King slayer

good effort. Where did you fish?

Myself and mate Matt hit the harbour on Sunday. Weather was supposed to be not great with a little rain an wind to 15 knots. Wrong! Light cloud, light breeze and not a drop until we got back to the ramp. Perfect. And not much competition on the water as an added bonus. Object was to get squid, fish for jew on the early tide change and then chase kings and salmon. Middle harbour was dirty and this made the squidding very hard. With one little tacker and one frozen from the other day we gave up at around 6 and headed to the wreck we were going to fish. Sat there for the change plus about 1.5hrs. A few tailor came on board and one was stripped for bait straight away. As we were about to leave I picked up one of my rods that had just been hit lightly to find a beautiful flattie of 69cms on the end!! Very happy with that. The debate as to weather to keep or release her was quickly settled with Ikijimi and a trip to the tank to bleed out. The fish that is One of matts heavy rods reacted in the same manner and half way up the big girl had shredded through the 50lb leader. must have been on a while! Bugger. Next we headed to clean water to find some squid. Daylight is always more productive for me on squid. We did quite well in a few spots and every squid was a stonker. In the end we boated about 10-12 mostly quite large calamari and went for a quick troll around quarantine/North head to see if the salmon were about. We didn't find any after a token effort, but did see some diving birds (which we trolled past) and over the south side a few boats that seemed to be chasing a school, but the water was rough out there, so back to more leisurely pursuits...Right after a coffee and Bacon+egg roll.. The intention was to down rig Middle harbour, but we underestimated how dirty the water was. After a slow trip around to find a good deep spot (which we hoped would have clean water below) we settled on the bluff and anchored there for the low tide change. Not really expecting much we set four squid baits deep on the bottom and watched as the pickers slowly pulled each one apart. We persisted anyway since it was the last stop before home. Soon after, both my rods go off together!!! Matt grabs one and me the other. Half way up, mine goes slack.. and wouldn't you know, my so called high quality, heavy duty Gamakatsu trebbles bent out! I have a bone to pick with those guys... Matt passes me the other rod and after a spirited fight with four or so dives, we netted a healthy 70cm king from the dirty water. Home after that as no more hits came. Cheers all. Here's the catch. Flattie and squid went down a treat an hour ago. Dave

Hi David, One of the reels I use for that kind of fishing is a Penn 6500 size can't think of the model) but it was $90 on special. There are some others like this if you look around. try finding a Penn spinfisher! I'm assuming it's a spin rod? If it's overhead a shimano charter special is a good cheapie. You only really need about 4000 size and it makes for easier casting than a bigger one on a 7 footer, I find. line length: You won't need more than 150m in bays etc, but since you can easily fit 300m or more, why not? Don't forget the mono backing to fill the spool just right. As for leaders, mate you'll get away with 30-40lb for most situations, even 20lb will b fine if there's no structure to deal with. My opinion on leaders is that a good soft, thin mono is a good way to go for anything over 20lb. For 20lb and below I like fluoro. The heavier fluoros are rather big in diameter and stiff. Just my opinion though. Good luck mate!

didn't chase it but Brett pulled up the anchor so we could be free of lines for him to bust me off on. With a light line and drag I had no choice but to let him do what he wanted to, which was to circle around under the boat and dive frequently for the bottom. Since he stayed more or less under the boat there was no need to chase.

We were in that vicinity, but I don't know the area well enough to say. Brett might know. He has a map. Cheers

Beauty king there simmo, They say one from the land is worth ten from the boat! and for good reason.

it was a little brown at low tide on sunday, but not too bad. most of cowan was briliant

Looks like the right water for that kind of fishing. Bad luck on the big one mate. I'll bet there's plenty more there though!

Hi Raiders, Well, The Calamari Kid (aka Brett) and I hit Cowan creek on Sunday morning in the rain. The mission was Jewie or nothing! We had tried to get livies but failed the day before because of the rain. Went to a spot were livies had been prevalent according to scources (cheers pete!), and the sounder was promising. We managed only a couple of little livies and the soundings looked like some big predators were attacking from below, making the wouldbe livies too nervous to feed. Not all bad news. I set out a small livie and not long after the rod bent over, slowly. As I wound up the fish had spat the bait, but since it was still kicking, back down she went. Not long after it hooked up. Here's the tragic part.... I was so excited to have something on since it's been a while between fish, so I wound way too fast and a very nice flattie came up at rocket speed! Broke the surface (yeah, I know you don't have to tell me) and shook the hook out. Would have been mid to high 60's. We had out some squid bait too but no takers there. Headed off to Juno point for the tide change, for one hook up that wound up on the reef straight away. Also caught a little occy which was a nice addition to the limited bait supply. Tried a few points on the way back down the creek for a few hits and misses which we put down to flatties. Finally located some yakkas at the outrageously expensive cottage point cafe. I figured paying $35 for a pack of winnie blues, two pies and two small coffees was justification to use their jetty a while and load up on yakkas! There was one more spot we wanted to hit on the way back. A nice sharp point with a good drop off. As we drifted in before anchoring bretts occy leg got hit hard and dropped, so we thought we had got the spot right at least. Anchored up over the drop off and set out the baits We had out live yakkas, squid and occy, also trying pillies at one point, and flicked placcies all over. Burley was consistently deployed as it had been all day. I flicked a little 1/8 jig head with watermelon power minnow over to the shore to attempt a tailor or possibly flathead..maybe even jew! Did't know what hit me when a kingy took it! I was using 10lb braid, 10lb fluro leader and my 2-4kg flick stick which is normally just for squid and small fish fun. The bugger had me sweating for a good 5-10 minutes as Brett diligently pulled up all four lines and anchor while reminding me to keep calm and untangling the delicate 10lb braid from the anchor line and two other lines he managed to sweep around during the start of the fight. I'm not used to fightinh kings on such light gear but in the end and with much credit to Brett, my dear little outfit with (thankfully) a wise drag setting and some iron will to keep composed, We landed the bugger in the net first shot and I sat back panting for a while. Lots of fun and definitely the fight of the season for me. Here she is So we didn't get the jew and we got really wet. But it was great and even though the kingy was hardly a monster, it sure felt like one on the light gear! Who said cowan creek has no fish? Not me. Dave

Sounds good to me. Send me your details via PM. I warn you though, I'm no seasoned expert. Dave

Yeah sort of, it's about 50m south of that spot, and allows you to stand out near deeper water. Has rod holders and the lot, but like I said..Always taken! There are better spots to go, even nearly as accessable in the area. I suggest putting on the walking shoes and checking the other headlands.

If it's Flatrock you intend to fish, goodluck getting it to your self! Very popular spot that one. I've yet to find it free. Plenty of kings seem to come through though, nd the usual salmon, tailor etc.

Hi All, I'm doing a Jew mission with Calamari kid tomorrow in Cowan and maybe a low tide change in the hawkesbury in the morning. Anyone know what the water's like there right now with the recent rains? Any fish being caught? Livies around? cheers guys, Dave

I've only cracked them out a handfull of times but in the last week I've caught slimy mackeral and amberjack on a 90mm blade and a yakka on my little 20mm blade. Pelagics seem to be into them too. I'm aiming for a jew on the big blade now. With the big blade it seems the constant retrieve has been the winner so far one these fish, straight down then back to the boat and repeat. Like I said, just starting out though. Anyone else had a go with the big blades?

Hey Yakkaman, I have a warf in middle harbour i go to for squid sometimes and they have done this too me aswell. i'm guessing you're upstream of the spit and primarily chasing arrow's? I found it's the smaller ones that do this and two things increased my hook up: First if I could see the take then I'd feed some line out for a bit before a short strike which often inds then sliding back a bit into the barbs; and two when I get a hit, i wind in quite fast as they tend to get off if you're too slow. I don't treat calamari this way though. With them I retrieve a little slower once theyre hooked and allow the lunges a bit more, since the generally bigger tentacles and head seem to stay on better than arrows and with the extra weight they tend to carry I don't want to allow pulled tentacles. Dave

pin it through the nose or just behind the head, but just take the time to pin it carefully and as shallow as you can get away with. Use a fine hook if possible. Use just one hook, but if you want two then leave the second one free swinging. One more thing, take the time to keep it in good condition before you use it. I find if I treat them well, yakkas will swim for hours with a hook in them. only time i put the hook in the back is when I get half yakkas back (Tailor), then pin them in the back above the lateral line for a clean hook up. Also when your landbased, resist the urge to check the bait all the time as each wind in and recast will take time off their life. That's what I do anyway. Seems to work out most times. Dave

I've been pulling in the odd surprise Tailor too in the last month or more, and usually bigger ones too. I've had them in the main harbour, middle harbour and off the ocean rocks. Certainly a welcome addition to the bait supply, but after eating one a few weeks back, I'm happy to leave those ones to the fishes and target some truly tasty species. Dave

Well...I did it, I'm a little insane. Took the tinnie out into middle harbour last night for a few hours and managed to convince my mate (bigb) to come somehow. Nothing major we just launched at Tunks and tucked in behind the hill in a sheltered bay not far from the ramp to see if a jew could be got in the shit weather. You never know till you try right? The weather was pretty good to us and despite enormous gusts from ESE on the other side of the hill, it was pleasant for the most part where we were with one or two pour downs for which we were well prepared anyway. The water was surprisingly clear for all the rain around and the bait fish were all around. Dropped out some squid baits and pillies and played with blades occasionally. A bunch of pillies got me a tailor of approx 50cm, of which some fillets were promptly dropped down. My big blade (90mm, 30g) was attacked by a slimy which was sent back down live only to be separated at the leader by a jacket (i suppose). While leaving my small blade (20mm) down with rod in holder, I lifted it to find a yakka struggling on the end which was then sent down too. Constant action on the sounder, water 17.7 deg. This has to be a potential jew spot with all that bait around and it is always like this when I sound over it. It's a wreck and a proven king spot, but i do wonder if daytime jew would be there as it's only 15m deep and right near by there is 24m, which I assume would be preferable for jew during daytime hours. Anybody have any thoughts on this? Might launch the remainder of this tailor after salting into a beach gutter after the weathr tapers off a bit. Cheers, Dave

I'm determined to prove I can get a Jew in this crappy weather. Plan is to hit middle harbour tonight and fish a sheltered bay with some good squid baits. Lets see how we go, I'm off in a few hours. Dave

AAAHHH leather jackets! I have a guaranteed strategy! Target anything else but leather jackets and when your hooks and baits start disappearing (usually within a few minutes as it has been in the harbour for a few days now), then drop down your jacket rig. Maybe you could also try a grenade, just to make sure you really get the buggers. We had them nearly jumping out of the water on the weekend chasing everything and anything we cast. Had to use metal lures just to get to any other kind of fish! Good luck, bring on the slaughter!! Dave

As I said to you already, well done my friend. and folks, this man has put a lot of time effort and thought into this capture, it is more than well deserved. Good to see you finally posting too! Wish I was there for the jumping and the man hugging and the woohoo's. Lets go get some more.......... Dave

Hey Brickman, What's the cost? My tinnie has very narrow gunwales. Is there something you could make to suit it? I need a few more. Cheers, Dave

why not use braid with a long mono leader? i find my 4500 bait runner too heavy for flicking lures for too long.

I have caught one at night before and heard of them feeding around lit up structure occasionally, but it's not the norm. Kings are day feeders. Dave

Brent mate, My two best fishing buddies have nearly the same name! Dave