gio Posted January 3, 2006 Share Posted January 3, 2006 Hi raiders, In the last 3 weeks i have fished sydney harbour 3 times for poor results. We went out friday the 16th, tuesday the 27th and friday 30th of december. Each time we go out more prepared yet our results seem to get worse each outing. We fish mainly around the wedding cakes for the elusive kingfish but we are yet to receive a decent bite let alone boat a kingie. Whilst it is suggested that live yakkas and squid is a must it is quite easier said than done whilst we are able to berley the yakkas up to the boat it seems impossible to get them on the bite. As for the kings well weve almost given up we'd settle to cathch anything that swims. Whilst we think were doing all the right things something must be going wrong if the raiders good possibly provide any suggestions that would be greatly aprreciated. the berley mix we use contains bread, chicken pellets, and fish pieces usually slimies or yellow tails whatever is going cheap at the fish market soaked in tuna oil and thrown out liberally at the various fishing spots. baits include salted pilchards, fresh squid, peeled prawn, salted whitebaits our most recent trip conprised the use of the baits plus the berley mix i mentioned earlier we focused our efforts around the spit both sides and both wedding cakes 8 hours of fishing which produced only 3 fish none of which were keepers an undersized snapper and tailor and a 1m nasty eel that nearly ate our toes off, quite depressing when the kids at rose bay boat ramp scored a better catch in the time it took us to put the boat on the trailer. any suggestion would be much appreciated because at the moment everything is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Knot Posted January 3, 2006 Share Posted January 3, 2006 Hi gio - Seems like you can get the yakkas up to the boat OK. Just have problems converting (I just use a loaf of bread mixed with water, mulch up and add a small qty of tuna oil to the mash and then freeze into little round chineese take away containers). It lasts longer when frozen - but you obviously need a berley pot or basket when you put the frozen berley in the water. Try a small long shank hook on 4 or 6 lb line with small split shot 6in above the hook. Cut a scallop from the side of a pilchard about the size of a finger nail and hook though the skin. You should be able to see the yakkas run off with the bait, give em a chance to swallow and then pull em in. I use a plastic hand caster. Cant help much with the squid as I have pretty poor strike rate with them too. Just work the weed beds around the harbour and my opinion only, use small orange coloured jigs they seem to work OK for me. As for Kings they are where you find them, generally where the yakkas or other baitfish hang out (around structure etc) Good luck and welcome to the site John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narralakes Posted January 3, 2006 Share Posted January 3, 2006 I dont do much bait fishing anymore, but I would suggest you buy a bait jig ie a set of about 6 small hooks with red/green beads/small leaves above the hooks on one rig, they'll get you the yakkas, even caught slimeys and trevs on them before. With one of the yakkas, put it on a balloon or decent sized float with about a metre or so leader, send another yakka down deep. For squid, harder to get each day with so many people after the prized king bait, but you need squid jigs and basically cast to rocky shores or around weed beds. Read up on mags and books on fishing the harbour, lots of info out there. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gio Posted January 3, 2006 Author Share Posted January 3, 2006 thanks for the tips guys i'll take them on board hope they will bring some tight lines in the future Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharky Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Mate if you want to get yakkas they can be tricky to get sometimes . When you burly start with a big dump of burly then let the pot do all the work . Over burlying can be unproductive as there is too much for them to feed on and there is no competition for food. teh trick is to have just enough in the water to keep them at the back of the boat so when your baited hook goes down there all over it like white on rice. Bait jigs are good to if there not hitting them ad bait to them small pieces of prawn work well. If your chasing kings try trawling skirt lures 6 inches pink ones seem to be the flavour of the month also sunami shads have been working wonders lately. When you get a strike on one rod dont stop strait away as double and tripple hook ups arent uncomen. Goog luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brown Hornet Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 I was looking for some bait jigs today at fish outa water. Can anyone recommend any sizes? I assume the smaller are better cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 mate to be honest i wouldn t be wasting my money on bait jigs of any type, purchase a packet of size 10 long shank hooks with a 6lb hand line. i normally run two hooks with the sinker at the bottom, seem to never have a problem picking up yakkas. was out earlier this morning managed to pick up 8 yakkas in know time. the water was like a washing machine through middle head so retreated to the spit. not much luck but a couple of boats had some luck with a couple of rats on fresh squid, which i didn t have. you can t get em everytime good luck mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 (edited) Hey all, New to this site but have been getting kings in Sydney Harbour for a few years now and thought i might have some useful advice to add. I was out in the harbour twice this week and the kings are around in abundant supplies, i always use live squid as bait. This week i heard from a mate that runs a Sydney charter that the kings are taking Yakkas also, So i thought i would give it a go, now i downrigg for kings but thought i might just try to drop the live bait down to see what gets hit, had on yakka on 1 rod and a squid on the other, both live and the squid got smashed within a minute, this happened on 4 attempts, the yakka was completely ignored on each occasion. My advice would be to forget about yakkas and concentrate on squid, if you can master getting squid you will master getting kings, so far this season i have caught well over 30 kings and in the last week they have really heated up, there average size is up from previous seasons so we can all have a good time fighting these guys. Just do your preparation work. Good luck Edited January 5, 2006 by netic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmar560 Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Try using minced beef, yakkas love em too ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneLastCast Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 (edited) Welcome netic. Have appreciated reading your reports on *another* site. Looking forward to hearing more from you - and seeing some pics of your kings. Edited January 5, 2006 by OneLastCast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gio Posted January 6, 2006 Author Share Posted January 6, 2006 what jigs should i be using to get the squid? are there any specific colours or brands that are more succesful? also how quick should the retrieval be and should you twitch the rod and stop the lure along the way or should it be a smooth constant retrieval? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luken1 Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 In regard to yakkas I find that oily catfood will help to get them to bite. Also fish by sight - wait for them to run and then strike on tiny long shank hooks. When catching Kings in the Harbour I agree squid is best but i have had success with tiny yellow tail, try closer in on the usual haunts. If the Kings aren't present the Tailor love them. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Hi onelastcast, if you want to view some of my pics you can do so on the "other" site. I have stopped taking pics of my kings mainly because 1 king looks extremely similar to another, unless i pull up a good size one meaning 90cm plus i dont bother taking pics any more, plus most of the fish i boat are tagged and released anyway so dont have an opportunity to take the pic. In regards to squidding the 2 brands of jigs i recommend are Yamashita being the first and Yozuri being the second, Yamashita are hard to find so if you find the yozuri's get them, they work well. Fav colours are Orange 1st, Red 2nd, Brown 3rd and sizes are 1.8 to 2.5, i dont use anything bigger as they sink too fast and then you get alot of snags, With your action, cast out and let it sink for around 30secs, then very slow retrieve, after about 2 meters jig twice and then let sink again for 20 secs. Keep doing this till the jig reaches the boat. if you don't get a squid in 5-6 casts move on to a new area. Hopefully that will assist you in nailing some squid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fliesentom Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 Hi raiders, In the last 3 weeks i have fished sydney harbour 3 times for poor results. We went out friday the 16th, tuesday the 27th and friday 30th of december. Each time we go out more prepared yet our results seem to get worse each outing. We fish mainly around the wedding cakes for the elusive kingfish but we are yet to receive a decent bite let alone boat a kingie. Whilst it is suggested that live yakkas and squid is a must it is quite easier said than done whilst we are able to berley the yakkas up to the boat it seems impossible to get them on the bite. As for the kings well weve almost given up we'd settle to cathch anything that swims. Whilst we think were doing all the right things something must be going wrong if the raiders good possibly provide any suggestions that would be greatly aprreciated. the berley mix we use contains bread, chicken pellets, and fish pieces usually slimies or yellow tails whatever is going cheap at the fish market soaked in tuna oil and thrown out liberally at the various fishing spots. baits include salted pilchards, fresh squid, peeled prawn, salted whitebaits our most recent trip conprised the use of the baits plus the berley mix i mentioned earlier we focused our efforts around the spit both sides and both wedding cakes 8 hours of fishing which produced only 3 fish none of which were keepers an undersized snapper and tailor and a 1m nasty eel that nearly ate our toes off, quite depressing when the kids at rose bay boat ramp scored a better catch in the time it took us to put the boat on the trailer. any suggestion would be much appreciated because at the moment everything is try some garfish on a ganged hook 4/0 and cast them out but retrive slowly ,go to north head in the morning .i always find fish there. cheers tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebehy Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 If it's any conselation, I just wanted to reply saying that I don't think it's anything you're doing wrong. I too have fished both sides of the Spit and the wedding cakes recently and have tried Yakkas and live squid with no stirkes. At one time, I could even spot the kings and salmon but they weren't striking. I have had much better success than you with the jeuveniles though catching undersized bream and snapper until it gets almost annoying. Catching the live yellowtail is the easy part. using them to catch Kings or Jews is something I am yet to master. All I can say is, Keep trying and good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrykrocker Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 Live squid is undoubtedly the preferred bait for kings - but what's the general consensus on Lures Vs live yakkas ? which is better ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lbgking Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 Live baiting is the go. Spinning gets to be to much hard work, you can't spin and sleep at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gio Posted January 7, 2006 Author Share Posted January 7, 2006 if we do manage to get on to the live bait how shoud we send it out? i usually send my pilles and squid out on gang hooks with a trace connected to a 3 ways swivel rig with a 1oz or 2oz snapper sinker at the bottom depending on what water depth where fishing in. Should i be sending the baits out on a running sinker or without a weight altogether and float them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 (edited) Hi Gio, Their are many ways to rig for kings and most will work fine, recently i got onto using trebles as the lower hook and since then my strike to boat ratio is 100%, the treble seems to get hooked much better, seeing i downrigg my squid at idle spped what i do is have a 2/0 treble hooked right where the tentacles join the head, then i have a 5/0 live bait hook just on the tip on the tube so it can maintain a natural motion in the water. Make sure the 5/0 is adjustable as the squid will always be different sizes. on most occasions the treble is so well hooked that its difficult getting it out without doing major damage to the fish, Trust me their is plenty of kings out there, just keep on trying and don't give up, keep an eye out for me, i am more than happy to chat to you out there and also give you some squid if i have had a good day getting them. and don't stay in one spot, with kings you have to find them and they move from hour to hour. Keep an eye out for my boat. Good luck Edited January 7, 2006 by netic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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