wacko Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 G'day Raiders!!! Well what a day!! I'm knackered, bruised and busted up but nothing can wipe the smile off my face This might be a long one.............. Good mates Bill, Tarek and myself experienced some truly memorable action on some XOS sized SYDNEY kingies today!! We met at our usual boat ramp and after some quick preparations we made haste to the squid grounds. The squid proved fairly productive and in no time we had a 'school' of them zipping around the bait tank. The call was made early to venture outside the harbour to downrigg and Popper some locations........what a call this turned out to be!! I will explain the days events in point form, cause' each fish had a story to tell..... FISH 1: We had been downrigging for around 20mins with not much doing when suddenly I marked a big shape close to the bottom on the sounder..... as the live squid passed it got hit almost on cue and ALOT of line was loosing off the Saltiga reel! I had control of the rod and pumped-up the drag to 'scary' settings, trying all the while to regain some line and control of this fish. It ran where it wanted to and all we could hope for in the shallow water, was for it to run ALONG the reef and not INTO it!!!! Bill was driving the boat out to sea when our worst fears eventuated.........the fish had made it to reef and I could feel the taut line being stretched across it!!! In a split second, I backed the drag off a fair way and Bill spun the boat 180 degrees and headed straight towards the rampaging king. I wound line like a mad-man and we ended-up straight ontop of the brute......this did the trick and we managed to get his head and our line off the bottom. I cranked the drag and worked this fish hard as we all knew the reef was only 12mtrs under us!!! A few more big runs and huge headshakes and finally this fish was coming out way The rest is history.........119cm and 15odd kgs Video of this fish will be posted soon. Fish 2: After the high-fives we set-out again and started to slow troll another squid. It was Tarek's turn and the downrigger bait got SMACKED big-time. Line was spewing off the reel and it was hard to control this big king. Tarek did really well hanging on as Bill again, gunned the boat out to deeper water. This fish was in a different league and no matter how hard the pressure we applied, the fish had made to reef and completeley destroyed the leader!!! We estimated this fish judging by the fight and drag pressure, around the 20kg mark! FISH 3: With shaking hands we set out another bait and it got hammered almost straight away. Much the same as the previous fish, this one had Bill pinned to the gunnel and was taking line off basically a locked spool! Another monster king and Bill put on immense hurt on the fish while I drove to deep water. 80lb braid and 130lb leader stretched to the max!! This proved futile and we had another monumentous bust-off!! This guy felt way bigger than the other two.....who knows 20kg+??? The braid and FG knot held fine......it's the leader being run through the reef thats the problem.... We might start running 200lb and hope that it's not too heavy that they won't take a bait?? Thats 1 big one landed and 2 huge ones lost so far!!! Crazy stuff. FISH 4: With fear of spooking the school by trolling yet another bait through them.....especially as there were two 'lost' fish freaking out down there....we changed tact and headed right along the cliffs to stick-bait and popper. My 1st cast into the wash was uneventfull.......my 2nd cast and a few big pops later a HUGE bow-wave followed my popper but no hook-up. I 'twitched' the big River2Sea popper almost like a Bass lure to entice the strike.....it sat on the surface stationary for only a second and then was engulfed by a monstrous king!! The big king stripped line off my popper outfit and we all went super hard to land this thing!.........Bill drove and towed the fish out to safety, I hung on and pumped the king with a whole stack of drag. Line kept pouring off a near locked drag reel.....but somehow, in only 11mtrs deep of water, we stayed connected! The fish eventually succumbed to the pressure and 'followed' the boat out to deeper water. A few more heart-stopping runs and power head shakes and finally we swum the big boy into the net, which broke by the way! and into the boat. For the record.......it measured 131cm and was weighed on certified scales at 22.4kg By far the best SYDNEY king I've poppered! FISH 5: I'll keep it brief......Tarek lands a Beautifull king at 109cm and approx 10kg FISH 6: Bill has a go at poppering and hooks a great king of around 1mtr. We wanted to release the fish and with a broken net, I had to try and leader it into the boat. This did'nt turn out well, as the hooks pulled out boatside. Oh well, early release......nice if I got photos though. FISH 7: Another Big king landed around the 1mtr mark!! In the end we caught 11 big Sydney kings.......we topped it off with a couple of 70-75cm fish in middle harbour in the afternoon and a couple of rats. What an amazing day!!! Thanks to Bill and Tarek for a top session . Sydney's got some big kings lurking.....I reckon it's getting better every year. I'm totally stoked with a king over 20kg IN SYDNEY and on a POPPER.....and in shallow water.....what a rush!!! I have video footage of some of the action....especially the 22kg king on popper. I will try and upload it soon guys. Heres some photos for now...... 15kg King Tarek and a nice one Big King head and R2S popper 131cm....22.4kg King on Popper! Tarek and 109cm, 10kg ish Monster king!!! hehehe Cheers, Wacko. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt76 Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Far out the kings really are huge over there, awesome story and effort landing em!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishmaniac Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Mate, You are a BEAST!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew399 Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 far out!!!!! So jealous! And to catch them in such terrible looking conditions! Haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddaniel Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 some good kings their wacko, well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennyk Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 top report, unbelievable session good on u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noodles Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 No wonder you can't wipe the smile off. It's already been said but WOW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Incredible Hull Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Holy Moly! Can't wait for that video, insane stuff guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tentonner Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 unbelievable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennoz Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 theres something special when you can catch quality fish like that and clearly see people in their yards at the same time awesome report too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaysondanielgraham Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Top stuff. Never caught one that size I could only imagin the fight. I really enjoyed the report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmon_Hunter Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 I thought I was dreaming when these beasts where being hauled in. I could not believe it. It looked like a scene out of a NZ fishing charter. Locked drag on Saltigas and they were pulling like steam trains and not being stopped. Thanks for a memorable day out jacko! You've produced the goods time and time again. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNAP-ER Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Unreall !!Thats a great effort dude,your a gun fisho Jack.Well done boys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quintrex52 Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 (edited) What a session fellas:thumbup: Ill be out there this weekend...I think everyone else will be to. Edited December 20, 2011 by Dangler7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samboy Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 WOW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshot15 Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Insane!Those things are brutes! Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 WOAH! World class fishing fellas, Who needs to go to NZ with fish like those on our doorstep! That popper take would have been epic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trentafi Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 far out...sitting out my desk at work and all i wanna do is get some kingy action.... that would have been an amazing day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhiley Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Awesome stuff!Keen to see the video! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhiley Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Awesome stuff!Keen to see the video! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerib Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Congrats. Thats an amazing sesh. We fished inside the harbour yesterday with live squid on morning high and run-out and didnt get a sniff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hodgey Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 You can see why people make the comparison to NZ kingies ... they're monsters! Congrats to all on an incredible session! Cheers Hodgey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bream Mad Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! those kings are unbelievable! that is awesome fishing well done 22kg on a popper is mind blowing stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookmeup Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Unbelievable !!!!!!!! well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amatuer Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 amazing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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