Danielsan

Guys - got back from Bermi Sunday arvo. We managed more than 16+ Southern Blues ranging from 25-40kgs. No fin despite our efforts. there were football fields of fish around the boat. all south of bermi

there have been a few reports from down south about a 212Kg SBT and a few YFT to 50Kgs. I imagine the sydney run will start late April... Cheers

I'm no seasoned professional, but i reckon that if you look out for a temp break, livley water (jellies, birds blue-bottles) you'll eventually find them. We trolled 7mile NE of browns on monday. water stayed pretty stable at 17.4...then dropped to 17.1 then the shotgun went off.Chucked a big handful of pillies over the side and managed to keep them at the boat for a few minutes while we got a second. There have been other times that we've found great temp breaks and cubed for 5 hours for nothing. that's fishing i guess, but the above is what the more experienced guys do

looks like a longliners hook to me...

the circles on the fish look to me like tenticle marks... cuttles or squid the culprits!

dude - there are so many different schools of thought on this... i like to let the fish run until i feel a secondary bump on the line - i believe that this is the fish swallowing the bait propoerly, as the first hit (with yakka/slimey) is when the king grabs it and runs away from his mates. when that second bump happens, it's the fish swallowing the bait right down. Employing this technique has seen my hook up rate go from 1 in 4 to almost 4 in 4. make sure your hook point is totally exposed when you bait up AND like roosterman said, make sure that your overhead is in strike drag OR has at least enough pressure to start setting the hook from the strike. remember - big hook big fish, small hook ALL fish... don't be afraid to use 3/0 live bait hooks - they always seem to hit them mark!

just the most amazing blue colour! well done on the release mate - don't like his chances next time he hits a circle hook

fark me what a fish!!!!

hmmmm indeed

drop them at shark island

hi mate - got a few kings yesterday inside the harbour tho. outside was not too bad - found amberjacks, but only small. the kings were around the usual harbour marks

rickster - saw a couple old guys poling them in at Balmoral the other day - some in the 2kg+ variety. couldn't believe how big they were! run out tidem - overcast conditions

no such thing as a live bait that's too big. I had a 35cm yakka taken by a 60cm king. landed the king too. big bait - big fish!

you definitely want to troll as slowly as possible - 1kt is ideal. Often when downrigging, I'll drop the engine out of gear when I spot the kings on the sounder and let the livie swim unassisted amongst the fish - they normally get smaaaaaashed. with out downriggers, you have to go even slower otherwise the baits skip along the surface and unless the kings are in a chasing mood, they wont get much attention. try the knife jig idea running down to the swivel connecting your leader to your mainline. Just remember that slow is best, the kings love to chase their prey, but if they don't have to work as hard they'll be more inclined to attack. you need to use the sounder and when you see the depth the kings are holding in, you'll then be able to deploy the un/weighted baits to where they are. In addition, trolling a lure or two that rattle alongside your livies may also attract more attention. PM me if you have any questions. Cheers dan

eagle ray perhaps