Maxl

Yeah slow day at the waverider and Sydney harbour fad too yesterday. We got one dollie at 65cm and that was it, saw a big bull jumping around but wouldn’t eat, water temp was 21 degrees so not the best, looks like water temps will increase again come next weekend though.

Daiwa and Berkeley Jerkshads, sluggos, baitjunkie minnows are all good. You won’t find any cheap quality hardbody lures for kings but sugapens and slippery dogs are also good but are relatively expensive.

This post will pretty much be the same as instagram but with a few add ons, as many of you may have already seen it. Absolute insanity. 135cm of Sydney Harbour Kingfish. After catching the bait the night before, I headed out early to see what was around, pulling up to the zone, I dropped my bait down and within seconds it was being taken, I made the rookie error though of setting hook and the bait was ripped from the mouth of the King. Kicking myself for not resisting the urge to set hook I dropped down another bait, seconds before I hooked up my mate also hooked up and got busted off almost straight away, as soon as I felt the rod bend I knew I had to get out of the tight structure in the moorings. From the moment I hooked the fish I knew it was large, but never would’ve thought it was the size that it was. As soon as I hooked up I instantly put the boat in reverse, thankfully the fish ran outwards from the moorings and ended up coming up to the surface fairly quickly. Within 3 minutes I had wound the leader knot back through the guides and I got the first look at it as it was sitting under the boat, it was huge. Of course, it didn’t last long and the fish dove back down in 26 metres of waters, to the point where you could see the fish on the sounder completely at the bottom. Eventually, after a tug of war I managed to get the fish back to the surface at around the 8 minute mark. However, the net was about half the size it needed to be and can barely even fit an 80cm fish anyway. Initially, I passed the rod off to my mate and went to grab it by the lip, but due to the length of the fish I couldn’t reach its tail to get a half-decent grip. I eventually had to let go of its mouth and as the fish went to swim off I wrapped my hand around it’s tail, put my other hand under its gill plate, and with help from my mate, lifted it into the boat. After a moment of freaking out at the absolute size of the hoodlum we snapped a few pictures, measured it on the brag mat which only went to 120cm, chucked a tag in it and sent it back home. Without a doubt a proper fish of a lifetime. The submarine of a king also had a pretty large gash towards its tail that had started to heal, could’ve been from anything but potentially a dodgy spear shot. I assume the fish would be in the 20-25kg range but realistically I don’t really know, either way a very fat healthy fish. If anyone has an idea on the weight let me know, I know that a fish of fork length 120cm is about 22kg but I think this one may be more, just due to its sheer size.

Yeah I probably will pretty soon

Yep that’s me haha, once in a lifetime fish

Hahah yep, was just wondering if there was records of any bigger in MH.

Yeah that was me haha, that’s why I was asking, was wondering if it’s one of the biggest landed in middle harbour.

I was just curious what is the biggest king anyone has heard of caught from in the harbour in recent years? Would be great if there were any pics to go along with these fish. Looking for anything above 130cm.

If you want to target kings on baits I wouldn’t bother with frozen arrow squid, you’ll need very fresh or preferably live squid or cuttlefish, but this time of year there’s always salmon feeding on micro bait between Clarke island and the military exclusion zone. Just wind small plastics or metals through the bustups and you should hookup.

My mate caught a very unhealthy trout in manly lagoon about a year ago now, so definitely not impossible.

Maybe so, but there are heaps of young kids and guys that fish for pelagics, (mainly kingies) in the harbour. Luderick fishing simply isn’t very popular anymore, most young guys aren’t necessarily chasing a feed now, most are in for the sport of it, and kingies and other pelagics (along with Jewies) are a far better sport fish then luderick. (Speaking from experience)

Yeah, doesn’t say when it comes into effect though, gonna tick the fish off my list before they ban it 😂. Stupidest decision I’ve ever seen by dpi, completely ignoring the species that actually need assistance through increased size limits (e.g kingfish) and banning fishing for the one species that is prevalent everywhere on the coastline.

Anyone know when this completely unnecessary blue grouper ban comes into effect in nsw?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but where you took that pic of you holding the squid is that not in the reserve area? Or just outside of it? Also how often are you checked by fisheries? I’m out a good couple times each week and have never been checked nor even seen a fisheries boat on the harbour

Thanks pickles, especially as a harbour fish you don’t see many this size around at the moment