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19-01-09 Sydney Harbour King


DezM

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Hi

I went fishing on Monday to catch up with a cousin and old fishing buddy who was visiting Sydney. He recommended we get a guide to update us on the latest tips and techniques. I was initially reluctant because I'd fished the harbour before, we had an idea where to get squid yada yada... but I eventually booked no no no and was glad I did.

We hit the squid, followed by surface activity in the main harbour. Boils of rat kings, salmon and tailor were all hitting match sized bait fish. Some of the boil ups travelled right toward and underneath the boat. Seeing the kings mosie around the bouys at the surface was another highlight. We each caught a mixed bag of both metals and plastics then eventually left them biting to deploy the squid for some larger kingies.

The kingie in the pic took a squid off the bottom. I used my Saltiga 683S matched with Certate 3500Hyper and 20lb braid and while the outfit performed well, the kingies did push it quite hard. The runs were long with plenty of head shakes and I could also feel him trying to rub the leader on the structure at times.

He weighed in at 18lbs, but I forgot to get a measurement on length - any guesses?

The day closed with a quadruple hook up while we were eating lunch. By the stress on the rods and the sound of the drags we knew they were all reasonable fish. But unfortunately, all four got away with 2 taking us through the anchor ropes. They left us smiling, holding shredded leaders, amazed at the chaos that just came out of nowhere.

A good day to remember

Dez

post-9060-1232453345_thumb.jpg

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Thats a great king, one the best i've seen pulled out the harbour in a while, were you on the purple boat?

I'm gonna head out on Thursday, pulling out something like that would be nice :1prop: .

For length i would say 90-95cm. If you want to be reasonably sure, measure the length of like your head in the picture and see how many times it fits into the fish in the pic then measure it in real life and multiply it by how ever many times it fit into the fish's length and you should be pretty close.

Cheers

Josh

Edited by Josh88
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If you want to be reasonably sure, measure the length of like your head in the picture and see how many times it fits into the fish in the pic then measure it in real life and multiply it by how ever many times it fit into the fish's length and you should be pretty close.

But don't forget to factor-in the variables, IE: your head is around a foot away from the fish [take *8% off total..*5.4x width of head] also, the fish has lost some length as it is facing slightly toward the camera [add *10%-*12% to total].

[*approx]

That's one of the best looking kingies I've seen in a while Dez...well done! :thumbup:

Edited by hooked4life
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Great king Dez. I watched you two squidding with the guide ( I was in the other boat drifting nearby as I didn't have a reef anchor). Saw you heading towards the Nth Hd area as I was leaving there. Makes the 65cm one I landed that morning look like a minnow!!

Kel

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Thats a nice Kingy mate. I reackon the big ones patrol that headland back and forth with tidal movement. I've seen the schools of them swim past while I've been diving... usually 4 or 5 fish strong. The small rats are always there! Gotta be there at the right time!

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....... He recommended we get a guide to update us on the latest tips and techniques.

....... Boils of rat kings, salmon and tailor were all hitting match sized bait fish.

........eventually left them biting to deploy the squid for some larger kingies.

.......The kingie in the pic took a squid off the bottom. He weighed in at 18lbs.

.......The day closed with a quadruple hook up while we were eating lunch.

.......the chaos that just came out of nowhere.

........A good day to remember

........Dez

Hi Dez :1welcomeani: To Fishraider. That was a very well written and informative first post, thank you :thumbup:

I'm glad you had a good day to remember and your have also given our members some good tips to remember.

........ all hitting match size baitfish

........ deploy the squid for some larger kingies

.......The kingie in the pic took a squid off the bottom = the importance of downriggers and troll the nearest level of depth below the school for the hoodlums

.......quadruple hook up while we were eating lunch = be patient and eat lunch more often :lol:

......... the chaos came out of nowhere = the benefit of having a good burley system.

Well done Dez! You certainly brought on some nice weather for your visitor and it turned out to be a worthwhile experience too

Cheers

jewgaffer :1fishing1:

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Well done mate, that is King-Zilla! Now, I need to go out and find one of those....

Hi

I went fishing on Monday to catch up with a cousin and old fishing buddy who was visiting Sydney. He recommended we get a guide to update us on the latest tips and techniques. I was initially reluctant because I'd fished the harbour before, we had an idea where to get squid yada yada... but I eventually booked no no no and was glad I did.

We hit the squid, followed by surface activity in the main harbour. Boils of rat kings, salmon and tailor were all hitting match sized bait fish. Some of the boil ups travelled right toward and underneath the boat. Seeing the kings mosie around the bouys at the surface was another highlight. We each caught a mixed bag of both metals and plastics then eventually left them biting to deploy the squid for some larger kingies.

The kingie in the pic took a squid off the bottom. I used my Saltiga 683S matched with Certate 3500Hyper and 20lb braid and while the outfit performed well, the kingies did push it quite hard. The runs were long with plenty of head shakes and I could also feel him trying to rub the leader on the structure at times.

He weighed in at 18lbs, but I forgot to get a measurement on length - any guesses?

The day closed with a quadruple hook up while we were eating lunch. By the stress on the rods and the sound of the drags we knew they were all reasonable fish. But unfortunately, all four got away with 2 taking us through the anchor ropes. They left us smiling, holding shredded leaders, amazed at the chaos that just came out of nowhere.

A good day to remember

Dez

post-9060-1232453345_thumb.jpg

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now thats AWESOME hahaha

good work!

sorry this is abit off topic,

but where can i hire a boat to fish out at the syd harbour, like a voyage perhaps?

cheers

Rose Bay and i think Manly.

What was the tide doing when you got him Dez?

Cheers

Josh

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Thanks for the welcome and kind words!

You are a friendly bunch.

The king fillets were cooked simply with salt, pepper and a little lime jiuce.

Kel: anchoring over the squidding grounds makes it heaps easier. Good to see you got one.

Kiwi dan and others: good luck the harbour is fishing well at the moment and I hope you get amongst the kings.

Greg: Sam is well, more golf than fishing this visit to sydney. Hopefully this session will change that next time.

mods: sorry for mentioning the guide's name in my post.

One tip I can pass on, and I'm by no means an expert, is the importance of squidding. It is vital, spend the time to collect as many baits in the morning as possible before the wind starts up. I used to think 6-8 squid was plenty, we didn't start until we had around 15-18.

Dez

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