Closest reef from Sydney north / south head to jig for kings

[anthman]

Hi guys, any ideas for the closest reef to Sydney headlands to have a go at jigging for kings? Longreef (area) seems to be the closest but I was thinking a place with some depth (longreef is ~30m from memory).

Not quite ready to travel to 12mile

[kingie chaser]

The Peak, or is that the 12m?

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by kingie chaser

[noelm]

7 hours ago, anthman said:

Hi guys, any ideas for the closest reef to Sydney headlands to have a go at jigging for kings? Longreef (area) seems to be the closest but I was thinking a place with some depth (longreef is ~30m from memory).

Not quite ready to travel to 12mile

What's wrong with 30m? Bigger fish are not always in deeper water or further from shore.

[kingfishbig]

1 hour ago, noelm said:

What's wrong with 30m? Bigger fish are not always in deeper water or further from shore.

He's talking about jigging  It's very hard work if they are not schooled up in good no's. This usually happens on the deep reefs like the Peak and the 12 mile.

[Smobaby]

You can still jig the shadows obviously not the same as deep water. We were fishing Sydney north fad last season pretty shallow boat next to us jigged up a swordfish on a 120 gram jig WTF would not believe it only were there

[kingfishbig]

27 minutes ago, Smobaby said:

You can still jig the shadows obviously not the same as deep water. We were fishing Sydney north fad last season pretty shallow boat next to us jigged up a swordfish on a 120 gram jig WTF would not believe it only were there

Nothing stopping you jigging for kings in shallow water - I'm just say it might be a bit like hard work and unproductive. You might be better off using slow jigs in shallow water.

[61 crusher]

3 minutes ago, kingfishbig said:

boat next to us jigged up a swordfish on a 120 gram jig WTF would not believe it only were there

That wasn’t A late model  aluminium 6.5m plus half cabin & the swordfish was  about 1.5m, if so they were trying to revive it with the gills out of the water & not motoring along, once he knew there was no size limit it was on board, he also mentioned the jig was way down its throat & caught on 20lb first one I’ve seen or heard of caught in such shallow waters

[Smobaby]

That was the one could not actually believe they were jigging those waters blue me away thought it was a small black never bothered to jig that shallow never know 

[anthman]

Thanks all. Kingfishbig is right, I was thinking of deep water, visible grouping on the sounder and dropping jigs on them to see what might happen (rather than speculative jigging at an empty sounder reading).

 

[61 crusher]

We were in the 580SF & about to head up to the top of the drift when they pulled up, by the time we were almost through the drift we had heard a marlin was caught then came across them. When there’s lots of boats the dollies go deeper & on the odd occasion have seen good sized soundings under them, could be well worth slow jigging or sending a large livie down deep

[MerryFisher]

1 hour ago, anthman said:

Thanks all. Kingfishbig is right, I was thinking of deep water, visible grouping on the sounder and dropping jigs on them to see what might happen (rather than speculative jigging at an empty sounder reading).

 

In that case the peak would be your best option(closest). When kings migrate from shallows to off shore reef around this time of the year, the first few weeks are the best, they will aggressively take jigs on fast jigs. later in the season you will have to try different techniques to induce a bite such as slow jigging. I think it won't be long until they show up there in numbers. In the mean time you can get flute mouth on slow jig at the peak.

[James Clain]

23 minutes ago, MerryFisher said:

In that case the peak would be your best option(closest). When kings migrate from shallows to off shore reef around this time of the year, the first few weeks are the best, they will aggressively take jigs on fast jigs. later in the season you will have to try different techniques to induce a bite such as slow jigging. I think it won't be long until they show up there in numbers. In the mean time you can get flute mouth on slow jig at the peak.

Not that they all go, caught 8 rats at Seaforth in June. 17 degrees I believe, maybe 16

Edited March 4, 2020 by James Clain

[MerryFisher]

6 minutes ago, James Clain said:

Not that they all go, caught 8 rats at Seaforth in June. 17 degrees I believe, maybe 16

last year was very good in the harbour, even meter kings outside bantry bay in winter month. I was refer to more the usual trend of king migration.

[James Clain]

Just now, MerryFisher said:

last year was very good in the harbour, even meter kings outside bantry bay in winter month. I was refer to more the usual trend of king migration.

Yea its weird how they can show up anywhere although im not surprised about the meterys. Winter is better for inshore hoodlums if you can find them.

[anthman]

9 hours ago, MerryFisher said:

In that case the peak would be your best option(closest). When kings migrate from shallows to off shore reef around this time of the year, the first few weeks are the best, they will aggressively take jigs on fast jigs. later in the season you will have to try different techniques to induce a bite such as slow jigging. I think it won't be long until they show up there in numbers. In the mean time you can get flute mouth on slow jig at the peak.

Thanks mate. It sucks cause the closest I can see is The Peak (about 16km from the heads) and then 12mile. Nothing in the 8-10km range to build up from.

[PaddyT]

Jigging is a method-thats all-why is depth restricting your method? ive certainly jigged them at Long reef in 10M of water and at the 12 mile in 100-personally i think livies are more effective 90% of the time , but you can try Mugs, The artificial, the colours-all within a few K's of the heads-BTW dont jig unless you see fish on your sounder-also you will find that the seas will often be bumpier at the Arty and Longy due you bounce back off the cliffs than at the Peak, an extra couple of K's aint going to be a problem

[antonywardle]

where about's  is the Peak and 12 mile on a map?

[kingie chaser]

7 minutes ago, antonywardle said:

where about's  is the Peak and 12 mile on a map?

Look up the GPS coordinance & you will find it.

[PaddyT]

12 mile-well its 12 Nm off south head -and the peak is about 5 nm off Maroubra

[MerryFisher]

6 hours ago, anthman said:

Thanks mate. It sucks cause the closest I can see is The Peak (about 16km from the heads) and then 12mile. Nothing in the 8-10km range to build up from.

There's also 9 mile on the way to 12, not as consistent though.