Kingfish Tactics

[frankp]

my brother went fishing yesterday and got busted off for the third time on decent kingie.

i appreciate these fish fight hard and dirty but each time we have tried to bring these 3 kingies in we have had absolutely no chance.

my questions now being are.

1. is there a way to fight them.

2.what type of gear do you guys use, i mean rod and reel combo. we were using a daiwa overhead reel with a 10-15kg rod. it has 25LB leader. how heavy are your traces.

just really want to know where we are going wrong.

cheers

Edited April 18, 2007 by frankp

[netic]

Mate are you boat based or LB....i normally use 60lb leader for kings and still get busted off by some bigger ones

Edited April 19, 2007 by netic

[big_steve]

we use traces 60-80lb leader

main line usually braid somewhere from 50-100lb

this summer i fished/learnt most of of my kingy knowledge through netic and downrigger on this site,

we fish for kings with stellas, torsas, tiagras, all th heavy gear came out

rods would vary from shimano jigwrex to deep jig 400's ect so this stuff will put

up with the punishment.

usually fishing 10+ at strike and we still got reefed i think 6 or so times this summer by XOS kings..

best thing at the start of the fight when on2 a king TRY TURN HIS HEAD wind wind wind go hard

as u cant afford to let them take line otherwise PING!! its ova in seconds the sheer power of these

fish is truley AMAZZZING..

hope u get him next outing mate

cheers steve

[frankp]

boat based

how do you turn them steve.

[netic]

boat based

how do you turn them steve.

Mate you turn them by locking your drag and pulling as hard as you can....much like a tug of war.....if you can turn his head before he reaches his target your in with a chance...

[gretsch]

I turned a 90cm king only just using 30lb braid and 40lb leader. I could see him on the surface heading for a marker in the harbour. He got there but I managed to get him out somehow.. truth be known, I think he swam out by himself. My trace broke just as we netted him and that is only a 4-5kg fish. I had heaps of drag on... when I tried to pull the line off with the drag setting I had, the braid gave me a nice little cut.

Anything in the 10kg plus range are serious combatants.

I have increased my gear to 50lb braid and 60lb leader on a Stella 6000 and an Ian Miller Bay Buster rod. Line is probably too heaver for the rod and I am risking a snap.. I am going to build a stronger stick this winter.

[mcownage]

i have overhead reel with 50lb mono line and since thats the strongest line i buy i dont use a trace i have a weel designed knot i use for rigging the hook this is the only time i dont use trace i really dont like to weeken the line by tieing knots i have it rigged with a bottom sinker for when i find a school.

My other rod has 50lb mono line and a 60lb trace with a christmas tree lure for trolling them.

I usually have no problems unless i stuff up the knot

[Piss'n'Broke]

Myself (DAN) an Greg have two kinda combos for kingy fishing.

Light combo - 6'6'-7'6' fast taper action rod (4-10kgs) with a BTR, spooled with 20LB an a trace line of 30-60LB. Both myself an Gregs light combo differ, he prefers lighter, I prefer heavier! Ie I love okuma, an he loves shimano

Heavy combo - 6'6-7'0,, 10-24kg rod with a nice balanced overhead. I use a 2 speed for dragging the dirty @#$@ards off whatever obstacle they r running too, an greg uses a tynros 30. Trace line of 60LB plus!,,,, Great gear for dragging dirty big sharks up,,,,,,, love circle hooks!

Dan

[namesay]

Equipment is simple-

50lb braid

50lb + leader

Use strong hooks and hang on! Buy tough no nonsense gear if you are planning to go out regularly for them.

My stella 20000 is a great reel but my recent heavy use of this with jigs has seen the side plate fly off. My Daiwa saltiga expedition is also sounding grouchy and my toras has had a bearing fail. This is the price you pay for tangling with these fish. Hope you have fun. CHeers KElvin