King Fish Growth Rate?

[stan]

Hi all,

Does anyone know the growth rate of a King fish? I know the legal limit has been increased to 65cm, for some reason, however, while I am catching and returning fish up to 65cm (which are still great fun) I wonder if they are being returned for a possible re-capture by myself at legal size or where do they go to grow?

Just interested, as some of these fish a couple of years ago were helping feed my family.

Kind regards, Ian.

[braddles]

In my experience mate they are really fast growers... just wait till later summer and theyll be some good reports of some killer kingys been caught in the harbour... same deal with last year.

[Josh88]

They definitely have a quick growth rate.

Around autumn you should see the average size of fish increase as well as average weight, they're chockers full of bait and fat as that time of year.

Cheers

Josh

[King slayer]

I'm only guessing here, but since the smallest they are ever caught each year is around 40cm, and most around 50cm at the smallest, I would venture to say that this is around one year of growth or less and I would say that a legal king is only 2 yrs old or less.

Judging by by last years haul, I'd say it wouldn't be the worst idea to up the legal size again as it seems they still get caught in good numbers during the peak season.

[A.dawg]

I heard they grow really fast at the start off the lives up till about wen they are 70-80cm before there growth slows down

A.dawg~~~

[Dreamtime]

Hi all,

Does anyone know the growth rate of a King fish? I know the legal limit has been increased to 65cm, for some reason, however, while I am catching and returning fish up to 65cm (which are still great fun) I wonder if they are being returned for a possible re-capture by myself at legal size or where do they go to grow?

Just interested, as some of these fish a couple of years ago were helping feed my family.

Kind regards, Ian.

Kingfish grow rapidly and reach their minimum legal length of 65 cm total length at around 2 years of age.

Sexual maturity is reached at approximately 70cm fork length.

Stewart, J., Ferrell, D.J., van der Walt, B., Johnson, D. and Lowry, M. (2001). Assessment of length and age composition of commercial kingfish landings. Final Report to Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. Project No. 1997/126. NSW Fisheries Final Report Series 36. ISSN 1440-3544.

[xtosea]

Kingfish grow quickly at first, reaching 2-3kg in their first year. The most recent studies indicate that females reach sexual maturity at around 5-7 years when they are between 78 and 128cm and males between 75 and 93cm.

[stan]

Thanks all, greatly appreciated.

[huntman]

One kingfish that was over 100cm long was found to be only four years old. Growth rates and size vary a lot, and as you can see from those stats from the paper above, one fish that is 80cm may have had babies, and another that big is several years away from reproducing. The legal limit for most fish is set at the point where 50% of the fish have reached sexual maturity, so you are still allowing them to spawn before they get eaten. With kingfish, when they set the limit of 60cm originally they had no idea when they matured, they were just like "thats pretty big, should be ok". Then they did some research and realised it should be closer to 75cm or 80cm, so i wouldn't be suprised if they slowly work it up to 75, maybe over 5-10 years, especially if no marine park goes ahead around sydney.

That might seem pretty harsh if they jack it up to 75, but the kings grow fast, and you'll just get more bruiser kingfish residing in the harbour over winter, and 1m kingfish will not be the holy grail of inshore kings, they'll be pretty common. Especially as angler technology gets better, because there are a lot more 100cm+ brutes being hooked and lost due to shoddy gear or inexperience.