roughstyler

Haha, I was laughing when it happened and so were the people next to me, as the same thing happened to them (though, with a fish they'd caught rather than live-bait) minutes earlier. Cheers mate!

I had a free day today, and even though the weather wasn't looking good, I'd been waiting for my broken hand to recover for about 5 weeks, and wasn't going to miss a chance to try out my new rod that I'd bought (but didn't get to use) prior to the injury. Little did I know it would be one of the best days of fishing I've ever had. While Pier 2 has a bad reputation, it certainly didn't disappoint today. I'd arrived at about 7:00 am and there was only one guy there (or at least, on the side I was on). Unfortunately, I saw him catch and keep what looked like an under-size King. As he was leaving he also mentioned that he got caught a Jew early this morning (which I suspect was also under-size and taken home). However, after he'd left, the fishing was excellent. I was mainly using bread as bait, but also some chicken breast which had been given to me. I was aiming solely for Yakkas on a 2-4kg rod to use for live-bait on the new rod. I'd never used live-bait before, nor had I caught a single fish that provided any sort of fight, so I was excited to give it a go. However, I just kept pulling up Diamond Fish after Diamond Fish, which got sequentially larger in size. What was great was that they were actually giving some sort of fight, and it felt awesome having a fish actually pull a little, rather than me easily reeling it in. I was surprised by the amount of power they had for the size they were, and the ones that were 20cm + were so much fun. It took a few hours to finally get a Yellowtail, and when I did, I left it in the water and rushed as fast as I could to set up the Kingfish rod. After I quickly tied the hook, I went to bring up the Yakka, but it'd come off the hook. I was pretty gutted, but the couple fishing next to me were lovely enough to hand me the one they'd brought up just as I lost mine. I went with the advice I'd been given a few days ago on here (braid>fluoro>hook, unweighted) and had a shot at it. I was surprised at how much the Yakka pulled, and that made me realise just how big of a fight I was in for if a King jumped on. After a few minutes, the bait seemed to stop moving, and this is what was left of it when I reeled it in: Although I didn't hook on to anything(the one unlucky time a King attacks from behind haha), I was beyond stoked knowing that something had gone for it. After that, I caught a few more Diamond Fish (which I didn't get photos of) and a nice Leatherjacket: More people had arrived at around 2:00pm, and I was lucky enough to land another Yakka. After having it in the water for a while, a guy noticed my set-up and was concerned. He said that I'd always get busted off with 30 pound mainline and 50 pound leader. He also wasn't happy with the length of my leader (someone on here said to go for quite a long leader, around 5 metres for fishing the piers), and the fact that I'd gone for a line-to-line connection (Double Uni) rather than using a swivel. Since I'm not very experienced, it's difficult for me to know who's advice to trust (based on the fact that he was so shocked to see line connected straight to line, I assume his advice isn't the best). He ended up shortening the leader quite a lot and joining the lines with a swivel, saying that it'd make the rig stronger. When the rig had been quickly adjusted, the Yakka was sent straight back in the water, where it swam for about 30 minutes with nothing going for it (there were points where my rod would shake quite a lot, but I can't be sure if that meant the bait was trying to escape a predator, or if it had just decided to make a run). At that point, one of the birds decided to have a crack at it, and managed to grab the Yakka. I managed to get it off the bird (the Yakka barely survived), but it then went for it a second time a few minutes later, and won the battle. As soon as the bird got away with my Yakka, a King flies across the surface, as if to mock me. It started to rain quite heavily at around 4:00 pm, so I decided to pack up and head home. All-in-all, it was an amazing day, and I can't wait to go back. I'm a little worried about what the guy said about my line, though. He mentioned seeing people getting busted off on 100 pound leader, and mine is half that strength. Does anyone here think my line is strong enough for some of the legal and smaller Kings? Also, when the Yellowtail were feeding on the burley, these big fish came up and started eating the bread too. They looked to be white, but I'm not entirely sure, and I have no idea what fish they were. The minute I saw them, I got out the new rod and tried getting them with a big piece of chicken breast. They'd approach it, and then get spooked and quickly swim away just before they went for the bite. Any idea what fish they could've been (sorry, my description isn't very helpful)? I hope the report isn't boring - it is quite a lot of text.

This isn't really a proper trip I'm organising or anything, but I'm heading out to Pier 2 tomorrow (if the weather allows), and it'd be awesome if anyone else came down. I know the spot isn't very appealing, but I don't have many options. I've never really had a fight with a fish before, and so I'm really excited to try and score a King. I finally got a second rod, and so now can have a crack at getting livebait and then trying out the new rod for Kings. I'm not very experienced, so it'd be awesome to relax and chat with someone who knows what they're doing. The weather isn't meant to be good, but it's said that the entire week and the mornings have still been really nice. If I get up and it looks nice enough, I'll head out, but I can't be sure if I'm going until the morning. I'll probably get there around 7-7:30am. If anyone decides to come, look for the guy with two rods who appears to have no idea what he's doing.

Awesome. Cheers mate!

So just mainline > leader > hook? It sounds great and simple. The only thing I'm concerned about is the bait swimming around one of the pylons.

After getting a rod suitable for catching some Kingfish (rats and maybe just over legal), I broke my hand, and so the new rod just sat there and I missed perfect Summer conditions. Now, my hand's finally healed and I'm ready to head out and try my luck for some Kings. I've never really had a fight with any fish (I've caught quite a few, but they've never been large enough to make for a fun fight), so this really excites me. Because I'll be fishing at Pier 2, I'm going for quite a long leader, but that's the extent to which I've set up the rig. I'd like it to be fairly simple (not a bunch of tackle on the line - maybe just a swivel + sinker, or whatever minimal tackle I can use that will still be ideal), and avoid using a float if I can. I'll be using Yakka as live-bait and will decide the hook size based off the size of the bait. Does anybody have any advice for a simple rig? Any other tips would be really appreciated.

Awesome. Thanks mate!

Yeah, I was really unsure about rod length - there are so many varying opinions I've read with some saying a longer rod gives you more leverage over the fish, and others saying that a shorter rod does. That made it difficult to make the right choice. Yeah, it is. Would that be okay for what I'm going for? Also, because of the height from the water, a long leader would be a good idea, right? Cheers mate.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. But say a legal one came along, would the gear be up to the task? Also, since you can't let them run too far or for too long at Pier 2 without the risk of getting busted off on structure, would turning up the drag quite high be a wise decision, or would that damage the reel like I was told? Thanks a lot for the reply, it's reassuring to hear.

Hey guys, recently I purchased an entirely new setup for Kings (mainly at Pier 2 in Sydney Harbour), but I'm a little worried that my gear is too light for where I'll be (considering how easily the fish can swim under the pier/around the pylons). I had quite a small budget, so I tried my best to get the most ideal gear with the money I had. I ended up going for a 9ft Shimano Aqua Tip rod with a 6-8kg weight rating (I know this seems a little weak, but a lot of people have been saying that the weight ratings of most rods aren't entirely correct or helpful). I paired that rod with a Shimano Baitrunner 6000 OC. I have 30 lb braid, and will probably go for 50 lb leader. After thinking about, it seems like I won't be able to take on any bigger fish due to how quickly you need to land them at the pier. Off a boat would be an entirely different story, but I'm unsure I have an adequate setup for these circumstances. This is what I was told: Have I made a bad purchase? I wasn't going for the biggest of Kings, but would be stoked to be able to land some around the legal mark.