roosterman Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Hi Guys, this ones abit long but this was my best day on kingies yet and hopefully many more like this to come.. well my second run with the downriggers was delayed from sat arvo to this morning as it made more sense to hit the kings early on sunrise then later the would bring down my new trainee deckies .... started over at mackeral beach for livies and quickly got half a dozen yakkas but no squid around... could of been those marauding huge greenbacks(taylor) that terrorised the yakka population (and me) that sent them into hiding... at first i thought they were salmon but i hooked one and dropped him at the boat.. well after no squid and sunrise happening i tried another spot for squid for half hour for zip.. lucky i had 3 backup ones i got last week...... anyway headed to spot and commenced to downrig a whole cuttle.i do a couple laps for no hits. after about 30 min or so i could see a boat ahead pull in what i thought was a salmon.couple mins later i aproach them and he lands a kingy ... yeh baby hope he has lots of hungry friends. they were using small lures so i switched to a squid strip and a few minutes later the rod goes bump , bang ZZZZzzzzZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz im on... o - oh now its the tricky part as im solo, i grab the rod while steering boat away from structure then alternate my fight a little and wind up dr bomb a bit.... eventually i win and boat my first kingy on dr and first for the season .. he was just on legal.. had to check him 3 or 4 times and thought i would nearly have to put him in traction to get that extra mm outa him but alas all was ok ..... i proceded to do numerouse laps and every time my strips would get smashed,unfortunately they were last year legals so went back to fight another day... i had one up on surface with a couple huge mates and was thinking of how to get another bait in for one of the 3 mates that were all well over 70 cm when eventually hook pulls and they swam back to the depths. come back i says....... i was trolling when i saw rod tip get a big tap tap so i reach over and put one hasnd on rod while steering boat away from danger then BANG rod in one hand me straddled half off seat and my tcurve 24kg rod completely doubled over bringing me crashing onto my knees and elbows on gunnels.... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ now i had drag set very heavy as i was running pretty close to structure and this fish just punnished me, i had nothing but hang on and hope for the best but alas it was not my day as hook pulled after what seemed eternity but really prob only a min or so... yeh baby thats what i came looking for while surveying bodily damage.. next 2 passes saw a few more rats hooked and lost so i thought i would put a big yakka on to try for one of them hoods that the rats keep beating to the bait... trolled the yakka for about half hour for zip so went back to strips but i think the school had moved on as 3 passes for zip was very much a different story... rang so went picked my 2 trainee deckies roosterboy 1 & 2 and had a troll from stokes point to taylors point then the north eastern side scotland island for zip.. i saw a guy get a 67cm king at claireville area downrigging but after an hour back an forth for zip continued on towards bayview.. the spot i got the kings is no secret one but pm me and ill tell... gotta give them guests a reason to join instead of lurking ..... cheers.... steve.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnno Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Good stuff rooster man glad you got the downrigger blooded It sound like your pulling some hooks those big kings sure don,t like being hooked they always give you some curry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildfish Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 good job mate! looks like the downriggings picking up for us newbies! good job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanger Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Nice one mate!!! good to see outting number 2 was more of a succses!!!! id love to know the spot if you wana pm me!!!! I reackon i might have a few ideas already though!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 (edited) Another enjoyable report and nice Pics too Steve. Don't you wish all downriggers were electric when you're trolling solo and get heavily smashed by a king ? It's funny when your fish are just on legal and they shrink up a bit in the ice box just when someone is waiting to check things out at the boat ramp. You'll find you can gain a couple of inches giving them a good few bashes with a meat tenderizer Cheers and top fishing Roosterman jewgaffer Edited November 18, 2007 by jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roosterman Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 (edited) hi johnno, yeh i did end up with my fair share of pulled hooks and one lost to a bad knot.. i was running heavy drag as i was very close to heavy structure.. i know know why hookups decreased as when i re-rigged i used a single for stinger not thinking and looking back now this is when i had more hooks pulled..... in saying that once i could see size of fish and was under i was playing with em more and watching the followers..... hi wildfish, its not really that hard to work these things but practice gets the technique happening... i hooked up to my first bouy today but only lost leader and hooks.. wont be my last i bet .. hi jewgaffer, i never thought of the shrinkage factor..... lucky i gave him to when i picked up my boys for trainee deckie duties.... if pulled up it would of been under by the time i got back to bayview as it was only just on by a whisker...... electric would def be big advantage when solo and also a boat that auto steers outa trouble ... Edited November 18, 2007 by roosterman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damariboyz Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Top effort Steve, the social will be a downrigger-fest, I wouldn't want to be a Yakker or Squidie in Syd Harbour in Jan 2008 for all the tea in china. Great effort mate and hope the little Rooster's had a ball fishing with the old boy. My downrigger is ready to go so look out King's we r comin. Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloosh Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Well done Steve - before you know it, ull be getting into those hoodlums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpie Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Niiiice Fiiiish,l Steve and a top report! Well done! How exciting was that?? Looks like it will be a good year for kingies! From the sound of it, you didn't have to go too far out to get them - even better!! Cheerio Roberta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Well done...good results on the rigger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew399 Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 congrats steve!! good to see your hooking into some quality fish with the new arsenal!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VA911 Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Top report there mate, cant wait to use the downrigger more often. congrats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewhunter Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Top report & pics mate. Well done! Hope there are many more to come over summer. Cheers, Grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tricks Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 well done stevo nice report champ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_steve Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 good effort mate, im sure there will be plenty more to come this summer for u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roosterman Posted November 19, 2007 Author Share Posted November 19, 2007 thanks guys, oh and you too roberta, well i mean guys as generic yahoo anyhows....... yes it was a great morning on the kings but its gonna get a whole lot better as more quality fish move in... there was lots of just under and just over ones but in amongst them was some real good ones.. just that the little guys were quicker to the baits..... a couple real bruisers followed one i hooked just like overbearing bodygaurds while i played with him on surface for a while,darting around shadowing him,gee it got the adrenaline pumping seeing that ... as for the guys that have pm me(was quite a few)......... i will get back to you shortly but i will say again this was no secret spot and the kings that school up like this move around and you have to just find them...a good sounder and chartplotter make this easier..... as usual with fishing its got plenty to do with structure and the general behaviour of that species also.... think like a fish and understand them as much as you can and with luck you will have some success...saying this last week i trolled lots of syd harbour spots/markers for zip... i am by far no expert and am only just learning things and was lucky to be there when they were hungry.... try different things as i switched from whole cuttle to strips and got instant success but tomorrow the cuttle may be better...... 2 things i learnt out there was to make sure stinger is a treble(better hookups) lost more with single... also to set drags better,i will be making sure its done with scales next time as too much = pulled hooks and too little = being reefed... i hope this may help as i think the great thing about this site is gathering info and learning how to fish more productively...... roberta as you know i'm at avalon and yes some of the good kingy action is on my doorstop so to speak.. thats when the pros don't clean the area out that is..... anyway thanks again for the replies all...see ya on the water... cheers...steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Well done Roosterman The treble stinger increases hookups for sure. Unfortunately they can get messy when trying to release undersized kings. I've released one that never looked like it was going to make it. Its shaping up to be a great season Cheers Red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roosterman Posted November 19, 2007 Author Share Posted November 19, 2007 Well done Roosterman The treble stinger increases hookups for sure. Unfortunately they can get messy when trying to release undersized kings. I've released one that never looked like it was going to make it. Its shaping up to be a great season Cheers Red i know what you mean.. i had one that managed to get all three barbs in its gob... woulda looked funny though as i had him in my lap nursing him lika a baby talking to him with rag over eyes trying to get bloody treble out....... luckily he seemed to swim away alright with not much claret loss... on a gear change from reefings i put preped rig on forgetting about it being single hook rig = more hooks pulled... isnt hindsight wonderful..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sails Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Hi Steve, well done on the capture; that sounded like a load of fun. I can picture you down on the gunnel hanging on while the boat keeps heading on its way.!! Good to know that you are getting to use the boat again after the work you did on it. Bet the kids were stoked with Dads big fish!! cheers Sails Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 i know what you mean.. i had one that managed to get all three barbs in its gob... Its odd how almost every undersized fish destined for release ends up being so well hooked Why is that? Cheers Red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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