Jigging For Kings

[netic]

Hey guys....well after not doing too much fishing over the past few weeks i was itching to get out for a fish....after chatting to Kelvin and Rzee during the week and them informing me of some nice sized kings sitting off some reefs they definately sparked my interest.

Now i had never jigged for kings before but had always wanted to try it and then Kelvin called and said he had a spot on his boat so i said yes and it was planned for Sunday morning.

Kelvin sent me a photo of a few they got earlier in the week just to get me excited and i was excited to give the new stella a test and hopefully get it christened.

Heres a pic of one of the kings they got earlier in the week.

Anyway i met up with Kelvin and his beautiful noble with his 2 kids on board at around 6.00am and Rzee was also coming in his boat with a few of his mates.

We first got some squid to satisfy the little Kelvins as they seem to love squidding, we got 4 in pretty quick time and then headed out to the reefs in 2 boats....

Now i really didnt have much of an idea on what to do when jigging other then a few IFISH episodes i had seen so Kelvin cruised around a bit to find a good area to work...his sounder showed a good area and we decided to drop down.

First drop and on the first jigg up Kelvin calls "im On"......after a long tussle and i mean a long tussle bring him out of over 100 metres deep of water we boat a nice Kingy in the eightys.....But what we want is something bigger....

We continue to jig and then Kelvin's son Michael calls Im on...i turn and i see this litle 6 year old having a tussle with a king in some very deep water....i grab his rod tip just as security and then after a little while he tells Kelvin He's tired and he passes the rod to me and we boat another kingy in the eightys.

Then it goes quiet for a while so we go in search of some more areas to drop and after a couple of areas we go down again.

Both Kelvin and I start to jig and after around 3 attempts i start to wind up fast to check my jig and then wham...i get hit and im on......after some drag pulling and heavy reefing from me i land my first Hook and land jigged King...it comes in at a fat 93cm.....Now after this fight i was rooted and i mean rooted...i thought i was fit but jigging definately is very hard work.....during this time Rzee also boated 2 nice kings close to 90cm

Unfortunately that was the last fish of the day and we then decided to come home. Although Kelvin and I were searching for bigger fish like they have been getting of late but werent able to get em i was still a happy man, Got to christen my stella, catch my first jigged King and learn alot about how to locate the right areas to drop your jig and how to set up the jigs.

Kelvin and his kids were a fun bunch to fish with and i am still amzed at the knowledge a 4 and 6 year old has in regards to fishing.

The Noble is also an awesome ride, very smooth and very fast, thanks for a good day Kelvin

heres another pic, the 93cm fish is seriosly bent after being in Kelvins esky and is arched upwards so it looks a touch smaller

Edited May 28, 2007 by netic

[costello]

Sounds like an awesome session Netic even though the Kings weren't as big as you would have liked. 93cm that's just dissapointing

Cheers,

Mark

[big_steve]

GREAT work guys awesome day out...

healthy fat kings there good stuff

steve

Edited May 28, 2007 by big_steve

[Sammy0884]

Great report and great fish Oz! it must feel great to be out getting into some serious fish again!

[namesay]

It was a great day out fishing with you oz!

Pulling up kings from the depths is certainly a different method than downrigging. Over the last couple of years our jigging tackle has been whittled and refined. We must have had close to $10K worth of gear on our boats.

BY the way I have been plagued by that whale for the last couple of trips. He always turns up and the fish go off the bite! Whenever we move, he follows us!!!! I guess we don't have to pay for that whale watching trip.

We are just waiting for that 20kg+ fish to hit our jigs again...can't wait. How's your back oz? YOu are welcome anytime mate. CHeers Kelvin

[frankp]

sounds like an awesome trip.

well done on popping a few cherries to.

[Steve07]

Mate thats top stuff,good to see you guys get amongst them on the jigs

good to see kings schoolin up on the reefs like that,its good fun

but like you said jiggings pretty hard work,after a few jigs then

hooking up decent kings you now all about it hey;

steve

[sanger]

Hey guys nice fish!!!!

Just curious where you guys out at terrigal somewhere where that first photo was taken??? I saw that photo through a friend of a friend and headed up to terrigal on the weekend with no luck on the jig, just had a bit of fun with some dollies on the fad after giving up on jigging after about 20 drops with no result as per my post http://fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=21205

I was out there in a trailcraft 660 on saturday!

Spoke to alot of people and no one seemed to be having much luck!

[netic]

It was a great day out fishing with you oz!

Pulling up kings from the depths is certainly a different method than downrigging. Over the last couple of years our jigging tackle has been whittled and refined. We must have had close to $10K worth of gear on our boats.

BY the way I have been plagued by that whale for the last couple of trips. He always turns up and the fish go off the bite! Whenever we move, he follows us!!!! I guess we don't have to pay for that whale watching trip.

We are just waiting for that 20kg+ fish to hit our jigs again...can't wait. How's your back oz? YOu are welcome anytime mate. CHeers Kelvin

Mate "rooted" is an understatement when describing how my back felt yesterday......But through all the tired and sore body parts it is definately a fun way to get kings.....great fun puliing them up from the depths...

That whale seems to have an attachement to your boat...maybe wants to mate????

Just curious where you guys out at terrigal somewhere where that first photo was taken??? I saw that photo through a friend of a friend and headed up to terrigal on the weekend with no luck on the jig, just had a bit of fun with some dollies on the fad after giving up on jigging after about 20 drops with no result as per my post http://fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=21205

Mate dont know where that first photo was taken as i wasnt with them that day

From what i can tell and im no expert in jigging its a matter of finding the right areas to jig, I know Kelvin has spent alot of time reseaching reefs and finding the right areas to drop.....Kelvin also has a top quality sounder that makes all the difference...we were never dropping blind...we always dropped into a school of kings

Edited May 29, 2007 by netic

[namesay]

If it isn't whales it is seals or dolphins. That minke whale has been a real pain but previously we had pilot whales hanging around as well. Perhaps it thinks I am a female whale!!!

Doesn't help when you have kids aboard as they love feeding these sea mammals. I still remember a time when I had a seal pinch every king I hooked. I discovered that my kids were feeding it pillies to keep it around the boat. It was like sea world on the cheap. It eventually got tired of eating all the kings. Must have lost about 7 to this seal. Cheers Kelvin

[sanger]

From what i can tell and im no expert in jigging its a matter of finding the right areas to jig, I know Kelvin has spent alot of time reseaching reefs and finding the right areas to drop.....Kelvin also has a top quality sounder that makes all the difference...we were never dropping blind...we always dropped into a school of kings

Yeah that was half our problem up at terrigal on the weekend.... We never found any really good schools of kings just small patches that might have been kings!!! We did have a good sounder on board and were at the areas that are supposedly good for jigging but there just wasn't much there!!!!

Edited May 29, 2007 by fishlexic

[fishyfingers]

ONLY 93cms?!?!??!

yeah you should really bow your head in shame!!!

Sounds like you guys hada great day!

GOOD STUFF

[netic]

ONLY 93cms?!?!??!

yeah you should really bow your head in shame!!!

Sounds like you guys hada great day!

GOOD STUFF

Mate that top fish that Rzee is holding was about 1.10 metres.....that was what Kelvin and I were hoping for because they have been getting those size fish pretty consistently....even though on any given day 93cm is a good fish, when your out offshore working your ass off jigging...getting turned on by talk of 15kg kings captured recently 93cm is a bit short of the mark, but as i said i learnt heaps and it was a good day cause i got to see my new outfit get a workout

[Aloosh]

Thumper session guys, very well done!

[hook'm]

Bloody great report

i would love to give jigging a try

got a feeling my boat may be a bit old for the offshore sesh

Well done

[ophet]

Nice report Oz, shame you guys could not break the Hood barrier.

You are right though, although a 93cm is a fantastic fish, when targeting the Kings in such deep water and locations, you are expecting larger fish. And when you do hook the larger fish, landing it is another matter !!! Isn't that right Kelvin !!!

I can't believe you are hurting so much after the session Oz !! With all the gym work you do, I thought this sort of stuff would be down your alley !!! You will find that after a few sessions, you will modify your stroke to be more efficient, otherwise you will need a back operation.

Jigging is hard work, the rewards are well worth it. When you land that King of a life time, the hours of back breaking work will be forgotten.

[Penguin]

Very nice King at 93cm Netic, I would be happy with any

of those Kings in the photos.

Well done to u all.

penguin

[netic]

Nice report Oz, shame you guys could not break the Hood barrier.

You are right though, although a 93cm is a fantastic fish, when targeting the Kings in such deep water and locations, you are expecting larger fish. And when you do hook the larger fish, landing it is another matter !!! Isn't that right Kelvin !!!

I can't believe you are hurting so much after the session Oz !! With all the gym work you do, I thought this sort of stuff would be down your alley !!! You will find that after a few sessions, you will modify your stroke to be more efficient, otherwise you will need a back operation.

Jigging is hard work, the rewards are well worth it. When you land that King of a life time, the hours of back breaking work will be forgotten.

Mate its my shoulders that are hurting as well as my lower back...my lower back i never work on and my shoulders i miss here and there being my friday exercise........although it is hard work it is still enjoyable none the less....i had a good time mainly because i was doing something new and learning at the same time.

Gave me a good break from the normal trips to browns this time of year

[namesay]

Nice report Oz, shame you guys could not break the Hood barrier.

You are right though, although a 93cm is a fantastic fish, when targeting the Kings in such deep water and locations, you are expecting larger fish. And when you do hook the larger fish, landing it is another matter !!! Isn't that right Kelvin !!!

I can't believe you are hurting so much after the session Oz !! With all the gym work you do, I thought this sort of stuff would be down your alley !!! You will find that after a few sessions, you will modify your stroke to be more efficient, otherwise you will need a back operation.

Jigging is hard work, the rewards are well worth it. When you land that King of a life time, the hours of back breaking work will be forgotten.

Netic did great for a first timer at jigging. He will need to refine the technique and stop the wasted motions but that will come in another dozen or so trips In countries like Japan where jigging has a fanatical following, other fishos judge you on your technique not the number of fish caught.

I fish with some great guys. ophet, tony, naser,jack, oz, peter ..and others. I think we are as keen as the japanese guys!

Landing fish over 10kgs with so much line out is an experience. I loved the jigging for samsons over in WA. Catching 40kg fish jigging is something else but pound for pound, our kings would pull a samson backwards. A kingie fights all the way to the top and then some more.

Each year without the kingie traps, the fish are getting bigger so our tackle is getting heavier and heavier. Have seen kings over 30kgs caught on some of the reefs we have been jigging so there are some monsters around. WE are all using 80lb braid with serious terminal tackle but still getting busted off occasionally.

We have caught some real beauties this season but also lost a lot of big fish. Netic's 93cm fish didn't take drag but we have had fish take over 40meters of 10kg drag and reef us on the bottom! We are seriously thinking about going to 15 and 20kg of drag. The only problem is how do you stay on your feet? CHeers Kelvin

[abiasin]

reat kings there netic, top report and definately sounds like a great day was had.

[grantkingfish]

what a great days fishing there....

there is nothing like gettin a hit by a big king jiggin!!!!!!!!

congrats

[miller]

well done guys sounds like a lot of hard work !

but well worth it from the results

cheers

miller

[mark*]

looks like a great day out well done mate. some great sized fish.

regards mark

[Mik]

Great report & pics!

Jigging sounds like an awesome workout. Seen a DVD of sambos in WA & it looked like a great way to test yourself & gear.

Are you guys gonna leave ANY kings down there

Just curious, do they still taste good over 1 metre?

Edited May 29, 2007 by Boofhead

[ACZ]

sounds like u guys did pretty well on the kings for size ....we went out jigging on saturday around the reefs off coogee wide and could only manage 60-65cm fish, mind u we caught 34 of the little buggers but they become a pest when u are after bigger fish....did u guys head of syd harbour?