Trolling For Kings

[wttmrwolf]

Hi Fisho's

I'm on a mission to find some kings around Port Hacking. I was going to try tolling extensively Bate Bay and the cliffs infront of the national park.

My tackle box is pretty extensive but not being one to troll its devoid of anything suitable for the job. Can anyone suggest a good 3 or 4 lure spread for catching kings?

I heard Rapala Laser Pro series (baitfish colour) was a good start.

Looking to hear what more experienced Trollers would put out the back.

Also interested to hear if I should downrig a squid at the same time or will the troll speed be compromised?

Ben

Edited March 8, 2010 by wttmrwolf

[Daniel Frost]

The laser pros are great lures and troll well , small x-mas trees work too, even some poppers depending on the conditions , but don't go past a smiths jig , they may look simple and pretty uninteresting to humans but 1000's of kings have been caught on them , as well as bonito and macks just about any pelagic you could name . Pro's use em , they are cheap and have the runs on the board.

Old School

Bubba

[wttmrwolf]

Is a Smiths Jig one of those knife jigs typically used on deep reefs vertically. I've got a few of these but never through if trolling one before. Has a single hook up front with an assist cord, is that right?

I've got a 400g and a 250g

[kongy1]

yea i run laser pros on each corner and a christmas tree or small skirt down the guts further back than the deep divers sorta like a shotgun try running a blue diver on one corner and a gold on the other for sum reason the kings luv gold? make sure u have some good leader as well i got hammered by a mako on the blue deep diver trollin up around norah head...plus lures arent cheap!! try and find sum serious wash zones too along the rocks and get as close as safely possible seems to always do the trick

Kongy

[fishbog]

Smiths jigs are old school trolling lures like these.

[DGF]

i got few deep divers in slimey mack colour and a redhead and also some skirts now i've these and ive tried the mack baits as well mackbaits usually get the fish but not kings so far so far ive only gotten my kings with live bait, prawns, pilchards and dead squid

[rezzy]

Yozuri hydro magnums seem to work and rapala cd 18s are a good starting point

[wttmrwolf]

Thanks for all the excellent ideas. I'm going to get a mix of all of these and try it out this weekend or next weekend. Keep the ideas coming if someone has more to add.

[Sammy0884]

I find the best combination is to run 4 lures. Two divers and two skirts or hybrids.

This season the most sussesful lures have been the Rapala CD7's in redhead and blue mackeral, and pink christmas trees. I've also had some success running the Pakula Dojo 4" hybrids in lumo and pink.

cheers

sam

[wttmrwolf]

Lots to run with here.

This is the current hypothetical spread I would run based of all the different comments

Rapala Laser Pro - (corner)

Smith Jig - (middle)

Xmas tree - (middle)

Rapala CD7 - (corner)

With a couple of the more exotics as backup

[james1990]

nice setup, you have a bunch of good lures there although that Rapala CD is an unreal estuary/freshwater lure, not a hardcore kingfish lure so I don't think the Countdown would be up to the task after numerous fish.

the Rapala you want is the CD magnum in a 7cm, 9cm or 11cm (the one with the metal bib, see below picture)

James

[wttmrwolf]

Thanks for all the tips folks...

Went for a troll Sunday and picked up 10 Bonito in about 2 hours. They are thick outside at the moment. Picked them up between Botany Bay and Long Bay.

The 120mm Yozuri did 100% of the damage.

[cruisecraft]

Hi Fisho's

I'm on a mission to find some kings around Port Hacking. I was going to try tolling extensively Bate Bay and the cliffs infront of the national park.

My tackle box is pretty extensive but not being one to troll its devoid of anything suitable for the job. Can anyone suggest a good 3 or 4 lure spread for catching kings?

I heard Rapala Laser Pro series (baitfish colour) was a good start.

Looking to hear what more experienced Trollers would put out the back.

Also interested to hear if I should downrig a squid at the same time or will the troll speed be compromised?

Ben

Hi Ben

If you are on a mission for Kings in Bate Bay, then live baiting will get you the results nearly every outing and you don't have to venture far.. The yellow tails are thick around Shark Island and the 3 yellow bouys to the north east of Shark Is. Use your sounder to find the bait ball and then drop a sabiki jig with some bait into the bait ball. Go early(6.30am) as the yellow tails are easier to catch at that time. In around half an hour, you should have enough live bait. Then slow troll the live bait in the vicinity of Shark Island and Jibbon Bombi. If you see a bait ball on your sounder just idle over the bait ball, or attach some lead to sink the livies down to the bait ball(poor man's downrigger) and the kingfish will find your live yellow tail. Of course live squid is better, but they taste so yummy that I hardly ever use them for live bait as the king fish have been happy with the live yellow tails on offer the last 2-3 months.

Regards Kit

ps I am happy to pm more precise info if the above fails.