nitro Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 In an effort to understand kingfish better to get to know their habits to target them, been trying to research where kingfish go to spawn? Does anyone know if they spawn in Sydney harbour? There isn't much info on the internet about this. Also, which way do they travel in spring, summer and autumn, up or down the east coast of oz? Curious to hear other people's thoughts and experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingie chaser Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 A good question but not sure why you are posting this here nitro? This is the fishing report section! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bombora Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 (edited) What we do know from recent tagging efforts is that it seems many but not all Sydney's big kings move between inshore and harbour waters and the deeper offshore reefs throughout any year. Many of these big kings don't appear to move up or down the coast as much as shifting between deep and shallower water in the general Sydney area. The recapture rate of these big tagged kings is quite high. So it might be that we have a limited pool of big kings in Sydney. We now tag and release all our kings of around a metre and above. Edited January 1, 2017 by bombora Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finin Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 Good question. From what i understand way off shore. Im sure not many have seen juvenile kingfish which are yellow with black bands, next time you are offshore and see debris in the water wether weed or whatever have a look you may see them. They obviously stay out till rat size then move inshore. It is said they hunt at night in deeper water than move inshore during the day to rest. The tagging programme shows the fish can go anywhere doesnt really establish much as not all tagged fish have accoustic tags. Kingfish range all over Australia and down to tassie however they dont range from cape york to Brisbane. Water colour doesnt seem to faze them Temps dont seem to faze them although they say their ideal temp is 22°. Personally dont think we have a clue what they do out there lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowerFisher Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 Since Ive only seen kingfish around 50cm. Where does someone find the little ones? Always been a mystery for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 I've only caught a handful of kings with roe over about 10 years down here on the south coast, these have been bigger fish around the 1m (small by NZ standards). I believe October in NZ is prime time for big fat well conditioned spawning kings, difference is they release those big fish where here we let very few fish go so mainly have small ones. Big kings did used to roam around my area but those days have long gone. Ive seen and caught kings the size of yakka down here on the south coast, these have been in huge schools with all fish seeming to be around the same size. These big schools were close to shore and only seen once, which doesn't count for much as you can't be under the water everywhere looking out for them!! A great place to find info on fish research is the http://frdc.com.au/Pages/home.aspx there has been work done on kings, not sure if it's completed yet though. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitro Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 On 01/01/2017 at 2:12 PM, bombora said: What we do know from recent tagging efforts is that it seems many but not all Sydney's big kings move between inshore and harbour waters and the deeper offshore reefs throughout any year. Many of these big kings don't appear to move up or down the coast as much as shifting between deep and shallower water in the general Sydney area. The recapture rate of these big tagged kings is quite high. So it might be that we have a limited pool of big kings in Sydney. We now tag and release all our kings of around a metre and above. That's some good info bombora. Thanks. Also plan to release the big kings over a metre but haven't had much luck finding them this season so far. Been catching heaps of rats though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitro Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 On 02/01/2017 at 10:14 AM, JonD said: I've only caught a handful of kings with roe over about 10 years down here on the south coast, these have been bigger fish around the 1m (small by NZ standards). I believe October in NZ is prime time for big fat well conditioned spawning kings, difference is they release those big fish where here we let very few fish go so mainly have small ones. Big kings did used to roam around my area but those days have long gone. Ive seen and caught kings the size of yakka down here on the south coast, these have been in huge schools with all fish seeming to be around the same size. These big schools were close to shore and only seen once, which doesn't count for much as you can't be under the water everywhere looking out for them!! A great place to find info on fish research is the http://frdc.com.au/Pages/home.aspx there has been work done on kings, not sure if it's completed yet though. Jon Thanks for the info Jon. Do you actually know if you can tell if larger fish have roe without killing it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 4 hours ago, nitro said: Thanks for the info Jon. Do you actually know if you can tell if larger fish have roe without killing it? I will se what I can find out as my daughter is about to help collecting kingfish frames for a friend from Tasmania Uni. I would imagine it's not going to be an easy check without the right equiptmeant though. I believe around October in NZ is their breeding time and those fish have bellies that look like they are about to pop, they are also much bigger fish too. I believe our local co-op at Bermagui had kingfish from the Gascoin seamounts which were big fish like the New Zealand fish. Unfortunatly that seamount is over 500km off the NSW coast. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaune Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 On 01/01/2017 at 6:33 PM, finin said: Good question. From what i understand way off shore. Im sure not many have seen juvenile kingfish which are yellow with black bands, next time you are offshore and see debris in the water wether weed or whatever have a look you may see them. They obviously stay out till rat size then move inshore. It is said they hunt at night in deeper water than move inshore during the day to rest. The tagging programme shows the fish can go anywhere doesnt really establish much as not all tagged fish have accoustic tags. Kingfish range all over Australia and down to tassie however they dont range from cape york to Brisbane. Water colour doesnt seem to faze them Temps dont seem to faze them although they say their ideal temp is 22°. Personally dont think we have a clue what they do out there lol Well I know for a fact they go up least as far as Rockhampton. I caught one trolling the reefs off there. About 115cm from memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitro Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 On 14/01/2017 at 11:20 PM, JonD said: I will se what I can find out as my daughter is about to help collecting kingfish frames for a friend from Tasmania Uni. I would imagine it's not going to be an easy check without the right equiptmeant though. I believe around October in NZ is their breeding time and those fish have bellies that look like they are about to pop, they are also much bigger fish too. I believe our local co-op at Bermagui had kingfish from the Gascoin seamounts which were big fish like the New Zealand fish. Unfortunatly that seamount is over 500km off the NSW coast. Jon If there was a easy way to tell, it would be another great way anglers can choose to release these fish to help our local populations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 On 16/01/2017 at 6:19 PM, nitro said: If there was a easy way to tell, it would be another great way anglers can choose to release these fish to help our local populations. My daughter was recently talking about kings again and pointed to this http://www.fish.gov.au/report/82-Yellowtail-Kingfish-2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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