Sat In The Harbor For Kingies

[jembro]

Hello Raiders.

A couple of weeks ago in the harbor I popped my Kingfish Cherry. 88cm. not bad for a first kingy. Caught it with a fellow raider. Thanks for helping out Kiro!

Anyway, I was in the harbor yesterday in the usual spots around the wedding cakes. Had a fair bit of fish on my sounder. I had live yakkas. I had one yakka on the bottom and one swimming around on a float a the top of the water.

I saw about 5 or 6 kingfish come around a couple of times. They came right up to my yakka's and swam away.

As a kingy beginner, can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

I was using pretty big hooks. I had 15 kg leader with my yakka was at the bottom. I hooked my yakkas through the back.

Anybody have any suggestions when the yakkas arent working?

I was using small and larger yakkas to try and mix it up.

Alot of fisherman tell me that live bait always works better than lures.

Can anybody suggest any lures to use when the yakkas aren't working.

Should I be armed with squid to when the yakka just aren't working?

Somebody please give me some advice.

Does anybody else have days like that where kings come right up to their bait and don't eat it?

If anyone is interested I posted the picture of my first kingy a couple of weeks ago

Edited April 26, 2009 by jembro

[marcel haber]

mate thats one cracker of a kingie,

Dont think you are doing any thing wrong, the kingies sometimes just go off the chew and this is when you need to experiment.

Some times just by finding another spot and then coming back to try again at the previous can make a difference.

Next time try reducing and casting smaller lures ( match the hatch) if you know what they are feedind on.

Try using sluggos and poppers to get them excited.

Also if you can manage to land some fresh squid this will help too, especially a nice slab of squid covered in its own ink.

Twin 1

[jembro]

mate thats one cracker of a kingie,

Dont think you are doing any thing wrong, the kingies sometimes just go off the chew and this is when you need to experiment.

Some times just by finding another spot and then coming back to try again at the previous can make a difference.

Next time try reducing and casting smaller lures ( match the hatch) if you know what they are feedind on.

Try using sluggos and poppers to get them excited.

Also if you can manage to land some fresh squid this will help too, especially a nice slab of squid covered in its own ink.

Twin 1

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

Silly question? What are sluggo's? What type/size of poppers would you suggest?

[outfisher]

Nice king jembro they have been thick around cockatoo island

have been smoked by big ones this week no wonder why

cause the squid are in plague proportions around the back of

cockatoo island.

Great stuff!!

cheers

[zephi]

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

Silly question? What are sluggo's? What type/size of poppers would you suggest?

Metal slug lures I assume

[Captain Pugwash]

sluggos are soft plastics usually about 6" long. any tackle store will sell you the jigheads and plastics to go with them. also most people believe that the Kings preferred feed is live or fresh squid.

cheers and nice cherry popping King

Peter

[PPSGT]

I never have much luck on Yakkas, unless they are mars bar size or smaller

I dont think you are doing anything wrong, its just yakkas are harder for smaller fish to eat

and on the many kingfish videos around, the underwater troll cams show them really struggling to

swallow the yakkas as they have to swallow it head first due to all the spines.

Run your hand head to tail, then tail to head and you'll see why they need to swallow it head first

Squid, slimies and garfish are very soft and smooth, and the king can swallow and turn them

without two much trouble, and probably just inhale them any angle they can get them.

Sometimes they arent in the mood for anything and I have had them nudge live squid, then slam a pille thrown in the water or take servo squid against fresh caught

Jason

[roosterman]

nice king there to start off with..

as others have said sometimes they can be fussy buggers..

if using yakkas get the smallest ones you can...

live or fresh squid is mostly best then garfish/slimies in my opinion...

try different baits and methods on the day and hopefully you will get lucky..

cheers...steve.....

[SZ1]

Mate kings are a funny creature, some times you can have th best offerings such as live squid, freash strips, live yakkas, and they will pick the odd 5cent piece of squid or pilly over the freshest juciest of baits. They also tend to hit you lightest outfit aswell. The best way is to offer a good variety of baits and try different things when on the water untill you find what works.

Cheers

SZ

[jembro]

hey guys,

thanks for the helpful info. much appreciated from a kingy beginner.

i have never actually caught squid in the harbour. i heard the spit is a good place. another raider suggested cockatoo island. which is a bit far from rose bay.

anybody have any advice on some squidding spots not far from rose bay?

i understand that could be asking alot as people don't like to give away their spots.

[humesy]

I had the buggers feeding on the burley scraps at the back of my boat the other day. Right alongside was a live yakka and a squid strip. Tried downsizing to slithers of unweighted bait with tiny hooks. They continued hoovering every scrap of loose burley, ignoring the bait scrap with its hook every time. They are smarter than you might think.

I did manage a hook up last year by throwing a fresh yakka out on the surface. They tend to panic when they first hit the water and it can trigger the kingy into feeding mode.

[Danielsan]

jembro - I've had kings ignore live squid, live yakka, live slimey, squid strips, yakka fillets, slimey fillets.

try cubing up some pillies by cutting them into chuks and throwing out 2 chunks every minute or two. it can sometimes encourage them to bite.

But then again - sometimes you just cant entice them to feed.

You're doing nothing wrong! just gotta be there when thy're hungry

[kiro]

Hey brother...

nice report! everybody else pretty much summed it up regarding the kings...! just gotta try everything you got in your tackle box/bait buckets till they decide to bite..

It was a pleasure seeing you catch your first kingy..! Handled it beautifully!! Well done..

Take it easy buddy...

kiro

[thephantomjew]

Good work bud..

And for the Jewie's, personally I use live squid... but, as you know, they can go off the chew! Keep at it mate.

TPJ