Jervis kings

[PhilK]

Hi raiders, I normally fish from a boat but I've been taking more of a land based approach lately. I'll be heading to currarong/jervis Bay Area on the south coast hoping to get onto a decent king etc. I'll be using live bait, was just wondering if a 12-15kg rod with 50lb braid and a 60 flourocarbon leader will be ideal? Joining the leader and braid with an fg knot? Any tips on how long I should leave the leader or any other tips in general? Thanks. Phil 

[Captain Spanner]

I have never done it off the rocks down there but i would imagine off the rocks down there livebaiting for big kings that guys would be using double or triple that leader weight.

[PhilK]

Ok thanks mate 

[JonD]

For some kings that should be ok, however my daughter just fished there last weekend in a fishing technique we aren't permitted to talk about on this site and I can tell you she saw some kings well over 20kg around the rocks ( also rats and just legals ).

From what we've seen of kings from under the water imagine them to be like a big gang of bikers cruising around from town to town, with the towns being headlands and reefs. They may not be there for a while but sooner or later they are likely to cruise past and rough you up, simply don't leave your gear thinking it's been quiet and nothing is going to happen, if you do you might be saying goodbye to your rod.

Good luck

[mauricio]

Hi there, I am not and expert but 60 lb leader might be too light for a decent king off the stones. How long is your rod? I would have at least the length of the rod as your leader. FG knot is a good knot specially if you have mastered  tying it.  I would also recommend a gaff, if you haven't already planned to take one. I have never fished JB but I have fished a few places further south and also Sydney's northern beaches quite often in the summer months. I have a live bait set up and a Stick-bait/Popper set up. It might be over kill to some but I use 100-140 lb flouro Leader. I normally tie a PR knot as  I have a bobbin and it lasts all day while throwing big lures.  Good luck and I am looking forward to reading your report.

[SquidMarks]

On 14/11/2017 at 10:13 AM, PhilK said:

Hi raiders, I normally fish from a boat but I've been taking more of a land based approach lately. I'll be heading to currarong/jervis Bay Area on the south coast hoping to get onto a decent king etc. I'll be using live bait, was just wondering if a 12-15kg rod with 50lb braid and a 60 flourocarbon leader will be ideal? Joining the leader and braid with an fg knot? Any tips on how long I should leave the leader or any other tips in general? Thanks. Phil 

I wouldn't even use that if targeting hoodlums off the boat. 

Spanner is on the money, triple the leader weight, 80lb braid at least, rod might handle it but i would go 15-24kg.

This might sound overkill, but you will quickly realise that sometimes even this is not enough when a big hoodlum latches on. 

 

Remind me of a time i took my brother fishing for groper. He was mocking me all evening before the fishing day because i told him he would get dusted on 15kg line, "haha, were gonna need a chain and a boat winch to haul in these groper" and "you may as well use anchor rope and winch em in" etc etc. 

Once he hooked onto his 1st groper, it pinged him in 3 secs flat, he just stood there stunned, staring at the water, mouth gaping for about 10 secs.

The story is just meant to make you aware, sometimes when you think you are going overkill on gear, you may not actually be going large enough. 

 

[JonD]

As you are most likely aware the longer the rod the harder it becomes to apply pressure or drag of fish, so if you are using something like a 9ft rod I very much doubt anyone being able to apply much more than 5-6kg of drag. With that in mind you have to ask why use line class you simply can't put to its full potential. Some will say it gives more strength if the line gets around structure but if you've ever dived around the rocks 50lb or 100lb braid will cut much like each other. 

Using heavier mono leaders will often give you a better chance depending on what the line rubs on but then you are faced with trying to cast 80 or even heavier line which can often give you problems depending how much leader you use.

Over the years I've continuely witnessd my daughter knock over bigger kings than myself, as she fishes much lighter. I've snapped hooks and been dragged through the bottom while my daughter somehow gets king after king to the boat. A good friend of ours had several landbased kings from Merimbula on 6kg class, he claims he regularly landed double figure kings on light gear while his buddies got smashed.

 

[fragmeister]

Lots of good comments here and I agree with many of them.

Having fished JB regularly many years ago would tend to agree with Squidmarks about leader and line rating but also to some degree with JonD in that it can be tough hanging onto a long rod with a loaded drag and an angry Kingy on the end of your line.

I believe many of the old LBG spots in JB such as The Tubes are now off limits but in the past this was a top location for Kings, amongst other species.

Off the rocks you simply had to go heavy as possible and really put some hurt on big fish. Wedge yourself in the rock, get someone to hang on to you but unless the kings runs straight out to sea ( which they rarely do) then you will get busted off in seconds. We are talking 15Kg plus fish on a regular basis.

As the best example I can think of check out the guys on Big Angry Fish for their approach to Big Kings off the rocks.Check our their web site and see how different the approach is to harbour kings on the flats.

It certainly is different to Kings on the flats where they do let the Kings run a little and are easier on the drag. The same thing applies to boats of course when you can have a little water depth to work with.

As a matter of interest the approach at The Tubes to Yellow Fin in particular was very different - these fish can strip off 500meters or more of line off in a single run without an issue and with that amount of line out the actual applied drag on the fish is impacted by the resistance of the line in the water and the mechanical advantage the fish has as the reel's spool becomes more empty. Getting reefed is less of problem than simple getting busted off because you didn't back of the drag as the fish took more line.

Having said all that I do understand JohnD's experience as I think Kings tend to pull harder if you pull harder so with light line and less drag you may get them up higher in the water column early where the structure is less of an issue.

Cheers

 

Jim

 

 

[JonD]

I agree with you Jim as just about everything you try can be both right and wrong depending on how the king decides to punish you. I would quite happily use 100lb or heavier leader in the hope it would hold up to them rubbing it all over the bottom. 

JB has had a reputation for big kings for quite sometime but from what we've been both seeing and hearing is this time around there are some extremely big fish about in locations right along the coast. 

Make sure you have hooks that can handle big fish, not just when you fight them but when you trace the line or gaff them.

If a king wraps you up or you somehow get snagged it might be worth taking something to wrap your line around to try and break it free, doing it through the rod with a locked up drag could damage the rod or reel when using such heavy lines. I use a tool called a braid buster.

 

[bombora]

Apart from the usual yakkas and, far better, slimeys, a live garfish is a killer kingie bait down there. Use a small, but strong, circle hook, with the hook placed through the bottom of the bait down near the tail, not in its back, under a pencil float.

And a bit of a special bait for big rock kings at JB is a dead frigate (usually pretty easy to spin up early morn) fished under a balloon, close to the rock ledge just on the edge of the wash. Seen them tempt big kings when even a live slimey wasn't getting any love. Give the king a bit of time to get the frigate down its gob.