kingiemaster

Howdy Have been out a few times over the last 6 weeks only to either pull hooks or catch a handfull of rats. But that changed yesterday when my mate boated this 90 cm model. Got it right beside and under the wave buoy at quarantine. Was about to give up on this spot as I have never caught anything here. Live calamari did the trick whilst it was landed thanks to game outfit filled with 50 lb mono and my boat handling and gaffing skills. I might not have caught it but it felt good to get this fish in the boat as we have been working hard for this fish. How is it that as the skipper we tow the boat, fill it up with fuel, catch at least some of the squid, drive the boat and find the fish, only to watch mates catch all the fish. Then we go home and spend the afternoon packing up and cleaning the boat by ourselves! Nevermind its still fun watching and helping friends get onto fish. KM PS sorry about the photo. Was taken on my iPHone in a hurry. That black bar on left is my finger not editing as Quuarantine is hardly a spot X.

Hey Jim, well done on craking the Sydney King metre mark. We managed to boat a 90 but the magic metre is proving to be elusive. Next weekend. Were you out in your boat? Keep meaning to look out for you but there was so many boats out yesterday. Dave

Howdy First weekend out in the boat this year having just got it fixed yet again. No trouble getting squid but after sun up so a bit late. Tried the usual harbour haunts for one rat and a just legal fish. Sunday I could only manage three squid and concentrated on fishing Middle Harbour to keep away from the crowds but I just couldn't get onto any fish even when they were under the boat. Ended up letting two of three squid go after 5 hours fishing. From my experience and reading the weekend reports the fsih are still there in numbers and size but you need a bit of luck to find and catch fish ATM. Cheers Dave

God damn. Good day then. Well done to Greg. I didn't see him out this morning probably why I didnt catch a decent King. I went everywhere today for 1 rat and 1 keeper. At least I got most of my squid in within a couple of hours, no collisions (it was mad out there this morning) and only one jig lost to unknown beastie but hardly consolation. KM

Howdy Went fishing at the Spit on Wednesday in my mates boat and got a nice fat King that went 70 odd. Boat close by got an 80 earlier. No pics as it was dispatch to the eski nice and quick. Went fishing this morning in the canoe. Got half a dozen squid then went to the same spot using the down rigger. Landed another good fish that went over 70 but it proved costly. Got too clever when I saw a follower as it came to the surface throwing out a large slimey mac looking minnow on my 30lb spin outfit and hooked up almost instantly. Now had two fish on. 2nd fish screamed off triggering first fish to take off which managed to collect the down rigger clip with it and get tangled. So I put the 2nd rod aside on light drag while I sorted the first fish out. Ended up losing the bomb but got the fish. Meanwhile 2nd fish must have found the bottom so I lost my lovely looking slimey minnow on its very first fish. Continued fishing using good ol sinker set up and had a pair of kings follow a live green eye up (catching calamari squid amongst the arrow squid at the spit now) but things just seem to get quieter as the sun got higher. KM

Howdy I'm back in the canoe as the boat is out of action yet again. Dropped in at the Spit. Had plenty of squid in the tank by 630 so started fishing by doing a few laps around the moorings at the Spit. Got this fish just west of the bridge off/under the UFO house in 60 feet of water with down rigger set at 30 feet. This fish went like a freight train on its first run taking 100 metres of line heading towards the bridge against the tide and kept going when I pushed the drag past strike. So I calmly called it for metre fish but then it settled down and came to me rather quietly. Went 72 so well short of a metre. Continued onto the Bluff and then back to the Spit but couldn't find any more fish. My mate lost a couple of fish at the Spit moorings from his boat (using some of my squid) so the fish were around just not in any numbers. Dave

Howdy Finally got the boat out since it was sabotaged almost 6 weeks ago. With 10 squid in the tank by 7am we hit the habour markers looking for some of the big Kings I'd heard about. Found them on the 3rd attempt at the Nielsen Park sticks. My mate lost the first fish as the hooks pulled somehow. His 2nd was lost after turning up the drag a wee bit too much. Then it was my turn to get burnt. I took it nice and easy pumping and winding as the drag on this particular reel was stickier than usual but lost it after a few minutes when the fish did another solid run and must have found the some bottom with the leader breaking above the swivel. All fish were hooked (!) by dropping the live squid right on the sticks and drifting away with the motor still running. Each one was a good fish. No head shaking, line came off effortlessly on relatively solid drags (strike) and mine fish in particular felt very heavy under load when I got it under the boat before taking off again. And I didnt get a chance to really turn the heat on it like I normally do. I use 50lb braid mainline, 40lb mono wind on leader and 60lb traces. Tried a few more times but they either wised up or moved on. Sou Wester was making it diffcult anyway. So went westside to try Balmain surrounds. Hooked up solid at the dolphins with line coming off nice and cleanly on my 2nd Kingie outift I use in the canoe only for the line to go limp. This time line broke at trace due to several knots left in the rig it as I hadnt checked it before putting on it after the mad session at the sticks. . With the sun up high aobve we decided to call it a day. There are some big Kings harbour as per other reports. So fish heavy, check your drags, leaders, traces and knots etc move around and get your baits into the structure. And good luck. KM

Thanks for all the replies, sympathies, suggestions and well wishes. Jeff and Tobe, I couldn't agree more about getting as friendly as possible with the neighbours (third of the way there). And I'm certainly not out to make enemies by accusing or pinning it on anyone, I just don't want any more problems. In any event it could have been a random act of vandalism, albeit very specific. Now I just need to get it fixed and catch some fish to give away to said naighbours. Cheers Dave

Howdy Had my outboard sabotaged during the week. They cut a section out of the the power trim cabling. Heard third hand a reference to a newsparper article about someone doing this, for whatever reason, to trailer boats on the northern beaches. Anyone else heard anything or had similar experience. Police didnt know anything but I reported it. Would like to get to the bottom of it. If it is just a digruntled neighbour, as I suspect it is, I can deal with by talking to them ALL and possibly parking it somewhere else. Any info would be appreciated. Cheers Dave PS Gave em an excuse to get the canoe out on Sunday. Caught and released 2 rats in Middle Habour.

To be honest I dont reckon they fight as hard pound for pound as King (this fish would be about 3kg equivelent to a 70 plus cm King) but certinaly close. To their detriment drummer tend fight side on using their deep body and broad tail so all you have to do is keep the pressure on from go to whoa. But give em an inch or two and they'll find the nearest bit of kelp. Decent Kings on the other hand will try every trick in the book including coming straight towards you under the boat/anchor rope/mooring/rock ledge etc. The bent hook was only a size 6 blackfish hook which is fine gauge and pretty easy for a pig to bend. Have only managed to land a couple on these hooks because they were lodged in a way that the hook couldn't bend. The hook that I caught this beast on is actually small but reasonaly heavy gauged fly fishing hook that my local tackle shop recommended. It's not as effective at catching blackies but works well on the drummer. KM Cabbage weed, they love it, sometimes.

Howdy Raiders, With winter well and truly with us I've given the Kings a rest and giving the blackies and drummer nudge off the rocks. Been fishing off Old Mans Hat on and off in April and May without much luck (as was the case same time last year). Things picked up last Monday when a scored a few keeper blackies. But Saturday things went up a gear. The first fish was lost to the knot at the hook using 8lb trace The 2nd fish bent my blackfish hook. Third time lucky using a stronger hook and 12 lb trace I managed to land this beast. My old Wilson Estuary Blackfish was pushed to the limit but did the job as it has time and time again over the years. Caught a couple of mid sized blackies then called it a day. Hopefully this will be the first of many this winter. Cheers KM

As I promised sometime ago here are the details of my current fishing platform with a number of DIY items that maybe of interest to other paddlers. My dad it bought new more than 20 years ago from an old bloke who was making them in his backyard, i think it cost $300. Has spent the first part of its life in Port Hacking as my dad lived in Bundeena for over 15 years. When not fishing the Hacking we took it on annual camping trips down the far South Coast exploring the various lake and river systems. She is tough as nails having taken a few hard knocks over years and being fibreglass it’s easy enough to patch it up. We have a caught a heap of bread butter fish from it including some big flatties, bream and whiting (some real elbow slappers) as well as tailor, trevally, blackfish, bass/EPs and a school jew. With the exception of snapper I reckon we have caught more quality fish from it than our any of boats combined. Up until recently it kept it at my mum’s place on the river at Moruya. This was great when I was down there but completely useless the other 50 or so weeks of the year. So I brought it up to Sydney last October with aspirations of catching Kings. Before bringing it to Sydney modifications were limited to a couple of rod holders. Once up here I didn’t take long before I started making modifications to make it a real Kingie slayer. Have since spent over a grand but I reckon that’s pretty good value given the use I get out of it. Results so far are promising with over 20 Kings in 20 trips. 6 of them legal. Downrigger Started with DIY downrigging systems (V1.0 was a roll of 2 mm cord with an off the shelf bomb attached) before I ended up getting a proper off the shelf job which works perfectly. Note that it is forward enough so as not to get in the way of paddling but still within easy reach. Sounder I liked the idea of this set up when I first saw it as it is detachable and AA battery operated. The bracket might look over engineered but in practice it still doesn’t really do the job. Thickness of poll and transducer causes drag and tends to make it wobble in the mount even at moderate speeds. In hindsight I should have just bought a regular sounder and installed a puck or thru hull transducer which I may still do. But it works well enough for now. Bait tank This is where the fun begun. Took a couple of weekends of trial and error before I got all fitted neatly and working properly but I’m very happy with it now. The 500 GPH pump runs off a small 12 v sealed battery enclosed in a small container with a switch/fuse board attached which I keep at my feet so I can turn it off and on. Pump works when underway and at stand still. Interestingly the water level doesn’t rise up through the skin fitting more than an inch or so. As such the pump requires priming but it doesn’t take much to get going. I did have a pickup I shoved into the outlet but it required some serious paddling to get the pump going so I don’t bother with it anymore. Fully charged battery lasts up to 6 hours and the tank will keep up to a dozen squid alive and well. It can all come out when not required leaving only the skin fittings. Misc I have two holders, one for me King outfit and another one for light outfits. I recently installed a 3 rod rack which has proved a god send. Keeps 3 rods out of the way and also holds knives and pliers. Cost me $15. I love a bargain. Recently bought a canoe trolley so I can broaden my horizons being less restricted in where I park the car and launch etc. It works a treat proving to be much better than lifting or dragging it from the car to the water. I try to keep my cargo to a minimum but as I can spend 6 hours fishing at a time I still need to bring a fair bit of gear with me. I now managed to keep most of my gear in a fish box to keep it all dry and tidy stored in the middle ahead of the bait tank . Also reduces the chance of leaving things behind at home as I just pack it all in the box. Gaff, paddle, rods and a small eski for back up bait are the only things left out on deck. V2.0 will have a 30lb electric on the back. At the same time I’ll rewire and tidy up the electrics so that I can run the bait tank pump, fixed stern light and sounder off the motors 12 v deep cycle. Dave

Any Fishraider jew experts out thre agree the Sunday night is looking great for Jew? - rain/fresh water run off - high tide around dusk - waxing moon Only thing I'm not sure about the barometric pressure but I assume it will rise a little over the weekend as cosnidtions clear. Seems to have hovered around 1020 all week ie steady. Would appreicate your thoughts but I guess there's only one way to find out. Dave

Howdy Raiders I caught a tagged rat on Sunday morning off Seaforth. Spoke to Paul Butcher and it turns out that this fish was caught the week before as part of the post release survival survey. So this one obviously survived its first recorded release and I dare say it will survive the second Note I was using heavy line, a smallish live squid on a clearly visible double hook rig so it obviously didnt learn from the last time it was hooked only week before. Dave

Went out int he canoe for my now habitual weekend Kingfish session on Saturday morning. With the Spit producing good Kings over the past few weeks and an incoming tide I decided I would continue to concentrate my efforts around the Spit rather than paddling here there and everywhere (with a load of at least 60 kg plus the canoe @ 40 kg and me @75 kg). Found the squid hard going from the around the bridge depsite other boats pulling them in less than a few metres away. I think it had to with using my fav maroon and white jig in the murkier than usual water at low tide rather than the more popular fluro pink or orange. But I did manage a perfect bait sized calamari squid. Couple of hours later I got six arrows an less than 30 minutes in the deeper water as the sun came up. So no probs with getting squid (that makes 140 this season) but it turned out to be very quiet on the Kingie front. Despite perfect conditions and the incoming tide I ended up towing squid all over the joint for three hours try to find them for zip. Other boats I spoke to didn't have anything to report either. I put it down to being just after the full moon as I have had similar experiences in the past. Has anyone else experienced this with Kings/full moon or is it just another myth to make us feel better about having a dud day? Eitherway I'm going to go back through all my records to closely to see if there is a pattern and possibly avoid fishing for kings on or just after full moon. That said some guys fishing from the shore landed what seemed to be a rat king (might have been a salmon, hard tell from a distance) so go figure? All is not lost as this weekend is shaping up to be a cracker so will give it another go. Dave

Firstly well done on your first Kings. <Is there a particular reason why squid stop or slow around 5ish? Is it the light?> I find squiding slow down around the bridge if the tide is too strong. Monday morning low was 7am ish so I should imagine the tide still ripping through at 5am. Regardless of tide the I find the squid tend to move out into the deeper water (in 60-70 feet east of the bridge) as the sun comes up. Dave

Howdy Raiders, Went out in the canoe this morning from the Spit and went through the normal process, catch squid and start fishing around 7am using the downrigger. One boat had already caught a rat and there appeared to be a few fish on the sounder so it was looking promising. Downrigger between the moorings things where looking a bit a quiet. Then I saw some good marks on the sounder at 40 feet where the bait was set and sure enough the rod buckled over fiercely with line screaming off the reel and I knew that this was the fish I have been waiting for all season. With the fish powering away behind me towards the moorings I paddled into the middle of the channel, so at least I was away from danger, then wound up the bomb. Ready to fight I pushed the drag past strike but the fish just pulled harder, then PING!. All over. Wound the line to find the line to assess the damage. Good news is that is it didn't part at any of my knots. Bad news is that it parted 10 cm below the swivel and I suspect it was due to an accidental knot in the 60lb trace. So having been meticulous in my preparation and persisting with my heavy outfit all season I end up losing a good fish to a knot in the trace that could have been avoided. Despite thinking I had done my dash for the day I pressed on fishing and was rewarded with a nice 4 kg 79 cm model which a PB from the canoe. This fish fought hard but still a long way short of the fish I lost. So a mixed day for me but promising all the same. Now I'm even more determined to a get a metre plus King into the canoe. Dave

It's plastic tubing that usually comes in a packet with beads. I have found two types. Fine red tubing which is targeted at whiting fishos and slightly thicker fluro green tubing targeted at I don't know who. I should imagine that you could get it at the hardware or auto shop as wire sleeve. I like using the red tubing for the sliding snell to protect the trace/leader. I use 1- 2 inch length of the fluro stuff to protect the trace between the snelled hook and the stinger from pickers and reduce the risk of the snell hook popping off the stinger. I even go as far putting the tubing around the flemish loop but has more to do with getting bored on a rainy day. Either way I find the snell knot can unravel at times especially after I have caught a fish but I simply put another ready made rig on and then fix the stuffed ones later when I get home. Here's one I prepared earlier...

Howdy Went on my mates boat yesterday morning for another crack at Kings (of course). Couldn't manage any squid around bridge but found em out in the deeper water at sun up. Interestingly we didnt get any around the public moorings...which usually means predators are close by! So with six squid in the tank we tied off at one of the public moorings about 7am Ended up boating 6 Kings but all under 60cm and had a number of hit and misses. My mate got bricked by bigger version but we'll never know how big as knot parted at swivel. Highlight was bringing up a rat on my Kingie outfit in one hand and then hooking up to a follower with the other hand on my 10lb outfit with a strip on it. Great fun. A mate of ours was liotering around us in his boat with the lecie going and misssed a few hits including a double hook up. Boat on mooring next to us using livies didnt get a touch! The school were on the sounder the whole time (7-9:30am) but the action was sporadic. My last livie took a good hour and half before getting hit while my mate was getting hits on other side of the boat using strips. Anyways a good way to start Aus Day and my mate got his fish'n mojo back as it had been a long time between drinks since landing a king or two, albiet rats. Dave

Howdy, Like the stockmarket, but in reverse, I reckon the fishing, and more recently, the surface action in Sydney harbour is arguably the best it's been since the great depression. I catch the Manly ferry everyday, in addtion to sailing Monday's evenings and of course fishing on the weekends. With few exceptions I have witnessed surface activity almost everyday for the past three or four weeks, even in howling southerlies or nor easters. Some days are better than others and the schools spread out but Bradleys Head and 500 metres either side of it seems to be the most consistent area. Either way there appears to be plenty of bait and predators keen to eat them. Interestingly I am yet to see anyone hooked up despite three or four boats floating around the schools most days. Of course last Spring saw similar levels of activity east and west of the bridge. This activity only died down when unseasonal low pressure systems persisted throughout December. It could be an anomaly but I dont think I'm alone in saying that the each season just seems to get better since the absence of commercial fishing, of any kind, with the baning of Kingie traps and the closure of salmon canneries kicking it all off some years ago. Over the last week or so, as I did around this time last year, I have also spotted decent sized Kings cruising under Manly wharf amongst big sureons and blackfish. Not sure how'd catch them but with the jetcat service no longer running I'm sure I could get away with sneaking the canoe nice and close on the east side of the wharf for shot at them. Anyways, good luck to you all on the weekend and happy Oz day. Dave PS For the record I only got two rats at the Kingie social last weekend downrigging squidies around the western wedding cake. The smallest was barely 30 cm long, a PB of sorts I guess.

What time did you get him? I think it was about 630 as it wasn't that long after I hit the water which was about 5:30. It's possible that it was the same school chasing slimies in with the tide. Another boat tied off on the 1st mooring got a similar sized fish half an later on a live cuttlie (their only one, they had trouble getting squid as well). Went quiet after that. Were there some good bust ups there? Yep, big time. For second there I thought they were dolphins or, gulp, sharks. Certainly wasn't your usual chopper or salmon surface activity. Wasn't concentrated either. They were busting up here there and everywhere, sometimes within 50 feet of the shore. Cheers Dave

Howdy Raiders, Haven't posted lately due to xmas etc....and nothing to report. Been out a few times but no joy. Have been going for Jews more than Kings lately which has meant experimentation and no results. That's my excuse anyway. Headed out this early'ish morning in the old canoe with the goal of getting some squid from the Spit and fishing the outgoing tide off Clontarf for a Jewie. Started off well with one squid in the tank then dropped a couple. Kept trying for more squid only to be rudely interrupted by Kings exploding on the surface around me. Left the squid jig down while I threw lures around to no avail. So put the live squid on my Kingie outfit and just let it drift out the back unweighted. 10-15 minutes later the rod buckles over and I'm on. Only problem now was that I had got a little too close to a mooring and had to fight the fish within a meter of it. With a bit of mucking around and being very careful I managed to keep it away from it and brought it in. Went 75 When I was gutting it I found these in it's belly. Didn't catch any squid during and after all this. Tried a for a Jewie off Clontarf as planned but no joy. Next session, The Kingie Social. Looking forward to meeting some fellow Raiders. Cheers Dave

Very nice fish. I have a Kingie Kebab recipe if your interested. Should be able to make a couple thousand.

Count me in. At this stage it looks like I'll be fishing from the canoe by my lonesome but I'll see if my mate with a boat wants to enter. He is a non-member is that OK? Dave

Yep sure. I plan to do a lot of fishing over the xmas/new year break although some of that will be out of Cliffton Gardens. PM me your details.