Releasing a Kingfish that had already been tagged

[whiskey299]

Had the morning off so I took the opportunity to sneak in a quick fish on the kayak.

Bait once again was difficult to catch, 1 herring and 2 yakkas! I would need to carefully use these and ensure they were not wasted on tailor.

Found a school of kingfish but these were very very hesitant to take any lures. I did get a few taps but unfortunately the jigs couldn't connect.

I rigged up the smallest live yakka but they still were not interested.

Moved to various locations and landed a few tailor on slow jigs, small soapie and a rat.

After what felt like hours I eventually found a school close to the rocks dropped my live bait down and bingo.

I was onto a decent kingfish, took my time letting it run when needed, just when I thought I was gaining some line back the hook pulled. I was devastated!

Spent the next 30 mins searching far and wide for the school again, back tracking and covering new areas. By this time the heat was starting to become unbearable.

Found the school again and drop my last live yakka down and it didn't take long for the rod to start screaming. Dragged the kingfish away from the rocks into deeper waters and took my time playing it. The kingfish surfaced and I could see it was already tagged, it looked like a fresh tag so I guess the fish was atleast 70cm big. Netted the fish, measured it and it was 70cm on the dot. Took some photos and released the fish to grow bigger. I've submitted a NSW DPI recapture form and will report back on the results.

Wasn't the most successful day, but a no donut day is a good day!

Edited September 20, 2023 by whiskey299

[Little_Flatty]

Good on you for getting out. Even at sun up it was already shaping up to be a stinker!

Would be interesting to hear more of the kingie's story when you hear back from the DPI. I've always wanted to catch a tagged fish and find out more about it.

[AlbertW]

Beautiful fish whiskey, do you do any shorejigging when the weather doesn't permit the yak?

[whiskey299]

1 hour ago, Little_Flatty said:

Good on you for getting out. Even at sun up it was already shaping up to be a stinker!

Would be interesting to hear more of the kingie's story when you hear back from the DPI. I've always wanted to catch a tagged fish and find out more about it.

There seems to be more tagging going on these days from recreational anglers, it used to be done primarily by the charters boats in the Sydney area. I tagged 3 kings 2 years ago, 91, 91 and 93cm all caught on live slimy. I still haven't heard of their recapture yet hopefully they haven't been eaten by sharks and would love to know how they are going.

Here's my first recapture certificate I got back in 2021, I've had to edit the certificate to keep some things private, delete the photo if not allowed. BTW the 96cm kingfish was kept and not released.

Edited September 20, 2023 by whiskey299

[whiskey299]

17 minutes ago, AlbertW said:

Beautiful fish whiskey, do you do any shorejigging when the weather doesn't permit the yak?

Not much these days, especially when the kayak is more productive, fun and you get to fish all those spots which landbased ppl can't reach!

[AlbertW]

1 hour ago, whiskey299 said:

Not much these days, especially when the kayak is more productive, fun and you get to fish all those spots which landbased ppl can't reach!

Yeah true haha, I put in 6-8 hours every sesh and have caught nothing except my first king haha

[Yowie]

Good work on what you pulled out, different fish, and a tagged one to show what is happening once the tag movements are analysed.

Tailor good to eat if you like them on the plate.

[whiskey299]

1 minute ago, Yowie said:

Good work on what you pulled out, different fish, and a tagged one to show what is happening once the tag movements are analysed.

Tailor good to eat if you like them on the plate.

Thanks. Tailor are good on the plate, we love it steamed with black bean and garlic sauce.

We also use it for fish cakes as they are easily caught is most harbours and rocks.

[Isaac Ct]

Well done mate, cool to catch a tagged fish, definitely something I want to do one day.

[bessell1955]

That is something that I have never experienced, catching a tagged fish! Well done.

[Larkin]

Nice work finding the fish! 👍
very interesting seeing the fish had hung around the same area for 43 days after the original tagging.

[whiskey299]

I have an email from the Gamefish Tagging Program about this tag and I'll quote what they said!

"It appears as though the fish is shrinking but that is probably due to different people measuring the fish with technique, different eyes and different measuring devices."

 

Original Release

Tag Number: XXXXXX

Date: 24/06/2023

Location: Sydney Harbour

Length: 75cm

 

First Recapture

Date: 12/08/2023

Location: Sydney Harbour

Length: 71cm

Time at Liberty: 49 days

 

Second Recapture

Date: 19/09/2023

Location: Sydney Harbour

Length: 70cm

Time at Liberty: 38 days

 

The original tag measured it as 75cm lol. What I can only suspect is that when it was measured they squeezed the tail tips to extend its true length. 

I used an Alvey Fish Measure Stick on the kayak which folds out to 80cm so I trust this ruler. 

I guess that's why some ppl measure to the fork and not the tip of the tail. Some interesting data how many times it's been captured in the last 3 months

[JustJames]

2 hours ago, Larkin said:

very interesting seeing the fish had hung around the same area for 43 days after the original tagging.

 

Either the fish was an idiot for not moving, or he thought that the underwater equivalent of lightning couldn't strike twice.

 

22 minutes ago, whiskey299 said:

some ppl measure to the fork and not the tip of the tail

I know that there are these two ways of measuring fish, but when measuring a fish which has a size limit, which measurement is correct?

 

ETA: For legal length, measure total length.

https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/fishing-skills/weigh#:~:text=Measuring length&text=Fork length is measured from,the tip of the tail.

Edited September 21, 2023 by JustJames

[jenno64]

Great report 🥃 

Love you work with the tagging!