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Harbour 15Th


tentonner

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Headed out this morning around 6. First stop was north head for light tackle fun casting metals and plastics at the thousands of bonnies. A couple of casts and i was on to the biggest yakka ive ever seen, went around 35cms. Spent about an hour catching bonnies on small metals and 3inch powerbaits. Then scooted around the eastern suburbs picking up 3 calamari perfect bait size. Soaked these for a while downrigging seaforth and a couple of spots in middle harbour for zip. Any idea when the kingies should arrive?

Was a fun morning nonetheless, casting metals for bonnies on 6lb gear is about as much fun as you can have.

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Headed out this morning around 6. First stop was north head for light tackle fun casting metals and plastics at the thousands of bonnies. A couple of casts and i was on to the biggest yakka ive ever seen, went around 35cms. Spent about an hour catching bonnies on small metals and 3inch powerbaits. Then scooted around the eastern suburbs picking up 3 calamari perfect bait size. Soaked these for a while downrigging seaforth and a couple of spots in middle harbour for zip. Any idea when the kingies should arrive?

Was a fun morning nonetheless, casting metals for bonnies on 6lb gear is about as much fun as you can have.

They never left! :biggrin2:

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They are in the harbour all year round. Last 4 months we have been getting at least one legal every outing, and sometimes up to 5-8 legals. And there are some monsters around too, so go heavy with your gear,,,, Greg got slaughtered earlier this week on a live slimey(25cm) in the harbour on his heavy gear. :1yikes: . Pretty suprising considering Greg has caught over 6, 1m+ kings in the harbour in the last 2 yrs and has been running the same drag settings on this outfit.

Dan

Edited by Dan and Greg
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Hi guys,

A mate of mine showed me a few pics of kings he got busted off by (they were swimming on the surface) on Thursday.

I wont post the pics as it shows the location clearly in the main harbour. He got smoked!!!

And I will describe the size, as being MASSIVE. Biggest kings I have ever seen, some up to 20kg. Way over a Metre.

There are definitely Kings around.

Arch

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There is the first of my predicted BIG bust offs for you Dan... Time for you guys to up the ante a bit on your gear so you get to land some of these big uns!

Ah been busted up every now and then is to be expected, and going light has its advantages when the kings are being fussy. It can also produce more stikes, have seen guys running stella's, 60-80lb braid with up to 160lb leaders get nothing, where we have scored our limit. But I suppose thats the way it goes, same days you nail em, and other days they dont want a bar of any fresh/live bait you present them.

Dan

Edited by Dan and Greg
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does downrigging tend to prevent strikes from the larger kings?

We fished a spot next to another raider a while back, we drifted our

baits down, the other raiders downrigged this spot, we caught Kings

from 60-70cm, they caught Kings in the 72-80cm range.

On another occasion when we were downrigging, we caught Kings around 75cm and got busted off by larger specimens in shallow water over a reef. So I dont think the downriggers put off the bigger ones.

cheers

Edited by penguin
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does downrigging tend to prevent strikes from the larger kings?

Definitely not Stefan.

Downrigging is often a better way to get a really big bait down without it causing chaos and getting tangled around other lines or the anchor rope. It is a particularly good method around the heads and along the cliffs where it is often not that safe to anchor or drift. It also allows you to cover a lot of ground which is useful if the fish are a bit hard to come by or find. The only downside if you do find a big fish, particularly if you have the bait set very deep, is that the fish can get you to the bottom very quickly, especially if you are running a long drop back off the bomb. A good idea if the location allows is to use the boat and drag the fish out into deeper water so you have a better chance.

If you want some fun try getting a small bonnie or salmon and sticking it straight out on the downrigger... At this time of year you just never know. If you have the luxury of two downriggers try one BIG bait and one smaller, or one squid bait and one live bait.

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Hey guys, interesting to hear everyone's thoughts. I was aware that kings are around all year but meant when they start coming in their masses as my angling skills don't match those of the likes of greg and dan who clearly know their way around the harbour alot better than i do. Anyway thanks for the replies

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Hey guys, interesting to hear everyone's thoughts. I was aware that kings are around all year but meant when they start coming in their masses as my angling skills don't match those of the likes of greg and dan who clearly know their way around the harbour alot better than i do. Anyway thanks for the replies

Its usually late spring to summer but you can't really set a date mate. It just depends on the water temperature. For example it seems this year is kicking off a bit later than last year due to cooler water (you can see the diff on the satelite imagery if you compare this time last year to now). Your best options are to have a crack yourself and see if you have any luck or stay tuned to the forum and see when an influx of reports filter through

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