benfot Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Hi all Have enjoyed reading everyone's posts for a while and finally got around to registering the other day. Had an awesome day out on the water on Weds (7/1) but not much luck with the kings so thought I'd see if I could get some help... Was fishing mostly from the harbour bridge down to Bradleys head/Point Piper and saw literally thousands of kingies. We threw stick baits of just about every size and colour but hardly got any hits. We had a brownish 9 inch plastic which would get followed by at least five kings on almost every cast but when they got near the boat they'd just let it go... Also tried a variety of metals and only got one hit. Pretty similar story when we tried trolling... Seemed like everyone else was having the same problems as us. In the whole morning we only saw one guy land one king, and he was using fly gear. Next time we thought we'd try even smaller plastics and hopefully they'll get more attention. I think I read about someone having some success with unweighted prawns but if anyone has any other ideas that'd be sensational. Not even sure what they were chasing as couldn't see many baitfish and there wasn't much seagull action so almost seemed as though they were just mucking about! Makes it hard to choose your lure if you don't know what they're after... Anyway, would be awesome to get some advice from anyone who's managed to solve the problem. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh88 Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Hey mate, Thats sounds like the same school of fish i was having a go at on Tuesday. They are just about impossible, unweighted prawns drew the most interest and the only fish, they wise up to the lures, i had them hit and hold it for about 1second quite a few times and they released it straight away realising it wasnt food. The baitfish they are chasing are tiny like the size of half a toothpick and they are so slow and easy to eat the kingfish are just swimming around slowly chomping them up without any effort. Cheers Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luderick59 Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 try octapus legs work it like a sp peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black CC Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Fresh peeled prawns on a size 4 hook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NORBY Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I have also found lures difficult to attract a strike on the last few trips. I have found the best bet is fresh squid strips, prawns or pilchard pieces - but they MUST be fished unweighted ! Hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregL Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Chased schools the same earlier in the week..... If the winds up next time I'm going to try troll a eye fly threw them on a bream rod, that's if I can't cast at them.... Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aleung Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I was in the harbour chasing kingie today as well and could not get one on any stickbaits.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smacka Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Try some small (6 inch or less) clear stick baits - unweighted of course. I think the clear best mimicks the tiny baitfish they are chasing, and often seems to be succesful when nothing else is working. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big-Banana Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Cut your plastic down, 9" is way too big for the bait they're chasing atm. It's small eye bait about the size of your pinkie nail. Around an inch is a good start so a 6-8gram river to see metal works well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rippinlips Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 i chased them twice this week...bugger me they are the fussiest kings going around...i got a couple of fish very early in the morning with a white stickbait when the fish had sleep in there eyes...then they got hard flies worked well one day with me getting four (it took 7 changes in fly to find one they would eat). had to go down to 8lb leader as well which ended in tears of course and losing the only fly that worked which made next session very slow for me. i won't be chasing them anymore...stick to markers the kings are a bit more cooperative there.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olitay Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I think they have wised up to the Stick baits.... I have caught a few on peeled prawns. I actually noticed prawns in the harbour last week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benfot Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Thanks heaps for all your suggestions. Much appreciated. I think I'll have a go with some smaller plastics/metals and some unweighted bait as well. I'll try working the small stick baits slowly but assume you have to retrieve the metals pretty fast to keep them on the surface? And with the peeled prawns/squid etc, are you just casting them out and letting them sink through the schools? Thanks again. Cheers Ben. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh88 Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Thanks heaps for all your suggestions. Much appreciated. I think I'll have a go with some smaller plastics/metals and some unweighted bait as well. I'll try working the small stick baits slowly but assume you have to retrieve the metals pretty fast to keep them on the surface? And with the peeled prawns/squid etc, are you just casting them out and letting them sink through the schools? Thanks again. Cheers Ben. The hits i got on the stick baits were when retrieving it very slow or letting it drift, or early on when you get to the school if you try a really erratic jerking action that fired up a couple the first time they saw it but not after that. As with the prawns just wait until you see a patch of them really having a go then throw it in amongst them and letting it drift and leave a bit of slack line as they bite it a few times before taking it down. Cheers Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benfot Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Cut your plastic down, 9" is way too big for the bait they're chasing atm. It's small eye bait about the size of your pinkie nail. Around an inch is a good start so a 6-8gram river to see metal works well. Thanks for that mate. Do you reckon tossing lures at the markers is the best bet or live baiting, using unweighted squid strips, etc. Cheers Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olitay Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Hey Ben, i cast the prawns unweighted if the current lets you, if not a few split sinkers will help it drop slowly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spin Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 We had some luck there with these kings. There appears to be a few schools out there. Some are not interested and some are very interested. We just kept moving from school to school until some took. Mostly on large plastics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now