gymea bay

[bkk]

yesterday i headed off to gymea bay and there were quite a few ppl there, and no one seemed to be catching anything. my dad and i started to heavily burley up and we saw about 20 kings just swimming around, but not eating anything but just kissing our bait, staring at it, then swim right past it. we tried cut up squid, salted prawns, pilchards but none of them worked. would have a live yakkie or squid have made it better? there were also lots of luderick as it is their season rn, however with no sea cabbage or cunjevoi around we had to stick with prawns, and one actually ended up taking it, however it only managed to be around 23cm, but u could still see some big ones there. other than that we just caught small bream while endeavouring for the mighty kings. one i saw was about 80-90cm, came so close to the surface as well. with none of the baits working, i tried  out some lures. chrome slices, diezel minnowz, grubz, stickbaits, (was not able to buy jerkshadz tho  )none of them seemed to work. after they had seemed to go off somewhere else, we left at about 4pm feeling sour. 

what could i have done better to catch these kings as i know they can be very picky and could anyone give out some tips?

[kingie chaser]

1 hour ago, bkk said:

yesterday i headed off to gymea bay and there were quite a few ppl there, and no one seemed to be catching anything. my dad and i started to heavily burley up and we saw about 20 kings just swimming around, but not eating anything but just kissing our bait, staring at it, then swim right past it. we tried cut up squid, salted prawns, pilchards but none of them worked. would have a live yakkie or squid have made it better? there were also lots of luderick as it is their season rn, however with no sea cabbage or cunjevoi around we had to stick with prawns, and one actually ended up taking it, however it only managed to be around 23cm, but u could still see some big ones there. other than that we just caught small bream while endeavouring for the mighty kings. one i saw was about 80-90cm, came so close to the surface as well. with none of the baits working, i tried  out some lures. chrome slices, diezel minnowz, grubz, stickbaits, (was not able to buy jerkshadz tho  )none of them seemed to work. after they had seemed to go off somewhere else, we left at about 4pm feeling sour. 

what could i have done better to catch these kings as i know they can be very picky and could anyone give out some tips?

There is a plethora of threads in here re kings if you use the search tab.

I think what I posted pretty much sums up Kings in a nutshell!

 

If you had something live that could have been what they wanted on the day??

Sounds like you threw most kinds of lures at them, maybe a big noisy popper could have got them excited?? If you dont have one in your kit then its worth having to try. 

They can be temperamental BRSTD's! 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2021 by kingie chaser

[Yowie]

Dynamite, but that is not legal.

My mate was down there a week ago, and saw one kingie that was about 90cm long. It followed up some lures but not close enough to take anything.

A bit of colour in the water from rain (not likely to happen in the near future) or some surface ruffling caused by wind (at this time of year, you do not want the cold wind blowing)

The big kingie does not grow that big by just grabbing anything with a hook in it, and if you were to hook him, he would be around a boat mooring, rock or into the bathes netting before you could stop him.

Live bait may work better, you can only try.

[bkk]

2 hours ago, kingie chaser said:

There is a plethora of threads in here re kings if you use the search tab.

I think what I posted pretty much sums up Kings in a nutshell!

 

If you had something live that could have been what they wanted on the day??

Sounds like you threw most kinds of lures at them, maybe a big noisy popper could have got them excited?? If you dont have one in your kit then its worth having to try. 

They can be temperamental BRSTD's! 

 

 

hey kingie chaser thanks for the info 

i do have a popper but its only around 8cm, will i need a bigger one?

also the kingies didnt rlly seem to eat anything but just swim around the burley, so even tried a squished up burley ball as well as chicken breast. they seemed to like the chicken breast more but didnt have a full go at it, just nibbles. my friend went to gymea today and caught a watsons leaping bonito, thought their season had ended but i guess fishing is fishing.

the kings were also about 3m deep so i dont think surface lures would have worked well, but may give sluggo/slapstix a go, and also make sure to buy a jerkshadz

will it also be ideal to catch live prawns? ive found a youtube video and they have made it look so simple

[bkk]

2 hours ago, Yowie said:

Dynamite, but that is not legal.

My mate was down there a week ago, and saw one kingie that was about 90cm long. It followed up some lures but not close enough to take anything.

A bit of colour in the water from rain (not likely to happen in the near future) or some surface ruffling caused by wind (at this time of year, you do not want the cold wind blowing)

The big kingie does not grow that big by just grabbing anything with a hook in it, and if you were to hook him, he would be around a boat mooring, rock or into the bathes netting before you could stop him.

Live bait may work better, you can only try.

thanks man ill def try a livie next time, but preferably not at gymea, too many people and it is way too far in but somehow kingies still come tho. i know fishermen dont give away good spots, but are there any areas i could try? (not specific spots)

 

[Pickles]

Hey BBK, when the Kingies are like this (happens pretty often) I’ve occasionally been able to tempt them by dropping a Mustad Demon size 6 (not 6/0) in a piece of fresh squid or pilchard cube., floated back in the berley unweighted. These hooks are very strong, but thin circle hooks (one of my favourites for kings, as you only ever hook them in the corner of the mouth. This method only works if they are cruising through the berley.

You have to fish pretty light, about 20lb fluro is about the lightest you can go and even then you get smoked unless it’s very deep water (they don’t get bigby being stupid).

As Yowie said, live bait is the go (squid or even better cuttlefish if you can get them).

[bkk]

6 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Hey BBK, when the Kingies are like this (happens pretty often) I’ve occasionally been able to tempt them by dropping a Mustad Demon size 6 (not 6/0) in a piece of fresh squid or pilchard cube., floated back in the berley unweighted. These hooks are very strong, but thin circle hooks (one of my favourites for kings, as you only ever hook them in the corner of the mouth. This method only works if they are cruising through the berley.

You have to fish pretty light, about 20lb fluro is about the lightest you can go and even then you get smoked unless it’s very deep water (they don’t get bigby being stupid).

As Yowie said, live bait is the go (squid or even better cuttlefish if you can get them).

thanks for into pickles i did the try the squid and cubed pilchards on floaters but used a different hook tho. 

the water there is actually quite deep, seemed to be around 8m 

ill 100% try to get livies but other than squid/cuttlefish can i try live prawns if i am abke to catch them? or maybe just yakkas

[Pickles]

I find it important to completely conceal the hook in the bait. 8m isn’t that deep for Kingies as they will take you from the surface to8m in a few seconds.

[Yowie]

13 minutes ago, bkk said:

thanks for into pickles i did the try the squid and cubed pilchards on floaters but used a different hook tho. 

the water there is actually quite deep, seemed to be around 8m 

ill 100% try to get livies but other than squid/cuttlefish can i try live prawns if i am abke to catch them? or maybe just yakkas

Water may seem deep enough, but to a good size kingie, you will need 30 metres or more. 🤣

If you can catch some prawns, you could try them, but they would be nice in the cooker/BBQ.

You can also try a fillet of fresh yakka, but, mangle it with a knife. Some cross cuts so that little pieces are about to fall off, hide the hook in the fillet. If the kingie shows interest but will not take it, give the fillet a few jigs so that some little pieces of cut flesh fall off.

If that does not work, go back to tip one. Dynamite. Kidding, cannot use it.

 

[jordy]

 Been in this situation a few times and found throwing a handful of fresh prawns out every 5 mins then carefully rig one up on lighter gear unweighted, let it drift down naturally. Ive found it successful in so far as the hook up, landing them then on the light gear is when the work really starts im talking quality 6kg mono straight to the hook. Any heavier and they shy away. Its awesome when it comes together though landed them up to 1m using this method when more conventional tactics draw a blank. Good luck.

[Johnny Dory]

Took my boys down there last Sunday morning around 7:30am. No one else was on the pier. Tried with live yabbies, chicken fillet, prawns, pilchards, squid. Between the four of us, we picked up 1 blue swimmer, 1 baby snapper and 1 baby bream. Packed it in around 12:30pm to return home empty-handed.

Only saw another chap come down around midday and a small tinnie try around the moored boats - didn't look like they were having much luck either.

We got a lot more action when we were there late May (2 x trevally 40cm/30cm and a handful of small whiting/snapper/bream).

Water too cold? Fish not hungry?

[Little_Flatty]

I've been watching a resident school of rat kings in the parra river over the past week that have been busting up each morning I've been down there. Last Saturday I observed that they were eating tiny baitfish or prawns (saw a couple jump while being chased), so I have started keeping a rod rigged with a 2 inch bass minnow. This morning, the school came by again and I got a few casts in, then hooked up.

Obviously with light bream gear (need to be able to cast the tiny lure) and fishing off oyster encrusted rocks, I got rubbed off eventually, but it was satisfying to get them to take something and hear that drag SING! I think I was asking for it with 10lb leader, might up it to 15lb or 20lb next time. Probably nothing much I can do, given the environment - other than rely on prayers and blind luck!

So if they are feeding, try to observe what they are chasing, or if not, see what bait is around (polaroids might help) and try to match the hatch. Otherwise, default to Yowie's suggested technique

[bkk]

17 hours ago, Pickles said:

I find it important to completely conceal the hook in the bait. 8m isn’t that deep for Kingies as they will take you from the surface to8m in a few seconds.

yeh with the hook it did point out a little bit so that i would get a better hooking on it maybe that might be why

[bkk]

17 hours ago, Yowie said:

Water may seem deep enough, but to a good size kingie, you will need 30 metres or more. 🤣

If you can catch some prawns, you could try them, but they would be nice in the cooker/BBQ.

You can also try a fillet of fresh yakka, but, mangle it with a knife. Some cross cuts so that little pieces are about to fall off, hide the hook in the fillet. If the kingie shows interest but will not take it, give the fillet a few jigs so that some little pieces of cut flesh fall off.

If that does not work, go back to tip one. Dynamite. Kidding, cannot use it.

 

im not 100% sure of the depth of the water but it did take a while for my chrome slice to reach to the bottom.

wait so use a yakka but not as live? and do a few cross cuts?

[bkk]

16 hours ago, jordy said:

 Been in this situation a few times and found throwing a handful of fresh prawns out every 5 mins then carefully rig one up on lighter gear unweighted, let it drift down naturally. Ive found it successful in so far as the hook up, landing them then on the light gear is when the work really starts im talking quality 6kg mono straight to the hook. Any heavier and they shy away. Its awesome when it comes together though landed them up to 1m using this method when more conventional tactics draw a blank. Good luck.

thank you ill def try that next time

[bkk]

13 hours ago, Johnny Dory said:

Took my boys down there last Sunday morning around 7:30am. No one else was on the pier. Tried with live yabbies, chicken fillet, prawns, pilchards, squid. Between the four of us, we picked up 1 blue swimmer, 1 baby snapper and 1 baby bream. Packed it in around 12:30pm to return home empty-handed.

Only saw another chap come down around midday and a small tinnie try around the moored boats - didn't look like they were having much luck either.

We got a lot more action when we were there late May (2 x trevally 40cm/30cm and a handful of small whiting/snapper/bream).

Water too cold? Fish not hungry?

basically happened to us as well but my friend went there yesterday and caught a watsons leaping bonito, but that was the only fish for them.

i reckon it was just that the fish werent as hungry and they were extremely cautious with the food

dont know too much about the temperature tho, not an expert on that 

[bkk]

4 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

I've been watching a resident school of rat kings in the parra river over the past week that have been busting up each morning I've been down there. Last Saturday I observed that they were eating tiny baitfish or prawns (saw a couple jump while being chased), so I have started keeping a rod rigged with a 2 inch bass minnow. This morning, the school came by again and I got a few casts in, then hooked up.

Obviously with light bream gear (need to be able to cast the tiny lure) and fishing off oyster encrusted rocks, I got rubbed off eventually, but it was satisfying to get them to take something and hear that drag SING! I think I was asking for it with 10lb leader, might up it to 15lb or 20lb next time. Probably nothing much I can do, given the environment - other than rely on prayers and blind luck!

So if they are feeding, try to observe what they are chasing, or if not, see what bait is around (polaroids might help) and try to match the hatch. Otherwise, default to Yowie's suggested technique

was where u saw those bustups near the sydney harbour bridge or even further in?

i did try to see what the kings were feeding on, but they didnt seem to be feeding on anything, just swimming in circles around the baits and burley. 

[Little_Flatty]

1 hour ago, bkk said:

was where u saw those bustups near the sydney harbour bridge or even further in?

i did try to see what the kings were feeding on, but they didnt seem to be feeding on anything, just swimming in circles around the baits and burley. 

Further in...I was fishing up in the Hunters Hill area.

There's more than a few examples of fellow raiders getting into the kings on the parra, so it's not an isolated occurrence. For example:

 

[Yowie]

3 hours ago, bkk said:

im not 100% sure of the depth of the water but it did take a while for my chrome slice to reach to the bottom.

wait so use a yakka but not as live? and do a few cross cuts?

Try live baits if you can catch something.

At times I have used a fillet that I have mangled a little bit, that is, not a perfect looking bait. Some people try to find a perfect bait all the time, vary it a little bit.

I have also caught a couple by bouncing a fillet or strip of fish on the surface. Just splash it on the surface a few, though it does not always work. 

Have also pulled out a couple of rat sizes on fresh bread. Mould the bread around a small but strong hook, the bread not too hard. May have to lightly wet it, throw in a few bread baits the same size as your hook size, and drop your hook bait in with them.

[bkk]

3 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Further in...I was fishing up in the Hunters Hill area.

There's more than a few examples of fellow raiders getting into the kings on the parra, so it's not an isolated occurrence. For example:

 

ohhhhh i remember watching that video on youtube, i was surprised the kingies went in that far, thought they liked cleaner, deeper water but i guess they go to where bait is.

if you catch a legal king there would it still be safe to eat it, as they are still pelagics and they move around all the time

[bkk]

2 hours ago, Yowie said:

Try live baits if you can catch something.

At times I have used a fillet that I have mangled a little bit, that is, not a perfect looking bait. Some people try to find a perfect bait all the time, vary it a little bit.

I have also caught a couple by bouncing a fillet or strip of fish on the surface. Just splash it on the surface a few, though it does not always work. 

Have also pulled out a couple of rat sizes on fresh bread. Mould the bread around a small but strong hook, the bread not too hard. May have to lightly wet it, throw in a few bread baits the same size as your hook size, and drop your hook bait in with them.

so i could use a whole pilchard and make it seem like a live fish splashing on the surface?

i did try the bread and some guy next to me decided to chuck in one whole thing, but no fish had devoured it

[Yowie]

17 minutes ago, bkk said:

so i could use a whole pilchard and make it seem like a live fish splashing on the surface?

Pilchards can be too hard, not flexible enough like a fillet or strip. Allowing a small live fish to splash on the surface has worked before.

One thing to remember is that the water is clear and cold at present, and the fish are in no hurry to grab a suspicious looking bait. Some days, nothing will work.

[Little_Flatty]

27 minutes ago, bkk said:

ohhhhh i remember watching that video on youtube, i was surprised the kingies went in that far, thought they liked cleaner, deeper water but i guess they go to where bait is.

if you catch a legal king there would it still be safe to eat it, as they are still pelagics and they move around all the time

Not sure if this is in line with the DPI recommendations (it is west of the Harbour Bridge after all) but one probably won't hurt. In any case I doubt that many of the ones I saw were actually legal anyway.

The water is relatively clear at this time of the year. It gets quite deep in the Parra in parts from Kissing Point onwards. Google up the RMS depth charts...you'd be surprised.

[bkk]

On 7/6/2021 at 7:46 PM, Yowie said:

Pilchards can be too hard, not flexible enough like a fillet or strip. Allowing a small live fish to splash on the surface has worked before.

One thing to remember is that the water is clear and cold at present, and the fish are in no hurry to grab a suspicious looking bait. Some days, nothing will work.

yeh i guess i will have to mix it up a bit a see what works on that day

also are we only able to fish 10km from where we live now?

[bkk]

On 7/6/2021 at 7:59 PM, Little_Flatty said:

Not sure if this is in line with the DPI recommendations (it is west of the Harbour Bridge after all) but one probably won't hurt. In any case I doubt that many of the ones I saw were actually legal anyway.

The water is relatively clear at this time of the year. It gets quite deep in the Parra in parts from Kissing Point onwards. Google up the RMS depth charts...you'd be surprised.

do u still catch kings at kissing point? i wonder if kings go that far in tho

cant find what rms depth charts are, do u have a link?