Finally ... I get a 90+ king!

[Fish2day]

Agreed, best report so far.

Love your kings...

[nelnarn]

Hey Pete,

Top report, my bother has been itching to get out with me but i just haven't had the time... After reading your report it felt like i was in the boat with you guys...Will have to start making time.

Glad to see you guys got on to some decent kingies...

How did they go down??? Have never eaten them myself and are still waiting for the day i catch one...

Jas

[dogtooth]

Well done on the PB,s 20lb leader close in to the rocks is a great effort .

Cheers Dogtooth...... John.....

Edited April 13, 2011 by dogtooth

[jewgaffer]

Top effort on the better size kingfish Peter and nice to see our mate Pick-a-box Syd out there doing what he does best. Congratulations to your both we will be seeing metre plus fish from you soon. There are ledges off those National Park cliffs and the temperature must be just night as there are still quite a few kingfish coming into Botany Bay and more than likely having a quick sprint into south west arm in the Hacking coming in with the early morning run in tide for a quick bust up of the baitfish. If you ever get a chance launch in Botany Bay and have a go for the larger specimums around the corner lining up the Malabar golf course site screen as there are ledges there where you can get mature kingfish 24/7 in these types of conditions regardless of season- these fish are the ledge dwellers that make yellow rock so attracive to landbased game fisheremen and the area would suit Johnny Dogtooth for his downrigging - good onya long time no see Johnny look forward to doing another jew session with you and Cungee George this time on the Hawkesbury when I get these hip problems of mine attented to.

Didn't see your last pm until recently Peter and sorry to the sad news about your mum.

Cheers & best regards

Byron

[james7]

Thanks for the advice Jewgaffer. I'll have to try that Malabar spot. Sounds promising.

Pick-a-box Syd and myself now have to try and crack the meter mark! (Although I reckon that might be a good time coming!)

It's great to see you back online. I hope your health continues to improve and we continue to see more of your helpful (and witty) posts as well as a few on water reports.

Glad to see you guys got on to some decent kingies...

How did they go down??? Have never eaten them myself and are still waiting for the day i catch one...

Tried a couple of fillets on the BBQ Jas. Nothing fancy, just seasoned and they were very nice indeed. Tomorrow night I'm going to try lightly marinating some fillets with teriyaki. Should be good.

Cheers

Peter

[ifonly]

awesome report mate love the pictures and jewgaffer is right on them heading up south west arms in the morning often you can see the big fish there are within the system as they feed up on the bait. if you dont mind me asking though i have trolled that stretch in the past with live yellowtail and rapala deep divers and only ever landed bonito and small kingfish. Wat where you using on the pointy end?

thanks

[hitmanjake]

love the pic of the final catch, great report!

[james7]

if you dont mind me asking though i have trolled that stretch in the past with live yellowtail and rapala deep divers and only ever landed bonito and small kingfish. Wat where you using on the pointy end?

thanks

ifonly

G'day ifonly

We were using pink squid skirts similar to this:

Mine skirt was about 10cm and Syd's was about 14-16cm.

We also use double hooks (after some advice from Jewgaffer a while ago).

That combination seems to catch everything (salmon, stripies, bonito, tailor, mac tuna, kings).

The only problem with those skirts is that those toothy tailor and bonnies tear them to pieces after a few hits.

We were actually trying to catch bonito and tailor at the time, so both the kings were a bonus and an even bigger surprise. They were the first legal kings we'd caught for months. Usually we only get rats in that area.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Peter

[robeebee]

what a top day out

congrats guys

[ifonly]

Thanks heaps Peter is there a weight involved or are they trolled on top. i have to give those a go next time i head out there with some livies

looking at those pictures again though i see those kings as gold because the effort that goes into landing kings of that size is seriously hard work the rats give me enough troubles let alone fish of that size!

thanks again.

[sparkles]

Lads, Sorry to push the point.

But worth commenting. Great report! Good to see two mates doing what they obviously love.

Well done.

Arch

[erroll]

A great day and excellent report. Well done to you and your mate.

Cheers

Erroll

[james7]

It's sad to see another rockfishing death as Ray R reported earlier today.

Fisherman drowns at Sydney national park

Posted Sat May 7, 2011 3:42pm AEST

Map: Wattamolla 2535 A man has been swept to his death while fishing off rocks with two friends south of Sydney this morning.

Police say the men were fishing in the Royal National Park between Wattamolla and Garie Beach around 9:30am when the accident occurred.

It made me think of the bloke I saw fishing the cliffs of the Royal National Park on this trip.

(click on the image to enlarge)

I know he wasn't in danger of being swept off, but if he fell, who would be able to help him, especially if he was fishing alone?

I fish that stretch of water along the Royal National Park quite a bit (from a boat) and I regularly see rock fisherman on rock platforms from Jibbon to Garie. Many of them appear to be doing the right thing, wearing appropriate clothing, fishing with a mate, life vests etc.

I hope all rock fishermen take the necessary precautions to prevent future tragedies.

Cheers

Peter

[macmac]

Headed out late morning for a lazy day's fishing. Decided to troll for some bonito as our bait supplies were running low.

Beautiful morning.

I spotted this guy fishing off the cliffs. I can't believe how they do it. Amazing! I hate heights.

We hadn't travelled far when my little Shimano Charter Special started screaming (and I mean really screaming!) At first I thought I'd hooked some weed as there was plenty in the water.

I grab the rod and this "weed" was fighting. I yell to my mate Syd to head out to deeper water as we were close to shore.

I notice the reel was looking a bit empty. How much line did I have out?!? After a good 10 or 15 minutes I eventually see some colour and that big yellow tail. It's a good king! I only had 20lb mono so I was taking it very slow and steady keeping the line away from the boat and the motor. After a couple more runs, it's within net range. Syd gets it in the net and as he's pulling it in, the net breaks!

Luckily we both manage to grab it and drag it in.

I've spent years trying to get a decent king, and failing ... (my pb was only 75cm). However, I finally get one when I'm tring to get a bonnie for bait! Unbelievable!

I know many of you consider this still a small king, but I was absolutely rapt! On to the brag mat and it's over 90cm! Even better! Syd and I tried a "high five", but we've both got crook shoulders at the moment so it was a fairly pathetic attempt.

Here's Syd holding my king. (The jealousy was just oozing out of him)

Syd was very keen to get back and try for another one, but I told him that the chances of another piece of good luck was a million to one. My king was obviously a loner and I was just very lucky to get it. However, he shouldn't worry, maybe one day he might get the chance to feel the fight of a 90+ kingy! (Syd's pb king was only 68cm) I was enjoying this moment of glory.

Anyway, back we go in close and we put the lines in. Now, where were those bonito? We really did need some fresh bait.

It was less than five minutes and we both hear that beautiful ratchit sound as line starts peeling off Syd's TLD! Surely it couldn't be another king? Syd grabs the rod and I grab the wheel and start heading out to deeper water.

Syd ups the drag and line is still peeling off. This one really wanted to fight. Every time he manages to get it close to the boat, it goes for another long run.

After a great fight we get it on board. Syd looks like he's going to have a heart attack, but you couldn't take the smile off his face. What an amazing half hour we'd both had!

On to the brag mat ... 95cm! (Bugger! Syd's outdone me again!)

After a cup of coffee we decide to continue trolling. No more kings, but we manage a dozen nice tailor. We keep six for the smoker.

Time for a leisurely flathead drift. We both manage to get heaps of babies, barely bigger than the bait. It looks like no keeper flatties today.

Syd's rods starts bending. This is a good one he says ...

Unfortunately, this is what came up.

There was practically no drift, so we continue moving. The bait had just about gone so I put a soft plastic on one of the droppers of the paternoster. You never know I tell Syd, it might work.

Eventually, I get a nice flathead, 52cm. Yahoo! A good flattie on a sp. I'm going to try it more often.

Here's Syd holding my flathead.

I continue to remind Syd about my superior fishing skills. I mean, he's not going to get one better than that ... is he? He may have fluked the kingy prize, but he's not going to do better than 52cm!

Yeah yeah ... I've got to learn to shut up and not challenge Syd.

This was his reply ...

58cm of beautiful blue spotted flathead.

Then the jackets arrived. We get sick of losing rigs. Every sp I put on disappears or gets chewed to pieces. We decide to call it a day. On the flathead count, Syd out fished me by heaps, but we managed a good feed between us. I reckon we threw back a legal one for every one we kept.

The sun was setting as we made our way back to the ramp.

What a top day!

Cheers

Peter

Hi PeterS,

Saw there's a hatch on the deck of your boat. Just wondering if it is an underfloor live bait tank or kill tank? Quite interest what is the configuration of underfloor live bait tank. Also wondering what boat u got? looks like a big vessel as I saw u got an 140 hp outboard. Mine is Stacer 525 and still thinking how and where to install a live bait tank (plumbed).

Cheers, Phil

[james7]

Hi PeterS,

Saw there's a hatch on the deck of your boat. Just wondering if it is an underfloor live bait tank or kill tank? Quite interest what is the configuration of underfloor live bait tank. Also wondering what boat u got? looks like a big vessel as I saw u got an 140 hp outboard. Mine is Stacer 525 and still thinking how and where to install a live bait tank (plumbed).

Cheers, Phil

G'day Phil

The boat is Syd's. It's a 5.7 Quintrex bowrider with a 140 Johnson. Great fishing boat. Very stable and a comfortable ride. (Just a little better than my 3.95 Stacer with a 25 Johnson ) We use the floor hatch at the back as a kill tank.

I've been on at Syd for ages to get a live bait tank. He bought the pump etc, but has never got around to doing anything about it.

Cheers

Peter

Edited May 9, 2011 by peterS

[boy53]

Awesome report Peter !!! and congrat on your big kingies.

Making me jealous for boat fishos haha. I won't give up and will be chasing for 90-100cm+ kingies from LB hehe.

[Dusky_Chaser]

Cracking sesh

[johnv]

top report there Pete,excellent feed of fish there mate .

cheers john