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Guest Jocool

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With the sun still not visible over the horizon, Pedro and I went forth into a brave new world. It was a world where squid would swim to the boat begging to be cut up as bait. It was a world where flat seas and nice even swells were the order of the day rather than the exception. It was a world where the smallest King I would catch would top 10 KG minimum. And then the alarm sounded and I woke up!

But it IS a brave new world. Filled with wonder and hope! If I can catch a King, then there is hope! And its a wonder I havent caught one previously. It took a bloody Queenslander to show me how simple it is! :1yikes: Thanks Pete!

The secret is fresh squid. It is the GUN bait...nay...the ONLY bait to use for Kings! And after todays lessons on the water, I will not fish for kings without squid. Enough of the lesson....down to reports! :thumbup:

We hit the water just on 4.30 this morning to face the beginning of another great day on the water. All our attempts at raising squid were foiled, till we tried at Crater Cove. Some may know it as Shack Beach. We already had some yakkas that I jigged up at Balmoral as backup.

From there we went directly to the cardinal markers at Dobroyd. And I followed Pete's instructions to the letter. Dropped a whole squid on a 2 hook rig alongside the marker bouy as we drifted by it. Got a solid weight and pulled in the worlds ugliest Occy. with both of us not game to touch it, we were thankful that I was able to shake it of my line without any dramas. This left me about 3/4 of my squid which was still fishable! :thumbup:

Motored past the bouy for another drift, and dropped it down again. Waited for a couple of minute with rod in hand, then felt a take...then BANG....Line is screaming of the reel! I gently feather the spool with my thumb for a bit of extra drag, but then just push the lever down to Strike, and arc the rod with a view to setting the hooks!...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....more line peels of! Up the drag a touch...and just hang on!

Your first King is unforgettable! You don't catch it, it CHOOSES you! You are just there to hold the rod and you have absolutely no say in what will happen next.

A couple of heartstopping moments followed as we both prayed that the King would not head back to the bouy, because if it did, I don't think I would have been able to stop it! Thankfully it turned, and headed for open water. I knew there was only sand below us, but was still worried when it went straight down!

Me and the King did battle. We narrowly missed a nearby boat as we were at the mercy of this fish and the currents. A few torid minute later, and I had boated my first King! :thumbup:

gallery_4_10_1106387088.jpg

Was I happy??? I'm surprised you guys didn't all hear my scream of pleasure when I finally got him in the boat and knew he was mine! :risata:

A quick measure showed it was just under legal at 57 cm, and a quick piccie with my phone as I forgot the digi in the car, and he was away. He promised to gain weight for our next encounter....The King and I will meet again! :thumbup:

After a buzz like that, anything we did the rest of the day would have been coincidental.

We did try a few other options and ended up trolling from North Head to Manly and picked up a smaller rat at Bluefish. Then motored back inside to anchor of Quarantine Head and try to raise another King, but it wasnt to be. We even attempted to get more squid to have another hit. Got one at the Nudie Beach at Balmoral, but couldn't raise another King.

We tried a couple of other things, but not much panned out unfortunately. Although we did spend way too much time trying for squid at the Nudie Beach! :risata:

Met Alex and Clarkie in our travels, and a good day was had by all!

Once again...Pete....You bloody legend! :thumbup: Thanks mate!

Edited by Jocool
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With the sun still not visible over the horizon, Pedro and I went forth into a brave new world. It was a world where squid would swim to the boat begging to be cut up as bait. It was a world where flat seas and nice even swells were the order of the day rather than the exception. It was a world where the smallest King I would catch would top 10 KG minimum. And then the alarm sounded and I woke up! :risata: .

But it IS a brave new world. Filled with wonder and hope! If I can catch a King, then there is hope! And its a wonder I havent caught one previously. It took a bloody Queenslander to show me how simple it is! :1yikes: Thanks Pete!

The secret is fresh squid. It is the GUN bait...nay...the ONLY bait to use for Kings! And after todays lessons on the water, I will not fish for kings without squid. Enough of the lesson....down to reports! :thumbup:

We hit the water just on 4.30 this morning to face the beginning of  another great day on the water. All our attempts at raising squid were foiled, till we tried at Crater Cove. Some may know it as Shack Beach. We already had some yakkas that I jigged up at Balmoral as backup.

From there we went directly to the cardinal markers at Dobroyd. And I followed Pete's instructions to the letter. Dropped a whole squid on a 2 hook rig alongside the marker bouy as we drifted by it. Got a solid weight and pulled in the worlds ugliest Occy. with both of us not game to touch it, we were thankful that I was able to shake it of my line without any dramas. This left me about 3/4 of my squid which was still fishable! :thumbup:

Motored past the bouy for another drift, and dropped it down again. Waited for a couple of minute with rod in hand, then felt a take...then BANG....Line is screaming of the reel! :1yikes: I gently feather the spool with my thumb for a bit of extra drag, but then just push the lever down to Strike, and arc the rod with a view to setting the hooks!...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....more line peels of! Up the drag a touch...and just hang on!

Your first King is unforgettable! You don't catch it, it CHOOSES you! You are just there to hold the rod and you have absolutely no say in what will happen next.

A couple of heartstopping moments followed as we both prayed that the King would not head back to the bouy, because if it did, I don't think I would have been able to stop it! Thankfully it turned, and headed for open water. I knew there was only sand below us, but was still worried when it went straight down!

Me and the King did battle. We narrowly missed a nearby boat as we were at the mercy of this fish and the currents. A few torid minute later, and I had boated my first King! :thumbup:

Was I happy??? I'm surprised you guys didn't all hear my scream of pleasure when I finally got him in the boat and knew he was mine! :risata:

A quick measure showed it was just under legal at 57 cm, and a quick piccie with my phone as I forgot the digi in the car, and he was away. He promised to gain weight for our next encounter....The King and I will meet again! :thumbup: 

After a buzz like that, anything we did the rest of the day would have been coincidental. :1prop:

We did try a few other options and ended up trolling from North Head to Manly and picked up a smaller rat at Bluefish. Then motored back inside to anchor of Quarantine Head and try to raise another King, but it wasnt to be. We even attempted to get more squid to have another hit. Got one at the Nudie Beach at Balmoral, but couldn't raise another King.

We tried a couple of other things, but not much panned out unfortunately. Although we did spend way too much time trying for squid at the Nudie Beach! :risata: 

Met Alex and Clarkie in our travels, and a good day was had by all!

Once again...Pete....You bloody legend! :thumbup: Thanks mate!

28355[/snapback]

Nice fish and congrats! :biggrin2:

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Congrats again on the first kingie Joe. :thumbup: I'm sure the biggun will play with you soon.

I spent a good 2 hours, after leaving you lookin for squid at nudie, looking for a bream under the boats. Managed to boat one at 32cm after finally getting the hang of watching the line like a hawk to detect the take.

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Thanks for all the info pete re: trolling. I have a habit of asking a lot of questions and you were both very forthcoming. :thumbup: I will be off to spend some cash tommorrow methinks.

alex

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Guest bluecod

Well done Joe, now we can all rest easy! When are you going to start writing Joe's Fishy Stories - the kingy saga and your report almost rivalled War and Peace.

OK You've got the jew and the kingy, and you're in time for the small marlin run that some of us have been waiting all year for - are you going to take them on as well - might as well, you seem to be on a roll - Congratulations :thumbup:

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might as well, you seem to be on a roll - Congratulations :thumbup:

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May as well aim high! :risata: Marlin from a tinnie...Now there is a report I could really enjoy writting! :thumbup:

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Thanks for all the kind words...And yes...We did spend a lot of time squidding! :thumbup: Only because Pedro has failing eyesite, and I had to keep making another pass over the weed beds so he could see what was going on! :risata::risata::risata:

I was bit worried the old bugger would need a doctor...But he managed top control his blood pressure! :1prop:

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Guest Big-Banana

Narra - apart from the usual quite nice nudie sights, a young bloke was doing some sort of photo spread with a very nice young lady - who seemed to be from Brazil :biggrin2::biggrin2: . They were all over the rocks in all sorts of poses only about 30 yards away. Wasn't our fault that it just happened to be ooposite the best weed bed for squid :thumbup::thumbup::wub::wub:

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:Funny-Post::Funny-Post:

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Great work Joe. Good to meet you & Pedro. She was a tough day on the squid front. The owner of the boat I was on managed one rat King just on 60cm which went back and got busted off by one that was a heap bigger. Both on live squid.

Mate of mine went out Sunday. The squid were in abundance, and he boated a 10kg 110cm Kingy from Nth Head. Bastard. Probably read about it on the other site.

Steve.

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Mate of mine went out Sunday. The squid were in abundance, and he boated a 10kg 110cm Kingy from Nth Head. Bastard. Probably read about it on the other site.

Steve.

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GRRRRRRR :ranting2:

I just KNEW there were 10KG models in Sydney! And everyone is telling me its a pipedream! :risata:

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