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Wall To Wall Kingies In Middle Harbour!


namesay

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Hello raiders I hope you guys aren't getting sick of reading my kingfish reports but here is another one. I finished work early today and got home for lunch. I was still on a high after catching some good kingies on wednesday but kingfish are an addiction and I wanted more!. I had a few odd jobs to do like registering my car but I got to Roseville at 3.30pm

Went straight to get some squid. Unlike the past few trips the squid were "on". The wind made things difficult but I got a squid on my second cast and scored about a dozen or so. I started to downrig for kingies in the harbour but the water temperature was too cold. It was about 18C. So I trundled around looking for some warmer water.

My temperature gauge started to rise as I entered Middle harbour and it hit the magical 19C. Things were looking good. The wind made trolling around the moorings a real pain so I moved to another spot away from the moorings.

This spot is a double drop off. There is a saddle like indentation and the kingies hang in the middle of this indentation. I haven't fished this spot for a while as I was keen to see how things looked. As I approached the mark there was a blip of a kingie showing on the sounder then another then another.......!!! WOOOOW the sounder was full of kingies. I just couldn't wait for my bait to pass through this school.

ZAP! the rod takes off and I am on. In my haste I only took my light gear and this outfit had 40lb fluorocarbon leader. Within 5 seconds the kingie made it to the bottom and shredded the line :05:

post-2057-1161947707_thumb.jpg

I re-rigged with some sensible tackle i.e 60lb fluorocarbon and set my drag for 30lb. The squid didn't last long as another kingie took the bait. With the heavier tackle I had him under control. When landed it measured 85 cm.

post-2057-1161947906_thumb.jpg

This pattern went on for bait after bait!!! As soon as the squid passed the school, it got zapped. The anticipation as your downrigger passed the school was something else. I have not seen kingies this thick in middle harbour before. I have seen them like this over the deep reefs but not in shallow waters.

All in all I caught over a dozen fish. It still amazes me that the kings stop biting as soon as the sun sets. I think they are sight feeders . Anway I kept 3 deeply hooked fish for the table in what was a pretty memorable session! Cheers Kelvin

post-2057-1161948553_thumb.jpg

Here are some more pictures. The table these fish are on is almost 60cm. Cheers Kelvin

Edited by namesay
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definantly not sick of the kingy reportS!!

Ive gota head back to middle harbour real soon.

Just a quick question, what kind of rod and real do u use when down rigging kings?

I have too many blasted rods and reels to choose from!!! My heavy gear is a stella 20000 with a jig rod rated for 37kg. But this is not"sporting" for these "little" kings. I mainly use it for jigging deep reefs in winter. I have 4 or 5...50lb outfits that I normally use. I have a variety of lever drag overhead and spinning reels. The Shimano Tyrnos lever drag overhead filled with 50 braid on a 24kg Tcurve rod is my favourite all round kingie outfit. cheers Kelvin

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was that the fireline it chewed thru in the picture?

thats pretty tough from a fish if it was

The braid was cut off the rig by me!!! The fish cut through the 40lb fluorocarbon leader :mad3: . THere were 2 hooks attached to the end of the leader. Cheers Kelvin

Edited by namesay
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Once again thanks to everyone. All the encouragement of the fellow raiders makes this site the best there is.

I am sitting here this morning and the SUN is out!! Can't go out for a fish as there are family committments this morning...ahhhh! cheers Kelvin

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Mate,

I have been reading your reports and I think I can speak for most people here that you are SOOOO lucky that you get to go fishing 2 or 3 times a week. Not only that you seem to catch KINGS every time.

To balance out on Kelvin's report. I like to report that I fished middle harbour last Wednesday for No squid and No king. There were a lot of bream around tunks park .

I guess that saying that 10% of fisherman catches 90% of the fish always rings true. The other 90% of fisherman go fishing just to relax. :)

Dean

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Yeah Danny I plan on going out on Sunday and perhaps this afternoon if I can get my act together and get my chores done. I have ordered a new car to tow my new boat and I have to go and sort out a few details....and buy a few more squid jigs to add to my collection! Cheers Kelvin

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Hello raiders I hope you guys aren't getting sick of reading my kingfish reports but here is another one. I finished work early today and got home for lunch. I was still on a high after catching some good kingies on wednesday but kingfish are an addiction and I wanted more!. I had a few odd jobs to do like registering my car but I got to Roseville at 3.30pm

Went straight to get some squid. Unlike the past few trips the squid were "on". The wind made things difficult but I got a squid on my second cast and scored about a dozen or so. I started to downrig for kingies in the harbour but the water temperature was too cold. It was about 18C. So I trundled around looking for some warmer water.

My temperature gauge started to rise as I entered Middle harbour and it hit the magical 19C. Things were looking good. The wind made trolling around the moorings a real pain so I moved to another spot away from the moorings.

This spot is a double drop off. There is a saddle like indentation and the kingies hang in the middle of this indentation. I haven't fished this spot for a while as I was keen to see how things looked. As I approached the mark there was a blip of a kingie showing on the sounder then another then another.......!!! WOOOOW the sounder was full of kingies. I just couldn't wait for my bait to pass through this school.

ZAP! the rod takes off and I am on. In my haste I only took my light gear and this outfit had 40lb fluorocarbon leader. Within 5 seconds the kingie made it to the bottom and shredded the line :05:

post-2057-1161947707_thumb.jpg

I re-rigged with some sensible tackle i.e 60lb fluorocarbon and set my drag for 30lb. The squid didn't last long as another kingie took the bait. With the heavier tackle I had him under control. When landed it measured 85 cm.

post-2057-1161947906_thumb.jpg

This pattern went on for bait after bait!!! As soon as the squid passed the school, it got zapped. The anticipation as your downrigger passed the school was something else. I have not seen kingies this thick in middle harbour before. I have seen them like this over the deep reefs but not in shallow waters.

All in all I caught over a dozen fish. It still amazes me that the kings stop biting as soon as the sun sets. I think they are sight feeders . Anway I kept 3 deeply hooked fish for the table in what was a pretty memorable session! Cheers Kelvin

post-2057-1161948553_thumb.jpg

Here are some more pictures. The table these fish are on is almost 60cm. Cheers Kelvin

awesome. You truly are an expert on Kings.

Keep the rports coming. Where do you measyre the water temp? On top. Does your sounder pick up the thermocline??

Cheers

davo

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I find water temp to be really important for kingfish activity. Temperatures of 19 and over ususally means you will have some fun with these seriolas. But when it gets too hot say over 25 they go a bit doggo. I guess that is why they are not found in tropical waters.

In winter when the temperatures are low I usually pick them up deeper as I am sure they are sitting in a thermo. The cold water definitely slows them down and on some days these fish hardly put up a fight and the drag never gets tested.

I have 2 sounders and they only pick up surface temps. ANd none of them picks up a thermocline...or perhaps it is the dud operator! Cheers Kelvin

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Bugger chasing and stalking no no no and those other charters, i'm onto you.

I just got a new boat and need it blessed, a King will do it honours. Just need to find them.

May see you out there tommorow.

I'm double jealous reading all your reports, and awestruck with your strike rate and top reports.

Keep them coming.

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All in all I caught over a dozen fish. It still amazes me that the kings stop biting as soon as the sun sets. I think they are sight feeders .

post-2057-1161948553_thumb.jpg

Hi Kelvin my theory (for what its worth) its not so much that Kingies are sight feeders but squid are and so they order their movements around them. Nice lil session btw

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