Downrigging For Kingies

[namesay]

Hello raiders, I hope I am not being too monotonus but I LOVE my kingfish. You guys will get a break from me as for the next few weeks I have a few work related seminars and travel arrangements that will keep me from fishing!

Anyway I went out to the harbour today to fish for kingfish. Unfortunately my little one was a little crook so he couldn't come with me so I went alone. Early in the morning I went out looking for squid. I caught a couple but they were hard work. Along the way I saw Dean Hayes and ET making some sort of video. There was a large school of salmon working middle head.

When fish are busting up like this it is abit hard to ignore! So I strayed from squidding to catch a few salmon. As ususal they were a bit finicky but they were hitting my atomic stick bait...almost every cast. The hook up rate was bad but I landed a half a dozen before calling it quits

With 2 squid in the bait tank I rigged them on my downrigger for kingies in middle harbour. Lots of people have been asking me about how to rig for kings so here it is fellas.

I tried our ususal kingie haunts but they were a bit fickle. I think Penguin scared the daylights out of them!!! Unfortunately the tailer were around the bait schools. They rip and shred your hard won squid.

I lost both my squid to these guys!!!!

ONe of the good things about downrigging is that you troll SLOW! This give people in different boats an opportunity to have a nice chat. I cross paths with Dave and Steve all the time as these guys are just as keen as me with downrigging for Kingies. Hey you guys sign up to Fishraider They have been reading my reports and they stuck it out with me for the whole day. When others have left they were still there hunting down the kingies. By the way they got a couple good sized fish.

So it was back to squidding for me. The wind was up and catching squid is a pain but I managed a few more. Back to middle harbour for the kingies. I tried the moorings- the same moorings I gave Netic the heads up on Sunday and got a hit. It was a good fish but it shredded my 50lb braid on a mooring line. As happens when you lose a fish things tend to go very quiet. I could see the kingies on my sounder but they weren't playing.

I tried all different approaches - if you look at the above photo I tired to hit them on the head with my downrigger bomb!!! But they refuesd the bait time and time again. I had one more trick up my sleeve. I pulled the bait off the quick release clip and worked the live squid like a sluggo From a depth of 7meters. This worked a treat and I landed a kingie about 75-80cm. I am not too cure about its length as I released this fish.as fast as I can.

My wife does not want any more fish stinking up the fridge/freezer. I think we have in excess of 20kg of kingies somewhere in the house!

By now the day was getting on but I still had a squid left. I met with Dave and Steve and we both worked a bait school. There were kingies there but they were refusing our offerings. I must acknowledge the work of Peter Le Blang in introducing downrigging to us Sydney fishos. It seems like most downriggers have cross paths with him. Several years ago I didn't even know what a downrigger was let alone use one.

Anyway I used the live squid sluggo trick once again. A kingie followed the squid and tried to engulf it. The squid let out some ink and WHAM it got taken but failed to hook up. The kingie hit it again and once again before it hooked up solid. It was about 65cm and it was deeply hooked and bleeding heavily from the gills ....sorry I had to kill and take the fish home. I would like to thank Steve and Dave for the applause

Today the fishing wasn't easy but those who persisted caught fish. I think there is a lesson there! Cheers Kelvin

Edited November 2, 2006 by namesay

[Guest rzep]

Well done on another good day there Kelvin.

And well done on sharing a little bit of info with your fellow raiders.

[namesay]

These are the missing photos.

Dave and Steve with a coupla good MH kingies

[Penguin]

Well done namesay,

that report was very informative and great pics too.

Wish I could have been out there also

penguin

Edited November 1, 2006 by penguin

[namesay]

This is how my sounder looks when kingies are around. As you can see the downrigger bomb hitting the heads of the kingies! The thick line is the bomb, the thin line is the quick release clip. They look wavy due the boat wake I was travelling in. Cheers Kelvin Edited November 1, 2006 by namesay

[James]

nice drop off there mate, there definately holding there.

its starting to get like ground hog day with you Mr Concistency

well done

[netic]

Well done mate, shame you couldnt get onto the ones on the sounder

[1975]

I don't normally fish from a boat and have never tried to tackle a kingie but after reading yours and the other king fishers reports over the last few weeks it almost feels like i've been out there, catching the squid ( which i have never done) , driving around finding the kings on the sounder, setting up the downrigger and waiting for the eventual hookup then fighting the fish. after boating it and taking a photo deciding on whether to release or keep it for dinner, man thats the life.

thankyou for sharing the experience, hope to read more

1975

[ophet]

Here's to King Kelvin !!!! Mr entertainment, informative and tutor extraordinaire !!!!

It is comforting somewhat to know that even the King does not come home with an esky full of fish every outing.

Thanks again for the report, and tutorial. I feel better equipped for my next outing.

[Dezmo]

Top effort, excellent detailed report.

It seems like down rigging for kings in sydney has gone ballistic over the last 12-24 months. This summer I wont be surprised to hear of lines of boats 10 accross slowing downrigging the moorings before the spit etc!!

Well done on the catch and release also. With people constantly getting better at catching these fish and more people choosing the mighty king as their pinnacle inshore/harbour fishing target i think there will be a real need to encourage sustainable fishing into the future. That said my mouth is watering for my first summer king...

Also what's going to be the next gun technique on kings???

[Robbielites]

Thanks for the tips Kelvin.

I had my first go at downrigging yesterday. Damn you, you make it sound so easy

I did not get a single hit, I got a lot of tangled line though

I will be out again tommorow to try and refine my technique.

I saw Steve and dave were still at it at about 7.30 when I had to head back in. We trolled past each other. I am sure they started laughing when they saw the FR sticker on the transom

Thanks for sharing the knowledge, my book marks are filling up quickly

Cheeers.

Robbie.

[Thunder]

Great report Kelvin and thanks for the tips.

Cheers

Greg

[OneLastCast]

Well done again Kelvin.

Hope your little 'un gets well soon.

Edited November 1, 2006 by OneLastCast

[kantong]

top work Kelvin!

Nices Kingies

[namesay]

I guess if you want to be consistent with kings, you have to get them to strike when they are shut down. Kingfish are not foragers like Bream , blackfish etc snd do not feed all the time. They are hunters and when they are not in the mood things can get really frustrating. When I saw alistair mcglashan's dvd and saw how many fish there were compared to the number caught it really got me thinking. Have a look at all the samson fish in this DVD!!!!

These fish need some sort of trigger to strike. You may luck out and find them in a feeding mood then it is all easy but most of the time you will not. It is then your experience will come into play. The next time you go to the aquarium have a look at all the fish happily swimming around. The sharks aren't attacking their prey- neither are any of the other fish eating eachother!!! But the foragers are always pecking around.

Just because there are fish there, it doesn't mean they are feeding. And typical of kingies I caught them on the surface on my squid rather than at the depth they were sitting in.

The "LIVE SQUID SLUGGO" method works pretty well when you can see the kingies sitting around. I stumbled on this a while back. I used to get a lot of hits when I brought the bait in to check it. While the normal trolling produced nothing. I also get a lot of hits while putting a bait out. Obviously the kingies are sitting there and this bait movement makes them strike.

So if all fails give this a go. YOu need a fairly long set back, troll the bait at the depth you see the fish, if no strike -unclip the bait from the release clip and work it back like a soft plastic. Works pretty well on shut down fish...just leave a few there for me next time!

I have found that a fleeing prey will incite an almost automatic strike response where as if you lose a fish it will have the opposite response. Cheers Kelvin

Edited November 2, 2006 by namesay

[namesay]

Well done mate, shame you couldnt get onto the ones on the sounder

Out of this school, I got 3 fish to strike. I lost one...probably a good sized fish and caught 2. Dave and Steve caught 2 more from this school so it seems like we got most of the fish we saw on the sounder!CHeers Kelvin

Here's to King Kelvin !!!! Mr entertainment, informative and tutor extraordinaire !!!!

It is comforting somewhat to know that even the King does not come home with an esky full of fish every outing.

Thanks again for the report, and tutorial. I feel better equipped for my next outing.

That's because I release most of my fish!!!!

[Guest DV8]

Out of this school, I got 3 fish to strike. I lost one...probably a good sized fish and caught 2. Dave and Steve caught 2 more from this school so it seems like we got most of the fish we saw on the sounder!CHeers Kelvin

That's because I release most of my fish!!!!

Kelvin

thanks for all your entertaining and informative reports. keep them coming in. I hope we get a chance to meet some time (maybe at our next social). I would love to see your boat and how you have set it up. Am going to the boat show next year and am thinking of getting a bigger boat.

I din't really understand what I was looking at on your sounder (mine is not that sophisticated) but thanks for making the effort for those that did. i know you predominantly fish MH and Pittwater, though have you ever fished Broken bay or Box head with any success 9or anyone else who has)

Cheers

Davo

[cruisecraft]

Hi all

Thank you Kelvin for your very informative and entertaining reports. Do others with a down rigger use wire to the bomb or use braid? If using wire what sort of wire cutter will suffice. I have a Scotty down rigger(since July) and use wire. I have a crimper with a wire cutting part.Will this suffice?

Regards Kit

ps what size braid would others use if using braid?

[namesay]

Kelvin

thanks for all your entertaining and informative reports. keep them coming in. I hope we get a chance to meet some time (maybe at our next social). I would love to see your boat and how you have set it up. Am going to the boat show next year and am thinking of getting a bigger boat.

I din't really understand what I was looking at on your sounder (mine is not that sophisticated) but thanks for making the effort for those that did. i know you predominantly fish MH and Pittwater, though have you ever fished Broken bay or Box head with any success 9or anyone else who has)

Cheers

Davo

The sounder display is pretty easy if you stare at these things for hours on end! You will see the bottom looks like pamela anderson's breasts!!! The kings are hanging in between the boobs. They are the red splotches you see in the middle of the screen. SOme are stronger signals ( redder) and some are weaker ( red with green) . The weaker signals are from fish that are on the edge of the cone. There is some elongation of the signals as my boat was rocking at the time. In still water they either show up as perfectly oval red spots or arches if they are active.

Right on the surface there is a lot of clutter. You will see some red cones coming into the screen. This is air cavitation from the rocking boat from the baot wake.

THe 2 wavy lines are my downrigger bomb and its clip.

By the way I normally fish off shore for kings. I fish inshore for kings mainly in spring and winter or when the weather is bad. Broken bay wasn't at its best last year but I hope things will change this year . Still got a lot of fish off Barrenjoey last season. Lots of big hoods around late summer/autumn in these areas.Cheers Kelvin

Hi all

Thank you Kelvin for your very informative and entertaining reports. Do others with a down rigger use wire to the bomb or use braid? If using wire what sort of wire cutter will suffice. I have a Scotty down rigger(since July) and use wire. I have a crimper with a wire cutting part.Will this suffice?

Regards Kit

ps what size braid would others use if using braid?

I use wire most of the time and I have a pair of side cutters on my bait board just in case. These things are pretty cheap so you should have one. The crimper with a cutter is ok but side cutters will let you get at the wire faster if you need to cut it.

Some people use braid mainly to stop the humming. There are other ways to stop humming than using braid but I do have a downrigger with braid on it. I use 50lb braid as I have lots of it but Pete recommends 130lb. But as you are only handling weights of about 10lbs 50 braid shouldn't be stretched. Cheers Kelvin

[Trouble]

great report once again mate, very kind of you exploiting your succesfull tatics and info, goood man

[hutty]

Crikey Kelvin- you are really letting everyone know all of your secrets aren't you!

You are a very generous man - including photos of where you catch your fish - I am sure it will be over-run on the weekend, but as you say in one of your previous posts - you are fortunate enough to have a few days off during the week so good luck to you!

[namesay]

Crikey Kelvin- you are really letting everyone know all of your secrets aren't you!

You are a very generous man - including photos of where you catch your fish - I am sure it will be over-run on the weekend, but as you say in one of your previous posts - you are fortunate enough to have a few days off during the week so good luck to you!

THere are no secrets in anything! In the next couple of months all the headlands, Near by off shore reefs,harbours and estuaries will be FULL of kingies. People will catch them hand over fist on everything and anything.

I don't mind sharing knowledge as this is how I am. No sneaking around in the dark for me. Besides the harbour is ALWAYS FULL of people fishing but only a small percentage of them catch quality fish. It has always been that way. Have a look at the wedding cakes when the kingies are on!!! Lots of people but very few actually catching them. So it is not all about the techniques or locations but your knowledge and experience. It also helps if you have a tinny arse like I think I have!

By the way I will be a really happy man if I read a fishing report from one of the raiders saying the fishing was difficult but they managed to catch a few using one of my techniques like the "Live Squid Sluggo". If that made a crappy day into a successful one then I will feel elated! Cheers Kelvin

Edited November 2, 2006 by namesay

[barrykrocker]

well done Kelvin, that perserverance really pays off. You'll be happy to know I nabbed my first king since last summer this week. I was pretty pleased at 73cm. Thanks for all the advice you've supplied. We should go on another trip somtime, All the best

Edited November 2, 2006 by barrykrocker

[namesay]

That's a pretty good fish. They should be turning up in droves in the next month so you'll be really in the thick of it. Yeah it will be good to go out with you again... just don't let the kingies take your squid WITHOUT a hook in it! Cheers Kelvin

[barrykrocker]

haha, I won't cope well with it the next time that happens