kingiemaster
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Posts posted by kingiemaster
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You mention that you're using a paternoster rig on your squid rig - is this becasue you are using a jiging action to catch them.
Hi Plankton,
We squid from a boat in 10-60 foot of water around the Spit. I use a paternoster rig as I can drop it straight over the side and jig the bottom while drifting. Even at anchor we often get squid when the rod is sitting in the rod holder bobing around, although it's better to cover some ground and work the jig. Sometimes we go over a bit of weed or snags when drifting in which case at most I might lose a sinker not a $15 jig.
Furthermore as I don't use a triswivel I can change jigs and sinkers quickly to suit conditions.
I generally don't use a patternoster rig squiding from the shore or when chasing calamari squid over kelp beds.
Dave
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Afternoon All,
This is my first post so please be gentle!! I guess I should introduce myself a little.
I have spent many years fishing Norht Head but have not ventured down for quite a few years. I fished there with my father and his mate and we went over the edge and down the old ladders if anyone on here has been down that way. They are quite well known so expect alot of you have.
When my father moved to Cairns I got out of the habit of fishing despite living almost on the beach!
Anyway, I am looking get back to it and a mate from work and I are planning to visit Old Mans Hat this weekend. He doesn't fancy the ladders and I am not not sure myself after a few years. I have always mainly fished for Taylor/Salmon at daybreak and then had a crack at Bream off the edges in the wash. Is this the same at Old Mans Hat? Can anybody offer any advise for fishing there?
Look forward to speaking to you all.
Regards,
Rookie
OMH is an old favourite I've mine. I actually prefer it to Bluefish point (can't comment on Northhead proper, never tried it).
Over the years I've caught, Tailor, Bonito, Salmon and Kingfish off here BUT not consistantly. And I haven't seen any surface action between the heads lately. But I always keep a lure rigged spinning outfit to hand just in case and generally have a few casts each session.
Bream, Blackies and Drummer on the other hand are common and relatively consistent depending on the conditions and there are number of washes and ledges you can fish for them.
As for this the conditions this weekend, definately no go if blowing SE and at high tide with an easterly swell kicking in. Could be could good once the wind dies down and with an outgoing tide though. As you know the fish can really come on the chew after a bit of weather. The last week or so OMH has actually been a little to calm being protected from NE winds and swells which in turn has kept the fishing a bit quiet.
And finally. Old Mans Hat is part of the North Harbour reserve so can't collect bait there.
Dave
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Hey guys
Just wondering what knots everyones using ( 40-60LB Leader to hook) wil be downrigging for Kings...
I've been using the sliding Snell with a common Snell on the main leader...Hav'nt had a problem with this knot ...Just curious as to what other people are using..
Cheers Raiders
regards Chris
I recently started using a double hook rig with a sliding snell top hook. The top that goes through the tip of arrow and the main hook is strategically hidden in the tenticles. But I also crimp on a 3rd keeper hook in front of the main hook to keep it place. The other day I had one fish take the snelled hook and it was pulled down to the crimped keeper hook but without popping it all off. The other three fish found the main hook.
Here's a diagram.
Snelled_Keeper_Hook_Live_Squid_Rig.doc
However, this is for live bait at achor or on the drift. I reckon it would spin downrigging.
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Haven’t done a report for awhile as I’ve been enjoying the holiday break. Have done a lot of different fishing up and down the coast and the in harbour over the past few weeks for very few results.
Anyway went out on Friday 28th for round 9 of the KingieKup. For those that have been following my reports we’ve had a pretty woeful Kingie season with only a few sightings and couple of hook ups but we finally hooked up to some fish on Friday.
We headed out rather late and lazily on Friday morning a little more disorganised than usual (left a bung out when putting the boat in). Started squiding at 5.30am at the Spit and pulled in about 10 squid in an hour. As Middle Harbour hasn’t really been doing it for us lately and with such good weather conditions we headed straight for the main harbour in search of kings around the markers. Eastern cake looked like Pitt Street so we went to the Western marker which only had one boat on it throwing plastics.
Found fish on the sounder and dropped the baits with the motor still running.
Hook ups were almost immediate. Next 20 minutes was hectic with four fish in total, 2 60’s and 2 75s. Johnny had several hook ups but either failed to get solid hook ups (on a single hook rig pinned in the arrow) or was busted off due to suspect knots.
Things then shut down and the fish appeared to have moved on. Tried several other markers but couldn’t locate any fish. Apparently the well known harbour guides struggled to find fish last week and other boats we spoke to were struggling so we were pretty pleased with ourselves. Just goes to show, all things being equal, how much luck plays a role on your success.
Notes and tips (for what they are worth)
Squiding
- We haven’t had much trouble getting squid this season averaging 9 squid per session. We’re so confident now that we no longer start at 2-3am and instead head about 5am as we find are getting most of them an hour or so after sunrise.
- As we rarely get snagged when squiding I have recently downsized my squid outfit from a medium spin outfit with 10lb braid and 12lb mono paternoster rig to a lighter 3kg outfit with 6lb braid and 8lb mono paternoster rig. Seems to have paid off accounting for more squid having caught at least 30 or so squid since downsizing to this outfit. Round 8 on the 23rd I caught about 15 squid from the total of 20 we caught between the two of us. At one stage I had a squid every cast. Bit early to call but I put it down the lighter outfit.
- Oranges and browns in the 2.0 and 2.5 sizes seem to work best in the deeper water off the spit bridge.
Kings
- Fish were caught about 7.30am an hour after the turn of the tide and were tending to hold up on the western side of the marker with the tide coming in. Have noticed this in past years on the markers also.
- We didn’t anchor up allowing us to track down the fish after each drop and saved me a lot of trouble when bringing fish to the boat as I was able to fight fish around the bow without having to worry about the anchor rope
- Last couple of seasons I used to use a single hook rig pinning the squid in the hood just behind and above the head but the squid didn’t swim well and leaves the arrow exposed. Whilst it’s early days I’m convinced that my double hook rig is the way to go as I’m reckon 9 out of 10 times a King will go for the head as 3 of the fish caught on the main 9/0 hook positioned in the tentacles of the squid. Only one of the rats was hooked on the snelled keeper hook pinned in the arrow of a headless squid I put straight back down having just caught a fish on previously.
- When cleaning the keepers one the fish had a half digested yakka in it, the other had nothing in it
- Whilst squiding at the spit we were talking to an experienced Raider member before xmas who successfully fishes for kings and jews. Turns out that he doesn’t have a live bait tank and never has. As it turned out on Friday morning most of our squid were dead or half dead having been bashed around in the live bait tank on the way out. But that didn’t seem to bother the Kings one bit which makes me wonder why we bother with a live bait tank.
- Finally caught some fish on my new Kingie rod. The 7 foot Shimano Tcurve KingMack proved to be perfect with the soft tip allowing fish to take the bait and the length making it easy to manoeuvre around the bow of the boat when fighting fish
Hopefully will have a pic to come. Camera battery was low.
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Have been doing a bit of blackie fishing off the rocks over the xmas/new year break at Old Mans Hat. Nor easters have meant calm conditions at inner Northhead so the Blackies have proved to be fickle and the average size is down at 30cm from the previous months sessions of 35-40cm models. Sorry no pics, not worthy.
There are lot of decent sized bream around at the moment but you have to get the baits past the pickers to get em so I haven’t bothered with them much.
In between the blackies I have been getting absolutely smashed by some big fish. The last one nearly pulled me in on close to full drag before busting off.
For years I just assumed that similar bust offs were drummer.
But having more recenlty,
a) caught a PB drummer of 53cm on the same gear at the same spot without too much effort and
witnessed the power of a 60 cm Surgeon fish caught on serious Kingie gear by another Raider member last year from a boat, I am beginning to suspect that these fish a surgeons.
Whilst my PB drummer was a tough battle I don’t think it had the outright speed and power that these mystery bust off fish have. That said I was fishing next to a bloke last session who had just got cleaned up by one of these fish calling it for a drummer. I put my case forward for a surgeon and he said he saw someone bring in a 65cm drummer recently. So maybe that extra 10 cm or so in length could equate to an extra couple of kilos of muscle that can bury you on blackfish gear.
Has anyone dived around north head and seen surgeon fish?
Anyway I am determined to catch whatever they are and will use my 20lb braid drummer outfit exclusively over the coming weeks to see if I can put the brakes on one. Stayed tuned.
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We generally drift to get our squid from around the Spit bridge.
But we sometimes anchor at the south east side when the wind or tide is strong. This is the shallowest and lowest part of the bridge well out of the way of the main channels.
I actually have some sympathy for the land based guys as I often fish land based myself and so I give them a wide berth Even then you can foul each other’s lines as their baits drift far and wide in the current but that's just fishing and no one’s fault. In any event we can track down squid in several locations around the spit and beyond. From the otherside of the fence I have been fishing from the rocks only to have divers, who have hundreds of metres of cliff’s edge available to them, literally swim around my blackfish float.
It goes both ways for all fishos and boaties to be considerate to one another.
But the guys that shit me are the ones fishing off the bridge. It's prohibited for a number of good reasons but the main one I trust is that a dangling set of ganged hooks doesn't rip the eye out of unsuspecting boatie passing under the bridge. Sometime ago I actually spent a bit of time walking back and forth across the Bridge late at night fishing either side from the shore etc or just checking it out and spoke to some of them incidentally. Some are actually quite decent folk who tend not to fish the main channels and have actually told stories of decent captures (fish, not a boaties eye ball). But most are idiots who catch next to nothing. Without casting dangerous aspersions, they are not the kind of people you want to mess with. Let’s just say that they didn't just wander down from mummy and daddy's mansion in Seaforth or Mosman for a fish off the bridge, more like they came for a fish to celebrate their weekend parole.
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I know how you feel. We've had similar luck in MH for weeks now.
I can't remember what time of year it was, as it was over 1O years ago, we caught a heap of 3-4 foot Whaler sharks up in Sugarloaf from the shore. For over a week they hung around smashing almost any bait that hit the water. Funny thing is that the only reason we got onto them was after getting repeatedly smashed on the beam gear and then got out the big guns to find out what the heck they were.
Boats and swimmers would have been none the wiser.
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Nice work.
Certainly dispels the myth I have often heard around the traps that Kings don't fire on or around a full moon.
Makes me think these elaborate theories are just fabricated excuses for not catching fish on a given day.
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Hi Marcel and Ray (Twin One and Lumpookey) ! By the look of this rig it has the makings of a good alternative dual purpose rig for both jew and kingfish.
Thanks kingiemaster, Do you think it would improve your rig set up if you dropped the top hook (the control hook) down the line and snelled it to slide and turning it around so that the barb faces the other way ?
Would it be no good slipping the bottom hook up thru the point of the head with the barb going thru the middle edge of the head and kept clear of it, thus ensuring that the hook doesn't have any chance of penetrating into the flesh (in a practical situation) where the barb may become covered up inside the head, during a take ?
It looks as though there would be an equal amount of fiddling around reversing the sliding hook direction.
I would be inclined to upsize the keeper hook to a solid hook around 2/0 or 3/0 .
I'd probaly have to have a think about the long shank hook and up the size for jew to an 8/0 mustard hoodlum, which is very solid and stubby and a good live bait allrounder for this excersize .
I like kingiemaster's rig and I am gong to rig one up tomorrow and have a good think about it hooked up on a squid.
Cheers Marcel and Ray. Thanks again kingiemaster!
jewgaffer
Thanks for the encouranging words and thumbs up for the rig jewgaffer.
To be honest I only tried it last weekend and as I didn't have any luck finding any Kings I still don't know how effective the rig is. But it was a success as far as hook placement and worked excatly as I had hoped.
I don't see any problems with the turning the control hook around so long as it tows Ok on the retrieve. But I only really see it as a keeper hook so not fussed either way.
As the for the main hook placement I am going to experiment with different positions and hook sizes which of course is the beauty of the rig. I used the 7/0 rig on the weekend. Whilst it found it was a bit big on small squid it worked perfectly on a bigger squid with the hook more or less fitting nicely in between the tentacles around the head, as you suggested , so the barb didn't actually penetrate or dislodge. The keeper hook needs to be small and fine to fit discretely in the crimp and have minimal impact on the squid head but you could always snell a bigger hook. But at the end of the day I'm sure variations on the theme would work.
Good luck experiementing with the it. I'll be very interested to know how everyone goes.
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Sliding snell keeper hook rig.
This is my new and preferred way to rig a squid for live baiting at anchor or drift. It’s a bit fiddly to make up but several can be done at home on a rainy day. The rig is discrete and the main hook is almost indivisible whilst solid hook ups are assured with a fishes jaw likely to find the main hook hidden in the tentacles regardless of which angle they attack the head. It also has minimal impact on the squid so it will keep longer and still allows movement. The leading hook is both a keeper and towing hook snelled to the shank and the 60lb mono trace (not tied to the eye) using 15lb line which allows adjustment for different sized baits. In my experience only small fish (Kings or otherwise) tend to attack the arrow end of the squid so this leading or towing hook needn’t be over the top whilst the longer shank is simply easier to snell and handle when rigging the bait up. The trailing main hook is held in the vicinity of and hidden in the tentacles by a small fine long shank hook inserted on the top of the head between the eyes or in hood of smaller squid.. The keeper hook is secured to the trace by a crimp. As I like to Flemish loop and crimp the main hook (for stretch and strength) it makes sense to crimp the keeper hook in place at the same time. You will have to cut the eye off the keeper hook to fit it through the crimp.The flemish loop and crimp will also stand upright so that the main hook will dangle down rather than sideways as it might if tied using a traditional knot. Main trailing hook should be a solid 6/0 live bait hook as this is the hook that will take the weight when a King is hooked. To rig the live squid insert the small keeper hook in such a way that the main hook is hidden firmly in the tentacles. If it is not placed firmly the main hook will lift out of position on the drop but not too the extent that the point of the hook is in the beak of the squid. This may take some practice with different sized squid. The bigger the squid the closer the keeper hook will be to the tentacles. Now adjust the snelled rear keeper hook so that the bottom of the hook is right on the tip of the arrow and then insert it less than a cm from the tip of the arrow. Done correctly the trace between the hooks should be a little loose. You don’t want it too tight as it may bend the squid on the drop and restrict movement once settled.
Open the following Word attachment for a diagram.
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Very quick report.
As fishing reports are as much about what's happening, fish or no fish.....
Saturday 3rd Nov, late start at 6.30am, bit of trouble getting squid, fished Middle Harbour, no Kings but at least I saw one follow my strip up to the boat.
Saturday 17th Nov, 4am start, bit of trouble getting squid, fished Middle Harbour, no Kings.
Choppers are proving to be a real best demolshing every bait we put down in seconds.
I think we'll try the main habour this weekend.
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nice day out all in all but is anyone having more luck with the kings at the moment?
appreciate ur replys
Old Salty,
We haven't had any much luck with the Kings in MH either. (acutaly I have had no luck).
I think we spoke to you on Saturday morning at Sugarloaf when you were downirgging.
Choppers seem to be getting to the squid before the Kings lately.
I think we'll give MH a miss this weekend and try the main harbour.
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Also dont waste your money on the squidgy jigs!!!! The light inside idea is good but in practise it turns on and off when ever it pleases and the squid seem to hit were the light is anyway and miss the barbs! I thought i might have had a fauty jig but i bought to more and at nearly $20 a jig i was un impressed when the light had a mind of its own on the new ones as well!!!!
Sorry to hijack the thread red, just wanted to warn people before they do themselves out of some hard earned money as i am still waiting to hear back from squidgy after i lodged a complaint about 2 months ago!
Funny that!
Once again well done on the haul of cephs!!!!!
I have bought a couple of these jigs recently and have had the same problem with the light inside.
However, with or without the light they are still doing the trick on the arrow squid at the Spit out squiding my mates fav jigs. I bought the 2.5 in brown and orange, and I think this combined with the rubber body has done the trick.
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There has been a run of rats that have entered MH harbour of late but i also heard reports of 10kg kings on the surface in MH lately...personally i havent seen these fish but the report came from a credible source..
Although downriggers are a great tool the main benefit to a downrigger is its ability to get a bait moving, enticing the potential predator to attack....
There is no way of knowing if kings are snubbing your bait or not, i recently had the opportunity to see a strike vision downrigger in action, we couldnt see any fish on the sounder but 4 kings came up and appraoched the live squid only to shy away the last second, without the camera we never would have known that the fish were not interested in the bait, we then ran a squid head only to see if it may entice the king to hit and bam.....first king took the bait.....
My point is sometimes kings for what ever reason wont take a live squid, I even remember reading an article by Mcgill about a king snubbing a Live Squid and a live slimie, only to absolutely smash a dead servo pilchard when given the opportunity. Thats why you gotta try different techniques....2 seasons ago me and sal had the belief that if the kings are there they will take our live squid, Now after fishing with some more experienced kingy fisherman i realise that is not the case and we were mistaken and i have learnt that a kingy will ignore a live squid if it isnt presented right or if it is not in the mood.
Perfect example is the day Sal, Big Steve and I had in April at botany where we caught 25-30 kings....
I spoke to a few people later that week which accused me of lying about the day we caught those fish because they were in botany the same day and couldnt track any kings down, They were under the impression that no kings were present that day in botany and presumed i lied about my report, when infact kings present were in a few locations, they just didnt alter there presentation methods.
The biggest error most anglers make is there bait presentation....with a downrigger, bait presentaion is even more crucial, a incorrectly rigged up squid will spin in the water when being pulled and a spinning squid is un-natural and will not get too many kings to hit it.
Last year this time i remember Kelvin nailing 1 metre kings in MH on a regurlar basis, reason why is he knows how to present his baits well and I know Kelvin will agree, a bigger king, with better developed eye sight will not hit a shi.tty presented squid.
Netic, based on the past few weeks and first hand reports from various sources (not just forums) Kings are proving hard to find let alone catch in Middle Harbour or the main harbour. The last two seasons in Middle Harbour have yielded similar results for us until things seem to fire up all of a sudden.
Yours’ is the first credible report I’ve heard of anyone catching Kings regularly in Middle Harbour of late.
Your observations of them ignoring prime baits with the benefit of strikevision and other observations like it (ie actually seeing them ignore a bait or lure on the surface) can be proved without question.
Our observations of the past few weeks (on weekends at least) is of NO FISH TO TAKE THE BAIT and more recently a completely blank sounder to add to our suspicions, whether the fish were there or not.
I GENERALLY find, as you probably have in the past and like anyone else you talk to, that if the Kings are there a livie squid will do the trick, especially rats. Note we nearly always throw out fresh strips on light outfits. I also like to throw a variety of lures around when things are quiet.
So a 4-0 result, when in numerous past sessions using the same baits and techniques at the same spots have come up trumps (eg the Monday), has led me to conclude that the fish simply weren’t there and that squid species and presentation had nothing to do with it.
Fish not taking baits and having to vary your techniques to entice them is true of all species in all locations, including remote areas that have a reputation of being a fishing paradise.
My point is we didn’t really get an opportunity to try anything else we simply put out best foot forward being live squid and strips. The fish just didn’t appear to be around at the spots we tried and we didn’t see much point flogging a dead horse by trying everything method under the sun (the hot hot sun).
All the same I will take on board your southern calamari tip but whether I can convince my mate is another matter.
Dave
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The squid that seems to hold Around the spit being Arrow squid are not as good as Southern Calamari in my opinion.
Its the same difference between say Yakkas and SLimies......simalar baits but slimies are much more favoured by kingfish.
We have been getting kings up tp 85cm every trip in MH of late using southern calamari squid
Hm, very interesting. Never heard of or consider that before. Calamari squid seem to have heaps more ink so maybe thats a big part of it. You're right that arrow squid make up the bulk of the catch at the Spit but we occasiionaly get catch calamari squid also.
Our problem has never been really enticing Kings to eat any type of live squid when they're around, we simply, until Monday, haven't been able to find them. There is a theory that the bigger kings in MH are resident fish but are more spread out and harder to find than the school rats that come into MH in summer.
I know you use downriggers and I am very keen to get at least one for the tinny so we can cover more ground. Up until last weekend we didn't even have a sounder so we haven't exactly made things easy for ourselves.
Dave
PS I would argue that slimies are a different bait to yakka's. More reflective in the water, a richer bloodier flesh and possibly a bit more frangant.
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Good to see they were around on monday!!! a day late for me to!!!!! Where you guys out in the boat with the aussie flag on it???? We were in the tinnie with the buggered motor so just sat on one of the mourings and didnt manage any squid as there was to much water moving under the spit for us to row back up for another drift so i only got 1 drift and couldnt hook the bugger that had a little tug at my jig so it was saturdays bait that saved us!!!!
We were in a 4 metre tinny sitting on the other mooring at the Spit from about 5am to 6.30am.
Surprised you didn't get any on the moorings or "hail Mary" as we call it.
We generally don't bother drifting to catch the squid anymore. We find we get all the squid we need just sitting on the moorings around sunrise. I reckon they move to the deeper water as the sun comes up. That said they seemed disappear half an hour after sun rise.
Hope to see you out there this weekend assumning the you got the motor running again OK.
Dave
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Hi all,
Sunday 28th
Got up early again on Sunday morning for Round 4 of the KingieKup and headed off to the Spit to get some squid for Kings.
Conditions were perfect.
Jigged up nine squid within hour.
To sum up we tried amost every spot in Middle harbour for zilch. Actually went hoem with several live squid in the esky. Couldn't give them away!
Didn't even see any sign of fish on the sounder nor reports from anyone else we ran into.
Monday 29th -FINALLY SOME ACTION
John had the day off and went for a fish with another fishing mate of ours while I went to work with the rest of us mugs.
They more or less replicated what we did on Sunday morning only this time they were witness to Kings where ever they went. In complete contrast to Sunday they had activity under and around the boat and on the sounder. Balls of baitfish also filled the sounder constantly.
Apparently the Kings weren't hanging around a long at each spot but could be found the further and further up Middle Harbour they went as the tide came in suggesting that this was a big school of rats.
As it turned out they managed to bring in a couple at the Spit at first light going 65 and 68cm's. They couldn't stay connected to several other hits encounted in the other spots but at least they finally saw some action.
Now, either I am having a run of bad luck coming up fishless the last 4 sessions or the school rats have finally moved into the harbour for the baitfish/squid feast holiday season.
Fortunately John's effort yesterday doesn't count towards point for the coveted KingieKup. (not that I am worried, I always win it)
Wish it was Friday!! Bring it on.
Dave
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Went out early Saturday morning for round 3 of the KingieKup.
Ran into some other raiders cathcing squid at the Spit. We had six nice squid by sun up. Dropped one at the Spit. Nothing. Dropped the rest of the squid at our fav spot in Middle Harbour fishing the last of outgoing tide. Within minutes of dropping them down we had a couple of good hits but didn't hook up. After that the baits just got picked to bits, ended up cathcing one of the culprits a 20 cm tailor. Pulled the pin at 10.
Finally having a sounder installed in the boat so looking forward to getting out there this weekend and tracking down the Kings.
Dave
PS read about Greg getting rearended. Same thing nearly happened to us twice on the way home . What is it with people tailgating and blowing their horn when slow down to turn etc?
Had to double checked that the trailer brake lights and blinkers were working.
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Didn't end up going Kingie fishing on Saturday morning as planned so I was itching for a Blackie fish yesterday.
Went down to the garage to get my gear but couldn't find the key for the padlock. After a lot iof cursing and swearing looking for the key an obvious idea came to me. I grabbed a screw driver from the good old bottom draw in the kitchen (my tools are in the garage with my fishing gear) and simply unscrewed the latch from the garage door and hey presto, I'm in. Sweet!
Vindicated and relieved I went down trusty Old Mans Hat at midday to fish the outgoing tide.
Swell was up more than I thought and the wind was more easterly than northerly but it was still fishable with the tide going out. Looked good too with plenty of wash and suds.
Fished for almost 4 hours for NO result. Had a few unconfirmed downs and that was it.
The wind and swell made it pretty difficult to keep the float in the zone and the line taut.
However, conciliation was found reading everyone else's weekdend fishing report this morning.
Even Roberta seemed to share a similar fate hundreds of km's away.
Anyway I think we can all write the weekend off in the expectation that next weekend will be a ripper.
Dave
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It’s sometime ago but I thought I’d share my fishing experiences in the Mediterranean last year.
In June of last year, having just quit my job, I was casually presented the opportunity to help sail a friends yacht from Israel to Spain for 6 weeks before having to go back to the real world and get another job. The adventure is a story in itself but the fishing is of some interest as well.
I met up with my mate in a seaside town south of Tel Aviv where we spent a week doing some work on the boat before heading off. Despite taking every opportunity to have a fish in any every country I visit I didn’t really have any intention of fishing off the back of the yacht in the Med. But having been informed by several reliable sources around the marina that Albacore were a real possibility I had to have ago.
So with some dodgy directions we set off to a tackle shop to buy some gear. We had a bit of trouble finding the shop as it was in a crowded dusty old shopping district but it turned out to be a real diamond in the rough. The shop was about 4 x 8 meters but half of that was a pet shop out the back. The tackle shop was actually pretty neat, if a little crowded, with some pretty serious gear. On the walls were photos of some hoodlum kings and huge northern Bluefin tuna. After attempting to make enquiries in very poor Hebrew it turned out the guy behind the counter spoke perfect English and having been to Australia was falling over himself to help. He confirmed we had a good chance of catching Albacore and sold us some 100lb plus cord and a 60 gram slice. He told us that the Kings were caught only few kays out from the coast and were quite common. Jigging for them was all the rage. Sounds familiar, no?
With a great deal of anticipation and adventure we left Israel and headed out to sea. After four and half days of sailing through some pretty ordinary weather (the winds and seas can get nastier than you might think for inland sea) we reached a small remote fishing village on an island south of Greece. A quick look underneath the wharfs and a meal of fish for dinner at a local restaurant confirmed what we had heard from old Greeks and Italians here in Aus, the Med is more or less fished out. The best the restaurant could do was a small bream looking fish (no bigger than 15-20cm) and an even smaller goat fish. Turns out this was more or less true of everywhere we went in the coastal regions of the Med. Large mullet are about as exciting as it gets. I have since read that it’s not that the Med is fished out it’s in fact never been prolific with fish in coastal regions due to the lack of micro organisms (hence the brilliant blue colours evident in the Med) and the general ecosystem.
On our way to Crete I attached the slice directly to the cord, threw it off the stern, did some wraps around a bollard and attached an ingenious alarm in the form of an empty ‘Dambuster’ beer can by threading some of the loose cord through the pull ring of the can.
It wasn’t until day two that my “Dambuster” fish alarm went off. It’s not easy to pull up a large yacht under sail in hurry and even harder to bring a fish up on deck without a gaff but after a bit of mayhem we managed to bring a nice Albacore on board with the boat hook. I don’t know for sure how much it weighed or how long it was but I reckon it was at least 7 kg. I followed this up by catching a smaller one leaving Crete on the way to Malta.
Got to Malta and went on another tackle shop adventure. Found a couple of great shops and ended up a buying a neat skirted trolling lure pre-rigged with 150lb mono leader to see how it would go.
Now weeks into the trip on our way to Spain in dead calm conditions we came across some very fishing looking water with regular sightings of dolphins and large schools of fish breaking the surface every now then. Sure enough it wasn’t long before my slice got absolutely smashed as if the cord was cotton. Time to try the skirted trolling lure! Next day similar conditions the same thing happened, snapping the cord at the swivel and ending my chances of anymore fish.
Given the relative ease I experienced dragging in the Albacore I reckon these were Bluefin. This was on the way to Menorca . A walking around the marina’s in Menorca we came across a game boat with some biggish Bluefin (in the 100 kg range) and I have since read that super heavy weight Bluefin (try 300kg plus) frequent the area that can eat Albacore for breakfast.
So in summation I don’t recommend you go to the trouble of packing your drop shot or squidgy rods etc if only visiting the coastal areas of the Med. But if your sailing or get an opportunity to go deep sea you could do worse than having ago at some game fish.
Boat hooking gaffing Albacore (check out the brillant colours of both the fish and water)
The end result (skipper not happy about the bloodied deck)
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Hi Dave,
I fished MH in the yak Saturday morning also for zip apart from the pickers that destroyed my live squid. Nice water just no fish, maybe next week. There was a big school of baby slimies in Fisher Bay but nothing was harassing them, as the bait shcools build up the rest will follow, thats the theory anyway.
Southerly
Hi Southerly,
We spoke to you sunrise around the moorings east side of spit when we chasing squid. We were in the Stacer tinny. I reckon the resident Kings are in a corner of middle harbour somewhere cornering bait fish. With so much squid around the spit two weekends in a row you would have thought the yearyling rats would be getting stuck into them by now.
Hope to see you out there this Saturday and have a chat.
Dave
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Round 1 Monday 1st October
Got up early last Monday (Labour day) for the inaugural round of the KingieKup 07/08.
Caught plenty of squid at the Spit without much effort. All of them were a perfect livie bait size.
Dropped a squid each over the side just after sunrise. Zero interest depsite the strong incoming tide which usually does the trick at the Spit this time of year. Tried a few of our other fav Middle Harbour spots for the same result.
Round 2 Saturday 6th October
Pretty much the same result. Plenty of squid no Kingie action what so ever despite perfect conditions. Even the pickers we tentative at times.
So despite vague reports and rumours about there being Kingies in Middle Habour we couldn't find any. They were either there and not interested or simply not around the spots we fished.
Rather ominously this is not disimilar to the begining of last season, only this time no one else seemed to be catching any Kings either. Last year we spectators to other boats within metres of us getting into fish for the first few weekends.
At the very least the weather was nice and we have a heap of fresh squid in the freezer for the season.
Weather permitting round three is this Saturday.
Dave
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My Kingie fishing buddy, who has a boat, bailed on me again this weekend so I thought I’d have a go at some Kingies by myself at a land based spot in Manly that I sussed out recently. I got down to the “Gas Works” at 3.30am earlier than planned as I couldn’t sleep. Within 10 minutes I had my first squid. The next two took another 3 hours. I also dropped a couple.
With the sun up I baited up for Kings but I struggled to get my rigs set up right and the baits in the likely zone. By the time I had things worked out the sun was up a bit too high and I ran out of live squid with nothing to show for it.
Whilst this was going on managed to catch a calamari squid which was too big for too live bait with so I cleaned it and took it home.
Saw a huge Blue groper about 3 feet long in about 3 foot of water minutes after throwing in some squid scraps.
Didn’t appear to be any Kings around but I think this spot has potential and will definitely give it another go. Has anyone else had any luck at the Gas Works land based or from a boat? I have heard from couple of sources that it’s a reliable spot for Kings.
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nice fish....i've been chasin pigs on the light gear recently and that is a nice fish on that light a line...i've been usin 9lb straight through and have noticed hook ups have increased by about double over 20 lb line...landing fish is another story though... since then though i've also pulled 3 40cm blackies on bread baits meant for drummer no float go figure?
Yeah, I never had any luck with pigs on heavy gear.
I used to get busted up every now and then fishing for blackies on this 4kg outfit but then last year I decided to just crank up the drag and see what happens. Ended up with my first real pig that went just over 50. You've just got to let rod do all the work and not give the fish an inch.
Things then shut down and the fish appeared to have moved on. Tried several other markers but couldn’t locate any fish. 
witnessed the power of a 60 cm Surgeon fish caught on serious Kingie gear by another Raider member last year from a boat, 
Old Mans Hat Sunday 6th January
in Fishing Reports
Posted
Firstly, big thanks to my fishing buddy Johnny for bailing out of a Kingie session on the harbour as I ended up having a great rock session for the first fish of the new year. Having sussed out the sea conditions from Balgowlah Heights while having my Sunday morning take away coffee I concluded rock fishing was a goer despite the doomsday forecasts and the big seas of the previous days.
Got down to Old Mans Hat about 9.30 and the conditions were even better than expected. Nice swell and rough enough for the fish to be biting but not dangerous in any way. Westerlies had flattened off the easterly swell and none of the waves were coming over the platform (only spray). And I had the platform to myself.
Rigged up and ready to go the water looked very fishy with plenty of white water and movement. Had that feeling it was going to be a good day. Ya, know what I mean?
First cast with blackfish outfit with a view to catching a couple of blackies for a feed before trying my luck on the drummer. BANG I’m on... for about 3 seconds. Gone.
At least I got my float back.
Still shaking and excited I thought OK, no more mucking around with light gear. Bring on the drummer outfit!
BANG I’m on. For about 5 seconds. Damn it.
Wind it in, knot failure with the new mono leader that is a bit softer than what I usually use. Will have to be really careful with next knot.
TAP TAP, I’m on and drag in an undersized blackie across the water. Cool I thought, despite using heavier gear I can still catch a feed of blackies and still have a shot at the drummer.
After a few casts, rebaiting and mucking around trying to get the float in what I call "The Big Drummer Boy Zone", BANG I’m on again....for 6 seconds. Wind in and find the lines frayed. Too slow winding in the slack giving it too much line in rough country. But at least I’m getting closer to landing one. Next cast another blackie at 33cm. Then things went a bit quiet and I’m thinking I might have blown it and missed my opportunity.
Then BANG I’m on again only this time I’m ready and stay connected. Bit of tussle close to the nasty cunje covered ledge then a perfect wave to get onto the platform. Yee hah! A lovely fat 50 cm drummer
, 3 cm shy of my PB. I get another 40cm model.
As the tide went out the swell was getting steeper and closing out in the shallower water making it hard to keep the float in the zone. So I re rigged the light outfit and went to an easy to fish corner of the platform. And I’m onto a nice mid-sized blackie, And then again but hooked pulled. Got a few more downs but the lure of the big boys had me back to using the the drummer outfit. Dragged in another blackie that went 40cm. Then got smashed again but it tangled me up in the kelp so I called it a day.
So great start of the season for me. I spent the better part of the day there so it wasn’t red hot but the drummer seemed to be on the chew more than the blackies making up for the quieter moments. It’s just nice when everything more or less works out as planned. It’s the first time I have specifically targeted and caught decent drummer. Given the relative ease of the drummer I landed I reckon a couple fish I lost must have been pretty serious. Now I’m keener than ever break my PB. Still a chance there could be surgeons but more likely big drummer ie well over 50cm
Till next time
Dave