Fishing the harbour - first kingfish encounters!

[ireallylovefishies22]

With the school holidays beginning, I headed out with @44jeff, @eaglesilk5 and 3 other friends from school. Our plan was to fish the man o war steps in front of the opera house for luderick, then move to a wharf elsewhere to catch other stuff, no specific target. Jeff arrived at the wharf at around 8, and began burleying up as he waited for the rest of us, managing 1 fish around the 33cm mark. The rest of us arrived around 9, and we fished for about 2 hours managing about 8 hookups, 4 fish landed and a couple other missed downs. The others in our group had frozen yakka and pillies out far on their heavier setups, which resulted in some small pinkies and a nice flounder. I'm definitely no luderick master, so us managing a few fish made my day. 

Jeff's fish

 

Double hookup on the flounder and luderick

 

 

After some fun on the blackfish, we decided to head over to a different wharf to target other species. We used small chicken baits to catch some small yakkas that we could use as bait. As one of our friends (who had only ever been fishing twice) was brining up a yakka, I saw a green torpedo shoot out of the pylons and grab the yakka. ITS A #&*% KING!!! Everyone was yelling and screaming, but on the light setup, we all knew there was no chance of landing the fish, especially given the heavy structure. He did a decent job of fighting this fish for a beginner, as he somehow 'survived' the first run, before getting snagged when the fish went for another. Seeing that the kings were around, we loaded up of yakkas and started fishing them live unweighted near the poles. The kingies returned, this time it was a pair of fish which looked around 85cm that came up and chased our livies for a bit before disappearing. This continued for the next hour and a half, where the kings would appear periodically and harrass our baits before swimming away. We managed another hookup, but this one was on for only a few seconds before the line was snapped. After this, they seemed to have vanished as we did not see them again. 

After the excitement of the kingfish, we decided to throw out some yakka fillets while we fish larger pieces of unweighted chicken for bream. However, the regular appearance of boats made it much harder to fish, as we would have to wind in every few minutes. Still, I managed to bag a nice flatty, around 39cm. While fishing with chicken, I hook up to a fish that is so heavy I can barely move it. Just as I am beginning to wonder if it is a ray of some kind, it goes on a blistering run and snaps my line within fractions of a second, another king lost. We also managed to bring up a large blue swimmer crab, but it let go of the bait as soon as it reached the surface. We headed home after that, as it was getting dark.

Overall, a very fun day out on the Harbour targeting different species. I found luderick fishing very enjoyable, so I will definitely be back! If anyone has tips to hopefully catch the kings, they would be greatly appreciated. 

[bessell1955]

A great reward for you efforts.

[Larkin]

Nice catch! Kings are great fun. 

Land based I burley up every 5 mins to keep the baitfish around and I’ll drop the live yakka just below the baitfish. 

Tackle - I use 60lb fluorocarbon trace with a 7/0 snelled circle. (Make sure to run the snell line the right way through the eye)

Kings want movement, so if your yakka has been on the hook too long or is tired most of the time they will have a look but swim off. 
Put a fresh yakka on or try fresh squid/squid strip - ones you’ve caught yourself work best - even if frozen. 

could try shore jigging too if they’re not taking baits - the fast movement can encourage the strike

[big Neil]

A rewarding report for you guys. Chasing Kingfish and catching Luderick...can't complain about that. Well done.   bn

[jenno64]

Great post👌Your king encounter will have you back for more🙏🏻

[kantong]

great job mate. Hooking up on a king is such a buzz!

[intensehotdog]

I enjoy using light setup, 8-15lb trace to a gama circle hook size 1/0 and a live prawn unweighted. Trace to main line and hook.

If the kingies arnt there, I can easily snip off the hook, put a pea sinker and a normal hook and chase bream.

[Derny Driver]

On 4/16/2024 at 10:28 AM, intensehotdog said:

I enjoy using light setup, 8-15lb trace to a gama circle hook size 1/0 and a live prawn unweighted. Trace to main line and hook.

If the kingies arnt there, I can easily snip off the hook, put a pea sinker and a normal hook and chase bream.

That would be my set up to catch the yakkas 😁

For kings it's 80lb braid with 120lb leader.

[Pickles]

Another great read @ireallylovefishies22. Luderick are almost as much fun as Kingies. Next time you’re out, try some 6” sluggos in white or pink, unweighted on a weed less (Worm hook). Kingies are suckers for Sluggos.