Black CC

Try the wharf at Clifton Gardens or the beach just North of Bradleys Head.

On NYE I scored 28 Kings (all rats) at that marker buoy and all were caught on peeled servo prawns. We had yakkas and freshly caught squid but the only thing they would touch was the prawns we had left over from catching the yakkas. I only tried the prawns in an act of desperation and we caught all the fish in less than an hour. On NYD we caught another 22 (all rats) on peeled servo prawns. I think the trick to the Kings is not yakkas, squid, a downrigger, poppers, a fly rod or prawns. It is trial and error on each day and to have as many options to try as you can. I have had the most success on fresh squid but have also had success on every other option I mentioned.

Flying fish make great bait. In some parts they use the bigger ones as live bait for Marlin.

I took a couple of mates and a visitor from Canada out in the harbour today to see if we could score a few Kings. It was the first time I've been out this summer. We started in middle harbour and caught a couple of rats early, which was a nice start. We then went to all the usual spots in the main harbour but there was very little action until we stopped at or final destination and the rats were everywhere. We caught 26 in an hour with our Canadian friend catching 9 and his close mate catching 7. Neither of the guys had ever caught a King before and both were amazed we kept throwing back fish that were 2 foot long. About 25 of the fish were caught on squid and 3 were caught on prawns. A great morning.

Photos now included

The Charter Company is Top Gun. I'm having a few issues posting the photos but should have it sorted today.

We had our annual West Coast fishing trip 2 weeks ago and it was our best trip ever. We have been doing the annual trip since 1994 with 12 of us hiring a charter boat somewhere between Geraldton and Broome. This year we went to the Montebello Islands (off Dampier). The first fishing stop was about half way between the mainland and the Islands which is about 60km offshore. There was not a breath of wind but it was 40 degrees, so a little warm. We caught 30 Red Emporer at about a 5kg average in the first half hour which was a great start. The skipper has a policy of not doing the same drift twice to ensure the spot doesn't get wiped out so we kept on moving towards the islands. We stopped again at about 80km offshore and the drift produced about 40 Rankin Cod and a couple of nice Coral Trout. We arrived at the islands and took a swim with about 100 Turtles. There are a lot of very big Tiger Sharks around the islands so the swimming is limited to jumping off the Marlin Board and venturing no further than a few metres off the back of the boat. The second day we headed further West and dropped our first lines about 140km West of the Mainland. On the way out we caught several Tuna and Mackerel on high speed skirts. We consider these a bit of a pest as our target is Sailfish and Black Marlin. The Red Emporer and Rankin Cod were everywhere and we caught about 70 over the next few hours. The day was marred by the large number of Estuary Cod we caught. While great eating these fish are protected and are not allowed to be kept. The only problem is that most of them die when pulled up from 60 metres of water. At one stage I caught a double header with one at 25kg and the other at 20kg and both could not be revived although the crew tried every trick they knew. On the way back we scored our first Sailfish, which was about 30kg. They are a magnificent creature. We caught quite a few squid back in the bay and had a great seafood dinner washed down with great wine and followed by a big game of Texas Holdem. As we were starting to get close to the bag limit (20kg of fillets per person) we decided to fish in the morning and then explore one of the islands in the afternoon armed with flick rods and poppers. We caught the standard Red Emporer, Coral Trout and Rankin Cod in the morning and managed a few GTs and Long Tom in the afternoon. On our second last day we decided to focus on trolling. We caught 5 Sailfish and a small Black Marlin of about 60kg. All were caught on very light gear which makes it great fun. The biggest Sailfish was 8 foot long and about 45kg. We needed about 20 fish to make the bag limit, which we caught in less than 10 minutes and we headed back to the Islands. We played our annual beach cricket test series on the last morning which is always good fun with a 5 metre tide making the conditions interesting. We headed back to Dampier having had a great but very hot 5 days at the Montebello Islands. There had been not a breath of wind the whole time we were there which was amazing because when we were there in 2003 it blew the whole time. I believe the Montebello Islands would be one of the best if not the best fishing spot in Australia.

Hey Katari, I own one and I've had it for 6 years. Extremely tough and reliable and I will be buying another one when this one eventually dies. If you are going to the Kingfish social on Sunday I'm happy to give you a quick demo. Cheers, Black CC

Little Manly at 5.30am, which is when the gate opens. There are 8 spots for trailers.

SM, Could you please provide advice on the development of a mini me. My daughter is 11 months old and I would like her to catch the same disease as Little Slinky, however, I believe I need a step by step plan to make this happen over the next few years. I would really appreciate your help. Cheers, BCC

Samy, You did better than I and I only hope when we team up at the social next week my form improves. I had a clean sheet this morning. I got plenty of bait but the Kings just didn't want to cooperate. I discovered right at the end of the trip that one of my crew had 2 bananas on the boat which might have had something to do with it. Look forward to seeing you next Sunday morning. Cheers, Black CC

Hunting Kings in the Harbour on Sunday morning - some practice ahead of the social

PM sent

I was down at Currarong a few weeks back and scored a nice King while the wind was blowing from the South. I was trolling Rapalas near Little Beecroft Head, which is pretty sheltered as long as the wind doesn't have any East in it. I would have scored more, as I had 20 live Slimeys but I had a seasick teenager and had to head back. We did score loads of good flatties quite close to Currarong which is completely sheltered from a Southerly. Cheers, Black CC

The flush has slowed them a little in the harbour but there are still plenty around. Don't know much about the bay.

Evening all, Had a strange morning on the harbour today. I was lined up with 10 other boats collecting yakkas at Balmoral and caught 5 Trevally on the jigs, 2 of which were well over 30cm - a little bit strange. We did manage plenty of yakkas and sent them over at the yellow marker bouy off Dobroyd around 7am. After 5 minutes one of the rods starts bouncing a little and one of my 2 Kingy virgins on the boat grabbed the rod in anticipation of a mighty run. I had explained to both virgins that they needed to be prepared to make sure they didn't get smoked on the bottom so they were both pretty fired up. Virgin Brad starts slowly reeling the line in and says to me "I've got a Kingfish but it didn't fight". To my amazement there was a King flapping on the surface looking extremely sick. I pulled it over and it was only 55cm but it just didn't kick - very strange. After I took the hook out I gave it a long recovery swim but it just seemed extremely sick. After letting it go it kicked a little and then floated to the surface. Never seen a sick King before. We spent another 20 minutes for no result and my credibility with the 2 virgins (a sick King doesn't count) was pretty low at this point, so we headed towards Shark Island. On the way we scored a couple of squid and I dropped over a couple of strips, a head and some squid guts as soon as we arrived. The boys watched me bait these lines and thought I had no idea what I was doing but fortunately Brad, who thought Kings didn't fight much and was comparing the fight to the Flounder he caught on holidays, managed to hook up a 63cm model which went real hard. The other virgin then got a 66cm King that also went real hard and restored my credibility. Had a couple more hits and Brad got smoked on my game rod - order had been restored. Cheers, Black CC

My crew convinced me to switch our trip to tomorrow morning - you guys are clearly tougher than us. Well done on some nice Kings - I hope I do as well tomorrow. I'm running at about 1 keeper for every 10 rats at the moment so hoping the score might be a little better in the morning. Cheers, Black CC

Mcfusher, I would be happy to take the 2 of you. I made another post in the social section saying I have 2 spare spots on my 5m Centre Console and asking the mods for nominations but thern read your post. My boat doesn't have any sun protection so if you're OK with that you are more than welcome to join me and Glenn, my regular deckie. Send me a PM and we can organise the logistics. Cheers, Tony

I would like to attend the social and I will bring Glenn, my regular Deckie. I can take 2 more Deckie's as well if you would like to nominate 2 people (I have just posted a response to the 2 young guys looking for a boat spot saying I will take them so no need to nominate anyone). Also happy to help with catering / eskies or anything else required. I live walking distance from Clifton Gardens so it's not difficult to bring gear down. Please let me know how I can help. Have never met a fellow Raider so looking forward to it very much. Cheers, Tony

I suggest you launch at Clifton Gardens, which gives you lots of markers within a reasonable distance. I often drop the Kayak in there and try the big drum North of the Naval jetty first, then the Neilson Park marker, then the Wedding Cake then the 2 Marker bouys where the Western Wedding Cake used to be. This gives you 5 alternatives and the paddle is about a 5km round trip if you need to go to all 5 markers (unlikely at the moment).

It is not anywhere near Sow & Pigs. It is a reef about 800m East of The Gap - ie offshore from South Head. It is a rise from about 30m of water to about 18m and usually holds some very large squid. It is also a good spot for larger Kings and you often see fishtraps on the edge of the reef.

Afternoon all, Spent 3 hours catching 5 squid this morning, which we converted into 7 Kings and a Sampson. Great fun but they were all between 60 and 64 cms so no fish for dinner. The bait was all gone in 45 minutes of fishing. We caught 2 more Kings on SPs but they were rats as well. None of our usual squid spots seemed to work. We even tried out at the colours and some other deep water spots and couldn't manage one squid. Amazed how many boats were out on such a wet day. When we got back to the ramp another boat had 2 80cm Kings - both caught on Yakkas. Hoping for better luck next week.

I'm going on Sunday morning from 5.30am - 10.30am and would be happy to share information. I'm going out with a guy who has made several DVDs about catching Kings in the harbour so praying for good weather.

Coral Trout followed by Kings

I completely agree with the fresh squid comments. I also agree with the comments about going out on a charter but it is pretty difficult to get a spot now for at least a couple of months. I go out with either no no no or Des Toms once at the start of each season to learn and this is money very well spent but you need to book a few months ahead. I got 2 Kings on Saturday using yakkas and my fresh squid didn't get touched. I scored 9 on frozen squid in the same spot using the same rigs the week before. On Saturday I went to 8 spots before I got one hook up. Trial and error is the key and don't waste hours sitting at Clifton Gardens or the Wedding Cakes if they are not being caught.