namesay Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 (edited) Dear raiders, you guess it...kingies! I went out this morning for our favourite adversary. The morning was great with sun and fairly clam conditions. Went out to Roseville ramp and met no no no and Justin Duncan. Had a nice chat ....showed them some photos of the kings I have been getting and they wanted to follow me for the rest of the day!! Anyway I got some live bait in the form a few squid and a dozen or so yakkas. For a change the livies were co-operating. The wind however, was strengthening by the minute. So I headed outside the heads towards Manly. I put out 2 downriggers. As there are no moorings, I can easily handle 2. North head was full of bait but there was no surface activity from salmon, kings or tailer. The bait was hanging fairly deep so I set one of the downriggers with the yakka at 12 meters. Within a couple of minutes this bait takes off. I landed the first of the kings for the morning. It was a small fish of about 62cm and was released quick. Sorry about the net in the picture but I don't like to handle the fish too much if I want to release them. As it happens when you are out the heads, yakka after yakka was molested by fish in the 60-65cm range. Since watching Alistair Mcglashan's DVD, I have been putting a hook at the rear of the yakka and almost every fish was hooked on this trailing hook. Deciding that I wanted to see if there are bigger fish around, I put out a good sized squid. Iam always amazed at how kingies will tackle almost any sized bait. If you have a look at the squid, it is almost half the length of this kingie!!! THis action continued until I exhausted all my yakkas. The fish were so rampant that 2-3 would follow up the hooked fish and would hang around the boat. I would then send another yakka out and would get instantly smashed. However, this action wasn't happening to everyone. There were a few boats out there and they weren't getting a bite. One of the guys came over to see what I was doing. I had a conversation on the water about downriggers and he was impressed. He was using yakkas and fishing in the same spot and could not buy a kingie!! I think Scotty needs to give me a comission on their sales. By mid morning the wind had changed direction. The Coastal Patrol's weather warning was coming true. The wind started to blow from the south at 25-30 knots with gusts that were far greater so Idecided to head back into the harbour and try middle harbour with the remaining squid. I got a phone call from to bring 2 fish home as she needed them for a party she was giving. WHen I told her that I had released 12-14 fish she nearly freaked and told me not to come home until I had 2 in the esky!!! The pressure was ON. I went to one of my more reliable grounds in middle harbour and sounded around. The bait were there and in all probability the kingies would be there as well. This spot is a tricky spot to fish. The kingies and the bait sit in a depression in a reef. The downrigger must be raised and then lowered into the depression to tempt the fish. If you have a look at the sounder , you'll see my bomb going up and then being lowered into the depression. Anyway the fish were there and I scored 3 fish real quick. They weren't huge but OK at 75cm or so. I was now out of yakkas and squid. The clouds and wind were coming down on me and I had the fish! The Kingie season is now well and truly ON!!! In the last 2 outings my son and I have caught over 40 kingfish. My gear is now working overtime. I just hope the drag on my reels stay working as they have seen a lot of use in the last 3 months!!! Another good day on the kings. Cheers Kelvin Edited November 15, 2006 by namesay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dezmo Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Wow, nailed it again! I had long considered Craig the guru of Sydney harbour kings... You must have it well sorted if he was following you. Spare a thought for those who were working today... Life cant be bad if your worrying about your reel drags from overuse.. Top work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingsRule Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 What an awsome day! Well done on the kingys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaulpang Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Namesy, You make it sound so easy, great report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted November 15, 2006 Author Share Posted November 15, 2006 Wow, nailed it again! I had long considered Craig the guru of Sydney harbour kings... You must have it well sorted if he was following you. Spare a thought for those who were working today... Life cant be bad if your worrying about your reel drags from overuse.. Top work Hey Dezmo, I have counted over 20 reels that I have at home!!!! I have a rotation system for my outfits so that one doesn't get overused. BUT last week my son was using my Daiwa Certate 4000. By the 3rd or 4th kingie, I can SMELL the drag starting to fry. Still works fine but I am getting a bit worried!!! Cheers.Kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ophet Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 If it weren't for your descriptive and interesting reports, your reports of catching King after King would be monotonous. Well done again, surely it must be getting boring when you can catch Kings at will !!?? Talk about putting the pressure on, nothing like the hard word from the missus. Glad you came up with the goods, could have been ugly back at the ranch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted November 15, 2006 Author Share Posted November 15, 2006 (edited) If it weren't for your descriptive and interesting reports, your reports of catching King after King would be monotonous. Well done again, surely it must be getting boring when you can catch Kings at will !!?? Talk about putting the pressure on, nothing like the hard word from the missus. Glad you came up with the goods, could have been ugly back at the ranch. Lucky for me I still have my gonads intact. Apparantly the bought this brand new rice cooker that makes Sushi rice. Told all her friends about it but needed fish to make sushi. She assumed I will be bringing home some kingfish as I ususally catch them but as we have TONNES of frozen kingie fillets I set out releasing everything I caught. Anyway I got 3 fish for her and all is By the way if you look at the sounder pic, the bait is sitting really tight against the first drop off. THat is where the kingies are hanging. If your bait is not presented here as you troll the kingies will ignore it. Funny these fish....in one location they come right up to the boat and in another they just sit there for the meal to come to them!!! I guess these MH fish like room service. CHeers Kelvin Edited November 15, 2006 by namesay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CR@ZY OS@M@ Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 well done mate once again. 40 up your sleeve and season is just starting, gotta proud of that. im catching up . im on about 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted November 15, 2006 Author Share Posted November 15, 2006 well done mate once again. 40 up your sleeve and season is just starting, gotta proud of that. im catching up . im on about 30 We'll be into cricket scores soon. Last season it was a slow day when we couldn't catch10 and catching 20 per session was pretty normal. Hope we get more this year! Better change the drag washers. Cheers Kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Well done mate, great results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flattieman Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 OK. This has settled it... This weekend, I'm gearing up for kingies! Well done as usual, Kelvin. Flattieman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kantong Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 great work on the kings! to bring some home on que, top effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Mate, I'm soooooooooo greeeeeen reading about your great King sessions. I can only dream of the days when I had as much water time as you are getting now. It makes all the difference when you're intouch with the fish so often. You'd be right about Craig. He's a mate of mine I've known for years and and I ran into him the other day. Said he was out filming with Sydney Weekender. I was surprised when he said he'd only got a few flatties. Keep the reports coming as they help us poor week day desk jockeys stay focused on the possibilities of a dream session. You said that you are using a 50lb braid for a leader. Is there any difference to tying knots with braid as opposed to mono? I've never crossed over to the braid and use a 60ld mono as a leader to my 9kg main. Makes sense using the braid as a leader due to it being so much softer. I usually use a "uni knot" for just about all my rigs. Cheers, Brian P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted November 16, 2006 Author Share Posted November 16, 2006 Mate, I'm soooooooooo greeeeeen reading about your great King sessions. I can only dream of the days when I had as much water time as you are getting now. It makes all the difference when you're intouch with the fish so often. You'd be right about Craig. He's a mate of mine I've known for years and and I ran into him the other day. Said he was out filming with Sydney Weekender. I was surprised when he said he'd only got a few flatties. Keep the reports coming as they help us poor week day desk jockeys stay focused on the possibilities of a dream session. You said that you are using a 50lb braid for a leader. Is there any difference to tying knots with braid as opposed to mono? I've never crossed over to the braid and use a 60ld mono as a leader to my 9kg main. Makes sense using the braid as a leader due to it being so much softer. I usually use a "uni knot" for just about all my rigs. Cheers, Brian P. I use braid as my main line and use a fluorocarbon leader of between 40-80lbs. I LOVE braid as it allows you to feel every headshake and tail beat. Can't think of going back to mono. Braid is also great as it normally breaks about twice its stated breaking strength. So your 20lb braid breaks at 40lbs or more. It is also very thin so there are a lot of advantages. The only problem is with knots as braid slips easily. Most of us get around this by tying knots with double the turns. I use a uni knot for almost everything and make about 8-9 turns. Have yet to have a knot on braid fail me using this method. The bad thing about braid is that it has very little resistence to abrasion. Hence the fluorocarbon leader. Fluorocarbon can be trouble if you aren't aware of its properties and when fishing for kings it really gets stretched sometimes. Cheers Kelvin OK. This has settled it... This weekend, I'm gearing up for kingies! Well done as usual, Kelvin. Flattieman. I look forward to seeing you on the water Flattieman!!! Perhaps we can have our usual fishraider on water conference out near the spit . It seems to be happening everytime I go out now.Cheers Kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let_me_fish Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 You're the King ( of King fish). How can you handle 2 down riggers alone.? I used the down rigger 1st time yesterday and found it was more than a hand full to get it up and down ( while trying keeping the boat going straight. The damn tiller steer outboard just wanting to turn all the time, particularly in the wind.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted November 16, 2006 Author Share Posted November 16, 2006 Let me fish....it just takes practice. Instead of fighting the wind use it to your advantage. WHen I am paying out line to set the downriggers, I motor up wind and then drift back to where I want to fish ...then I don't have to have the boat in gear and steer!!!! In the past I have had 4 kingfish on at a single time and managed to land everyone of them when I was using 2 downriggers with squid baits. A kingfish would take the squid on the stinger hook and another fish would try to rip the squid out of its mouth and get caught on the leading hook. WIth 2 downriggers you get 4 fish in one hit!!! Did this once in sight of Peter LeBlang at barrenjoey. He was pretty impressed. When you get a hit I find that you should keep the boat moving at a steady rate. This stops the kingies from running under the boat and crossing lines. I fight the fish from the helm position of the boat to steer and only bring in the downrigger when the fish is almost beat. Normally the second downrigger is left as is. If I get a double strike I do exactly the same....except that I leave one of the rods in the holder. It is amazing how tame kingies are when you don't pull on the line!! ONce you land your first fish then you just come back to the second fish...they are normally just cruising with you until you start winding them in that is!!! But now I have a couple of young deckies who I have trained so things are a little less hectic but I still enjoy fishing on my own.Cheers Kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let_me_fish Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 Thanks Kelvin for the advise. Do you use a 10 lb bomb? I used a 7 lb bomb ( as that was the only one at the store) but found it was dragged too far behind when going up current. I might talk to the store and see if they let me swap for a 10 lb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted November 16, 2006 Author Share Posted November 16, 2006 I like to fish the lightest bomb I can get away with. Less strain on the gear and on your hands! I have 3,5,7,and 10 lb bombs that get constant use. However, I use the 7 lb the most especially in middle harbour. I would watch my troll speed if you are having the bomb going too far back as unless you are over 15 meters deep I have not had too much hassles with the 7lber. Cheers Kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrykrocker Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 nice one kelvin, is the rear trailing hook free swinging or pinned through the yakka? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted November 16, 2006 Author Share Posted November 16, 2006 nice one kelvin, is the rear trailing hook free swinging or pinned through the yakka? After watching that stikecam DVD and seeing all the kingies attacking the yakka from behind, I now routinely put a hook through the back end of the yakka...pinned through the yakka. Have not tried a free swinging one yet. Used to use a cable tie or an elastic band to attach the hook to the yakka but now I just pin it. In the past I used to have yakkas being pinched off the hook and didn't even know what had happened. Was constantly trolling an empty hook!!!! Used to think it was tailer or the yakka coming off the hook but now I know it is the kings!!!!! CHeers Kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dezmo Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 (edited) Hey Dezmo, I have counted over 20 reels that I have at home!!!! I have a rotation system for my outfits so that one doesn't get overused. BUT last week my son was using my Daiwa Certate 4000. By the 3rd or 4th kingie, I can SMELL the drag starting to fry. Still works fine but I am getting a bit worried!!! Cheers.Kelvin Namesay, Again, that is a problem i think i could handle having... If you ever get too worried about your drag washers being worn out i know a keen bloke who has some in very good condition.... Edited November 16, 2006 by Dezmo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted November 16, 2006 Author Share Posted November 16, 2006 Namesay, Again, that is a problem i think i could handle having... If you ever get too worried about your drag washers being worn out i know a keen bloke who has some in very good condition.... In the last 24 months I have blown up 4 reels . They were all from one brand....OKUMA. I now soley use daiwa and shimano. These reels are top of the range reels and have performed faultlessly. Spinning reels especially need to be the top quality or they don't last too long fishing for hoods. Anyway I'll call when I need some new parts!! CHeers KElvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 In the last 24 months I have blown up 4 reels . They were all from one brand....OKUMA. I now soley use daiwa and shimano. These reels are top of the range reels and have performed faultlessly. Spinning reels especially need to be the top quality or they don't last too long fishing for hoods. Anyway I'll call when I need some new parts!! CHeers KElvin My first reels were okuma, they all shi.t themselves when onto big kings, i se shimano exclusively, mainly tekotas for kings and on occasion a tyrnos, have since never had a problem. I never forget when i had to lock my drag one day on a king and my okuma start to bend like it was plastic, i thought the bail arm was going to rip off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 another great report champion. the water temp was quite warm at 20 odd degrees good to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted November 17, 2006 Author Share Posted November 17, 2006 My first reels were okuma, they all shi.t themselves when onto big kings, i se shimano exclusively, mainly tekotas for kings and on occasion a tyrnos, have since never had a problem. I never forget when i had to lock my drag one day on a king and my okuma start to bend like it was plastic, i thought the bail arm was going to rip off I had that happen to me as well. It is a strange feeling to see a reel turning into spaghetti!!! I have an epix which now wobbles and sounds awful after ONE big fish. Everyting has bent out of shape ! My son loves that tekota. Very smooth reel. But my favourite at the moment is the tyrnos. Great value for money reel. Excellent for downrigging and tough as nails. The Shimano stellas are great but I love the over head style for trolling. I also have a shimano thunnus. The full metal version of a baitrunner. THis is a great reel as well but for sheer versatility a shimano twin power is fantastic. Great drag, great gears and has a fast ratio. My twin power 6000 does everything from catching bait to downrigging kings. cheers Kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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