m3rush

I completely agree. I like nothing better than being rewarded with a tasty feed after a great session, but I only ever take what I can eat. I only ever keep one King, if I am lucky enough to get one. Occasionally I might keep a decent bag if I'm planning a big BBQ. No problems there. I don't usually keep Bream for 2 reasons. One, they are pretty slow growing. Two, I think there are plenty of tastier catches (like lizards). But hey, some people love Bream... Go nuts (within your legal limits of course). I think many punters think of them as rats of the water and that keeping a crap load of them won't make a sod of difference. It made me rethink it when I discovered how slow they really grow. I would like to think that most recreational anglers would agree that it is hook-up and the fight that brings us back each time. The holiday punter finds it exciting to catch a fish, and that's great. For those of us who are more serious about it, the rewards of many hours planning before a trip and a lifetime of acquired knowledge gives us an incredibly satisfying feeling when we land a fish, especially the fish we want. The fish on the table is a great reward, but not what drives us to keep going back. Personally, I wouldn't object to tighter restrictions on recreational fishing although, I have the utmost respect for the anglers that responsibly stick within the legal limits, even if they reach the max. I have no respect for selfish bastards that ignore the relatively relaxed limits we currently have. That being said, I think we all know that it is the commercial industry that does the real damage. The general public are largely unaware that some of the fish they buy from the fish markets are caught in methods that are far from sustainable - especially the slow growing, deep sea varieties. No need for me to get into that here. On the other end of the scale, there are a few conservative extremists out there too. Those that are appalled by any angler keeping any catch for a feed it seems. These people give me the shits. I posted a video on youtube of me catching a nice 68cm Brown Trout: The video shows the fight for a few minutes, my mate cleanly netting it, then gently placing him a few metres up the bank. I made no comment about keeping or killing the fish, but some bloke had the nerve to tell me the following: "It's people like you who destroy fishing. Next time stay home so the fish can live cause it doesn't really matter how big it is if you treat it like that." WTF?!?!? All I can say is that there are two ends of the scale. All we can do is practice sustainable fishing. I err towards the conservative side because I would like to see the fisheries actually improve. Be responsible. Think twice about keeping that fish. Throw back what you can't eat. Throw back what you don't NEED. Don't pollute the waterways - this includes throwing trash and cigarette butts on the sidewalk, because you'd have to be stupid to not know where it will end up. There's my 2 cents.

Not much I can say that hasn't been said already. That is an amazing fish. Like you said, fish of a lifetime. Tell me something though, do you now have dreams of bettering your PB?!? Well done mate. Awesome work!!

Great advice once again Jewgaffer. We don't get up to Middle Harbour as often as we would like, as BB and the Hacking are right on our doorstep. However, you've given me some good ideas to try out. I reckon that fixed drop sinker rig would work nicely in the Hacking in a couple of those Jew holes around the place. BB on the other hand is another story. It will be a bit of trial and error, but that certainly ads a new dimension to trial. Always appreciate your words of wisdom. Cheers, M3Rush

Nice work on the Kings boys. Great advice Jewgaffer. Makes perfect sense. I just never thought of doing that before. One question though, are you referring to the tail fin (top + bottom)? Cheers, M3Rush

Bloody hell Kingy Kid! That is unreal!! Like you, I spend my time chasing Kings as we don't have a boat big enough to tackle the open ocean. But holy crap, I'd love to get on to some YFT! What's the biggest King you've caught and how does the fight rate compared to the YFT? Great job! M3Rush

Brilliant Trev mate! Nice to see the Hacking coming up with the goods!

Great report penguin. Lets hope those Kings hang around a bit longer! Some good advice there Braidbuster. I'd be keen to give that a go, but it would be a bit of a change of tactics for us. These days we hardly head out with bait at all - just a bit of frozen squid, bread and pellets to catch yakkas, and squid jigs for the obvious. Pretty much strictly fish with livies.

Hey ElwoodBlues, Thanks! Saturday certainly was a good day For those interested in some decent sized BB Kings, here is one from March that I caught at Mono. He came to a respectable 80cm.

Hey Deschanel, Yeah, I remember seeing you guys. I can def recommend the downrigger... and livies. Opens up a new world of fishing! That being said, I'm sure anyone who has tried downrigging can attest to the fact that there is a bit more to it that just hooking on a bait (or lure) and dropping it down. It took us quite a while to get returns from it, and we're still learning! You really have to know your terrain, where the fish are holding, and what is happening on the (good) sounder. My mate Trent just got a brilliant live bait tank put in too. That makes life a hell of a lot easier and keeps the baits so much happier!

I suppose that's true isn't it. Come to think of it, I have landed a 70cm jew in the middle of the day in early summer, in BB. I wasn't trolling though, I was just using the downrigger to hold a yakka on the bottom while we threw some strips around (I suppose that still counts). We've also caught a big Slimey on squid strips down-rigging, and yeah, a couple of other things. Haven't ever caught Salmon downrigging, but we have nailed them on the surface whilst downrigging below.

Thanks Big Banana, we'll def give that a go. We do tend to set it at a min and do a whole couple of passes. By the sounds of it, it could be worth the effort to readjust!

--> QUOTE(big b @ May 13 2008, 02:28 PM) 238558[/snapback] nice work mate! ive always fished sydney harbour for kings but there seems to be better reports on botany.. do u think there is more around there? Hi Big B, I'd like to think there are more around as BB is my local. It's a bit hit and miss, but we only manage to get out about once a month. Still, I've managed to land 4 this year: 60cm, 80cm, 70cm and 84cm being my PB. I'd always heard you get bigger ones in Sydney Harbour. I've only been out in Middle Harbour 3 times chasing them with no luck, so I can't really comment from personal experience. It's a bit of a hike for us to get up there from down south. I certainly plan to hit Middle Harbour more next summer, but BB is at least paying dividends for us now. I agree. However, we had 4 hookups on Saturday that were all in mid-water... about 20ft off the bottom. Do you find you get more hits with the bomb as low as you can go? I suppose I do notice follows on the sounder coming right from the bottom... hmmmm... I'd be interested to hear what some of you seasoned BB King hunters think about downrigging strategy.

Thanks Top Breamer. I'm not sure where you can pick up a Relix rod here. I picked it up earlier this year on a trip to Malaysia. Cost me a grand total of $30 AUD!! It has a great action, but it looks the business right?! I thought I couldn't go wrong for $30, and I needed a rod for a charter we were doing over there. In the end, the charter was rained out, but that's another story. Still, came home with a bunch of new gear, but that Relix rod was certainly the biggest bargain

You're right, it would be a bit game, but 35ft is pretty much the shallowest part of our run. It drops pretty quickly to around 45-50ft for most of the pass, so we are pretty safe... although we have suffered a few bumps on occasion

Don't you mean "two" find the reef