Kingfish teasing us

[sikisdr69]

Hi Raiders

First time posting on this forum. Ive been chasing the kings now for a lil while in the habour and have had no luck. The closest i have come to them was today early in the morning where they were just teasing us. We started off our trip at 3:30 am at rose bay wharf where we got some nice yellowtail as livies and as we were fishing some squid came up into the berley trail but as i could get my jig ready they all disappeared. With 10 livies in the bucket we decided to head out to clifton garden as it was still dark and drop a few livies down for the odd jew that might have been lurking around. We waited untill the sky was lit up and decided to move along to sow and pigs. We set up our rods one with a live and one with a floating pillie just to have a variety of bait. The prime one being squid was missing. while we were waiting we thought we might have some fun and throw a handline or two down and see if we can pick up some bream or snapper. There were a whole heap of small snapper and a few just under legal, one was a decent one as it took my line and just when i was bringing him near the boat he went for another gush cut my finger with the line and snapped it. Then i decided to pull my floating bait back in and what do i see a decent Kingy, prob 80-85cm chasing it but not taking the bait so i cast it back in and retreive it slowly through the water again but nothing this time. We stayed around for another half an hour after that then decided to hit a few of the marker bouys. At one that we got to there was another boat hooked upto two of them so we decided to drop the livies but nothing yet again so i decided to pull out the good old 5 inch gulp jerk shad and give that a go. First cast.. 3 kingies chasing interested but not taking 2nd cast the same, 3rd cast they were gone.. so we moved onto another marker boy, 1st cast 3 of them chase again, 2nd cast one decided to take a hit but doesnt hook up, 3rd cast they disappear again.

Does anyone have any pointer they can give me as its been about 3-4 trips now chasing them and no luck. I know fresh squid is the key but i dont really have the feel for squiding.. never been successful in the art. maybe if someone can give me a few pointers there i might be able to catch the fish of a lifetime..

thanks

james

[david88]

Hi Raiders

First time posting on this forum. Ive been chasing the kings now for a lil while in the habour and have had no luck. The closest i have come to them was today early in the morning where they were just teasing us. We started off our trip at 3:30 am at rose bay wharf where we got some nice yellowtail as livies and as we were fishing some squid came up into the berley trail but as i could get my jig ready they all disappeared. With 10 livies in the bucket we decided to head out to clifton garden as it was still dark and drop a few livies down for the odd jew that might have been lurking around. We waited untill the sky was lit up and decided to move along to sow and pigs. We set up our rods one with a live and one with a floating pillie just to have a variety of bait. The prime one being squid was missing. while we were waiting we thought we might have some fun and throw a handline or two down and see if we can pick up some bream or snapper. There were a whole heap of small snapper and a few just under legal, one was a decent one as it took my line and just when i was bringing him near the boat he went for another gush cut my finger with the line and snapped it. Then i decided to pull my floating bait back in and what do i see a decent Kingy, prob 80-85cm chasing it but not taking the bait so i cast it back in and retreive it slowly through the water again but nothing this time. We stayed around for another half an hour after that then decided to hit a few of the marker bouys. At one that we got to there was another boat hooked upto two of them so we decided to drop the livies but nothing yet again so i decided to pull out the good old 5 inch gulp jerk shad and give that a go. First cast.. 3 kingies chasing interested but not taking 2nd cast the same, 3rd cast they were gone.. so we moved onto another marker boy, 1st cast 3 of them chase again, 2nd cast one decided to take a hit but doesnt hook up, 3rd cast they disappear again.

Does anyone have any pointer they can give me as its been about 3-4 trips now chasing them and no luck. I know fresh squid is the key but i dont really have the feel for squiding.. never been successful in the art. maybe if someone can give me a few pointers there i might be able to catch the fish of a lifetime..

thanks

james

one must learn to walk before they can run, one must learn to squid before they can regularly catch kingys off markers...

alternatively you could go to decosties at the fish markets and buy some hawksbury calamari, however this will costs you an arm and a leg, with kingfish being a lot cheaper.

[Piss'n'Broke]

It might hurt mate, but this is all too common occurance. We have had kings in the burley trail, and have had squid, yakkas, and thrownen numerous other assortment of lures at them for nothing. They can be very fickle sometimes.

Dan

[PRED-ATOR]

mate i think this is the story of the sydney fishermans life lol. sometimes they will smash anything, other days they will chase it down and smash anything from poppers to jointed minnows to an old peice of pilchard. I say keep at it and dont get dischouraged from one outing. Everything your doing seems to be rights. Use a variety of baits and lures, that way you can see which one is working on the day.

[sarod420]

I had the exact same thing a couple of weeks ago the bastards would even touch a strip of fresh squid. Chucked in a handful of chopped pillies then had a cube unweighted drift through the trail and landed 2 that way, funny had a live yakka out and a squid strip but the humble pilchard was the winner.

[sikisdr69]

i guess im not the only one then. i guess persistence is the main key and gota get my hands on fresh live squid to make the odds even better

[windredj]

i guess im not the only one then. i guess persistence is the main key and gota get my hands on fresh live squid to make the odds even better

im in the same boat

been out numerous times for only 1 legal king

never seem to get squid ,

had kings chase gulp shads to the boat and have a go but no hook ups

hahah very fustrating

keep at it

does anyone know what people are catching when they are anchored up round middle head?? is this a squid spot?

[cheder]

try cubing with pilies, get them going, then thorw out an un-weighted pillie cube with a hook in it and hold on

[kurtisjohnthomas]

I went out chasing them on Wednesday around the markers. I was using squid strips, only hooked up once only to be busted off. They were really picky and I just ended up giving up as it was super frustrating.

Up in Port Stephens I had them in the Burley trail all day and not eating anything, just looking at the other fish.. Amazingly frustrating

[liar]

I went out chasing them on Wednesday around the markers. I was using squid strips, only hooked up once only to be busted off. They were really picky and I just ended up giving up as it was super frustrating.

Up in Port Stephens I had them in the Burley trail all day and not eating anything, just looking at the other fish.. Amazingly frustrating

reducing the diameter of my leader has been helpful when they are being fussy near the surface.

unweighted (or lightly weighted with splitshot) pilchard pieces have worked for me using light leader (fluoro) and a smaller hook when they have been only sniffing up til then...

it's exciting watching kings take the bait right in front of you however if you are not in clear water with only 10lb trace it's a pretty brief period of excitement