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Botany Bay magic


fish_finder

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A long time reader of this forum but first time poster as I have'nt caught

anything to report on.

With the Easter long weekend I was keen as mustard to go fishing. So it was

decided that Sunday 20th April we would hit Botany Bay with my fishing buddy and a

visiting relo from oversea. The forecast was perfect, just 6 knots.

We launch at foreshore boat ramp at about 7am and the place was empty. We headed

straight to Kurnell to catch squids. Within 5 mins my relo said "there's no squids

here lets go fish somewhere else". So I proceeded to remove his squid jig and tie

a running ball sinker rig for him so he can fish. And he was happpy.. for a while

Meanwhile my fishing buddy and I was trying to catch some squid and around 9:30am

when the sun was brigter I managed to hook up first to a squid. My first ever

squid on my boat! I was esctastic!! There was high fives all around on the boat.

My fishing buddy never really believe there's any squids in botany bay. Then he

was on and now we've got 2 squids. In the next 1 hour or so we caught 2 bigger

squids and I made the call to go hunt Kingie.

So we attach our poor's man downrigger and slow troll past the green marker near

Bare Island. First pass nothing but we realised the lines were tangled so after

untangling the line we made a second pass. As the boat went pass the green marker

the rod bent over and the line screams off my Spheros 10000. My fishing buddy

tried but couldnt get the rod out of the rod holder so I told him to steer the

boat and take us to deeper water.

Lines was still screaming off the reel as I managed to pulled it out of the rod

holder. With heart pounding I am holding the rod but the beast is too strong so my relo jumped in to hold onto the rod as well. So now its 2 vs 1 but before we knew it the fish spooled us. We tried a few more pass but nothing. Same story at Moli point.

I'll never know what beast pulls that hard but I'll guess its one big angry kingie. This session

will be one I wont forget in a while.

I've been trying to catch squids to target kingie for a while now without success but now finally catching

squids, it is a very satisfying feeling. I now feel i'm a step closer to realizing

my dream of catching a metre kingie.

Just wanted to say a massive thank you to Quintrex480 for all his gernerous tips

on catching squids and downrigging for kingie.

Sorry for the long report and no pixs as I didnt think I would catch anything. Next time i'll take

some pictures and hopefully a kingie or two. Here's to hoping.

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Exciting report mate, at least you had the thrill of a hookup! How much weight did you use on your poor mans downrigger? I'm still learning the art of slow trolling live bait as well.

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I was using 80lb braid and 100lb trace with a barrel sinker of about 2kg I think as there's no rating on it. I guess go heavy enough to hit the bottom then wind up a bit and slow troll. I learnt this off Scotty Lyons on one of his fishing trip.

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I was using 80lb braid and 100lb trace with a barrel sinker of about 2kg I think as there's no rating on it. I guess go heavy enough to hit the bottom then wind up a bit and slow troll. I learnt this off Scotty Lyons on one of his fishing trip.

Wow you got spooled using 80lb braid and 100lb trace? Did you have your drag maxed out?

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Marty!

Well done on the squid mate! the first few are always the hardest, once you gain some confidence, it's like the squid are attracted to it or something, and that's when they just start jumping into the bait tank :D.

That's a shame about the king, spooled on a Sphereos 10000, now that would have been quite a decent size! If you ever find yourself in that situation again, stay calm and palm the spool, better the king try and bust you off, than it taking all your line and who knows, it might even stop.

The kings are starting to show up in big numbers now, and will probably be here for another month or so. You better get back out there quick and give them kings some payback! hehe. Let me know next time you're up this way, I'll try and save you a spot on the boat and hopefully put you onto a king or 2.

Take care bud!

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Yes the drag was set to max. I don't take chances with kingie.

Must be a huge kingy...pity you didnt get to see it...r u sure it wasnt d marker u hooked??? Just kidding...hahaha...better luck next time mate...

lifes too short...go fishing when u can...

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Must be a huge kingy...pity you didnt get to see it...r u sure it wasnt d marker u hooked??? Just kidding...hahaha...better luck next time mate...

I actually thought I snagged the marker but my mate said he stopped the boat for a moment and the lines was still running..it all happened so fast. Regardless I'm still pumped from that experience!

lifes too short...go fishing when u can...

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Even a 20kg king would eventually tire on locked drag especially when the boat driving in the opposite direction, would have to be 30-40kg+ if it was a king which is completely possible as there are big kings that cruise along the cliffs outside the heads and they come in from time to time, ive also hooked a few unstoppables close by, never been spooled though :blink: also could have been a 200kg bullshark or something along those lines.

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Yep +1 for it being a bullshark. You would be able to stop most kings with locked drag and 80lb braid. Any anyway if it was a king it would have taken u into structure and busted u off before spooling u....

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Not a king mate, not with full drag and 200m of 80 pound braid with 100 pound line. Still would have been an awesome catch whatever it was. Theres been some strnge fish showing up in the hacking lately, could have been another pelagic of some sorts.

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