in a red/white (sometimes called a "cut throat"):. They come in several sizes -CD9, CD 11, CD 13, not sure if the CD comes bigger than 13, but the 11 is the one I use most and catch Salmon, Tailor and of course Kingies

Hey Mondo, a great catch - who did you charter with ?

Set out from Sydney 3.30am to try offshore reefs targeting Trag and Kings. Had no luck at 4 spots that have been faithful in the past. After a visit from fisheries officers ( nice blokes) to check the esky, followed their advise and trolled the headlandsand bagged 7 kings (all released) with several dual hookups and a 2kg Blue Mowie. The last hour (turn of the low tide) made the day worthwhile as it wasn't looking good till then. Often hear Fisheries officers getting a bagging - these fellows were polite, pleasant and helpful with their info.

Went to Windamere to chase Yellow Belly and Silver perch. Had one hit in 2days and netted one yellowbellowy - a female that was spilling eggs so put back. Lots of weed, lots of wind and not many fish

Thanks for feedback

Hi Raiders, I have been to 12 mile once before in. BarCrusher (not mine) and thinking of going tomorrow (Sunday) in my Quintrex 490 Fishabout and not too confident if the conditions are likely to make it too dodgy / unsafe. It's a great little boat, but generally don't venture past the artificial or Long Reef. Opinions appreciated Bojulabah

Great report, I too have been getting hammerheads lately (out of boat), interesting as last season it was bronze whalers.

Set out to West head to get some Yakka's at West Head. This is has been a "never miss spot", but unlike last week when they were XOS, this week they were tiny - smaller than pilchards, with only the odd large one. Anyway after filling the live bait tank up after only 20 mins, we set off to catch the turn of tide under the rail bridge pylons. It wasn't long before we had action - 3 nice Jews in under an hour and best of all - no catfish

Help raiders, I posted some pics of Kingies and small Jew (which most thought were trags) last week. I went out yesterday (Easter Sunday) to the wall at long Reef. The Southerly was choppy and the seat stem snapped off the base (5year old Bar Crusher) and throw me down, in the process my brand new DAIWA DEOMN BLOOD CJ64 and SHIMANO SARRAGOSA went overboard. If any one hooks it I'd really appreciate getting it back (had multi colour braid). If any one returns it I'll share my Kingies marks with you, take you out or even marry you (if my wife allows it) Pickles

Boat is BarCrusher 670. Only suggestion on catching Jews is get live bait (yakka's / squid / herring) find the holes or Eddys and 12 hrs either side of the tides. I'm not experienced, but caught a few

Thanks for the replies raiders, Well, looks like my lack of experience with Jew fish cost me a good feed of trags - we put 9 back. Is the orange mouth colour a definite difference between trag and Jew- 'cause they were all orange in the mouth. I am gob smacked that trag would be under the bridge in Hawkesbury - I thought they were an offshore reef species??

Set off early Sat morning to get livies off Westhead where they have been spasmodic lately, but not today, we got 30 in about 30 mins - just about jumped in the boat. Tried a troll around Barrenjoey, without luck and headed off to Long reef. The sounder showed a big bait school off Newport beach so we dropped some squid and live yakka's and got an immediate hookup. I was trying out a new demon blood 6'6" rod with 6500 Saragosa reel, spooled with 30kg Sunnline braid (love Sunnline) and 40lb Fluro. I seriously underestimated the kinkies that were here and was seriously smoked after about 5 mins - the Fluro was chaffed and obviously scraped on the bottom - these guys are dirty (smart) fighters. I upgraded to my 40 Terez and Finor Lethal offshore 10000 spolled with 80lb braid and 80 Fluro and we started to boat them, the big ones must have been scared off as average size was 67cm, but still good fish - it's just not worth downsizing for the sport of big fish on light gear when Kings are the target. We headed back to the Hawkesbury to catch the turn of tide at the bridge hoping for a nice Jew (still plenty of livies in the tank). We boated 9 Jew and lost 3. All were babies and about 3x the size of the yakka's - so all were released of course, but also boated a nice 68cm flattie. It was a great day with over 40 fish caught and 38 released. I love fishing, if Jesus 3 closest mates (Peter, James and John), were fishermen, there has got to be something deep, spiritual and meaningful about our sport - thats my excuse for spending time on the water (at least my wife and family can't complain about me wanting to spend time with God)

Hi Raiders, I am planning to visit Lord Howe soon and want to get some Wahoo and Kingies and want to avoid the dodgy operators and I have been told some are good and some are not. Could you share your experiences please, it's a long at, a lot of money and time there is precious, so want to get best bang for buck I can. Thanks.

Saturday we headed out early to chase Kingies. No livies at middle harbour, none at Middle Head, none at he wreck, so headed to offshore reef and picked up ahalf a dozen and dropped three down, the one on patanosta was bitten off cleanly on 50lb Fluro - guessed it to be a big oceanic tailor. One came in chewed behind the head, so guess d it to be a squid, so put a dead Yakka out and it took off like I hooked the Manly ferry and guessed it to be a King - our target species. But it was cl any bitten off also. So next bait went out on a 9/0 circle with 100lb Fluro leader - the pic show it all. A great day as we boated another about 10mins later.[

Lion in front, drifting. Tried a nuclear chicken jerk shad to no avail. Used one of the legal flathead for bait - stripped and squid. Squid was preferred bait, but flathead strips caught 4 of the larger ones.

I was at the ramp a few weeks ago after a slow day and noticed a lot of flathead frames at the cleaning table - a bit of asking around resulted in a trip today off Lion Island. 15 good flathead - all legal and most over 50cm, the largest 2 went 65. We kept 9, returned the others and left them biting. Bait was squid and Yakkas caught at West Head, patanosta rig with two 6/0 circle hooks.

The bump on the head is usually on older male Snapper, but not all have the head bump and some females do. After a bit of research, it appears the NSW Snapper mostly have the bump in older fish and those in other states mostly do not have the bump - even if the same species of snapper, so it is thought that it may be caused by a parasite as many females have the bump also, so maybe the parasite (if this is the cause) may affect bream also? Pickles

Great bream - in relation to "bump on the head" I know some Snapper don't have the head bump and some do, after a bit of research, it appears the NSW Snapper mostly have the bump in older fish and those in other states mostly do not have the bump - even if the same species of snapper, so it is thought that it may be caused by a parasite as many females have the bump also, so maybe the parasite (if this is the cause) may affect bream also? Pickles

I take soy sauce with me now - really fresh sashimi is great.