King slayer Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 I'm planning to do a few trips off the rocks for kings in a few spots I know they are lurking. I'm after a little advice from those who have some success in this type of fishing around Sydney and are kind enough to share a little . My gear is probably a tad on the light side but I'll wait till I can get a few monsters exited before i will upgrade that. Rod around 8-10kg, 12ft, 30lb braid and mono, 60lb to 80lb leaders (jinkai). I usually run a float with a stopper knot about 3m (leader material) to a swivel and small sinker and a shortish leader around 50cms. around a 5/0 hook below with either a live yakka or fresh squid (strip, head or whole). Method is normally cast so that the float sits near to the edge of some wash in deeper water, not too far out. Does this all seem right so far? or at least close enough? I was wondering also about how much success people have had using livies like Mado's and sweep, which are usually common off the platforms. I hear about pike, but I don't often come accross them. Also do you find time of day and tides have a big influence? I would assume more activity would be had at dawn and dusk, but for me the middle of the day has produced some nice bycatch and so far one king. As I said, any help will be very much appreciated, and all due credit given when I land one over 1m which is the current goal. Cheers guys. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjbink Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 (edited) I used to fish the rocks of Sydney for kingies with quite a bit of success. I would first point out your gear is not suitable. Your rod is far too long and light for starters. You want a LBG rod rated at 15-24kg between 7.5 to 8.5 ft (preferably on the shorter side if you are fishing good platforms). You didn't say what sort of reel you are using, but you really need a lever drag overhead reel with a capacity of at least 600m of 15 kg line. The line can be from 15 - 24kg. 15kg is a little on the light side but what I used to do was tie a short double then join 15+m of 60lb line with a double uni knot (most of the kingies were fought off this heavier leader). From the float to the hook I would use 2m of 90lb line and ditch the sinker. Live yellowtail is the prime bait. Don't be afraid though to put a small tuna out also. Frigate mackeral are deadly and will even work when dead. You don't need to drift your bait out very far either as the kings cruise the rocks. I found the morning was the best time with most hook ups around 7:30 to 8:30 am. Edited July 28, 2009 by billfisher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtosea Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 My friend gets them regularly, he uses any live bait, preferably spins up Bonnies, and dont be fooled into thinking you need heavy gear, they will brick you regardless, the trick is to freespool them into open water then fight them, you may have to do this a few times to tire them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjbink Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 My friend gets them regularly, he uses any live bait, preferably spins up Bonnies, and dont be fooled into thinking you need heavy gear, they will brick you regardless, the trick is to freespool them into open water then fight them, you may have to do this a few times to tire them out. How are they going to tire out under free spool? The lead the kingie technique might work from a boat to lead them away from isloated structure like a bouy or channel marker but not from the rocks where you have to pull them towards structure. The gear I described will usually stop kings to 13 kg in their tracks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtosea Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 I disagree, ive seen people using 80lb and still get bricked, the more hurt you put on the fish the harder that King will go to brick you, if you freespool them and let them swim to open water then continue the fight it will tire them, it does depend on what depth you are fishing, he fishes a ledge that is no deeper than 5-6m, if you are fishing in 15m+ deep water then i will agree with you that you may possibly be able to stop them in their tracks, but in shallow water im sorry you have no chance unless that fish decides to swim out not down, and more often than not they are pretty smart and will head for structure straight away. He does fish for Kings to 20kg though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjbink Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 I disagree, ive seen people using 80lb and still get bricked, the more hurt you put on the fish the harder that King will go to brick you, if you freespool them and let them swim to open water then continue the fight it will tire them, it does depend on what depth you are fishing, he fishes a ledge that is no deeper than 5-6m, if you are fishing in 15m+ deep water then i will agree with you that you may possibly be able to stop them in their tracks, but in shallow water im sorry you have no chance unless that fish decides to swim out not down, and more often than not they are pretty smart and will head for structure straight away. He does fish for Kings to 20kg though. Well that's why I said up to 13kg. They are strong but not super fish and they can only pull so hard against 60lb line and an 85kg fisherman! My biggest one was 13 kg from shallow water of around 5-6m (it was a good ledge though). I pulled him up OK. I have hooked them on light gear where there was no choice other than let them run around with little drag, but the end result was always getting bricked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brickman Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 have to agree with stewy on resident kings brick you every time a bait worth a mention is gar fish using a balihoo rig and trolled at the edge off the washes on the surface or just under it i used this rig for tailor at dawn and after landing a few the kings would show up and smash us to bits truely unstopable i even tryed a live tailor on a 100 lb hand line at rosser gully he just went under the ledge and worked back and frow till he rubbed his way to freedom good luck and hold on cherrs gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trungie Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 have to agree with stewy on resident kings brick you every time a bait worth a mention is gar fish using a balihoo rig and trolled at the edge off the washes on the surface or just under it i used this rig for tailor at dawn and after landing a few the kings would show up and smash us to bits truely unstopable i even tryed a live tailor on a 100 lb hand line at rosser gully he just went under the ledge and worked back and frow till he rubbed his way to freedom good luck and hold on cherrs gary Great topic, i posted in the gamefish forum because i thought it was the right place, but all the pros are posting here! lol! As not to hijack this thread, anyone care to post about LBG terminal tackle options here: http://fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=42463 Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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