First Kingfish

Ran out of downriggers in the Christmas rush, and back orders stacking up over January. Thankfully we have a shipment arriving next week, but I hate to let our clients down. One of them, Brendan, phoned last week. His wife had bought one for his Christmas present. We couldn’t supply immediately but he was super keen to go downrigging last weekend. And, he hadn’t caught a kingfish. Brendan asked if he could borrow one of my downriggers until the shipment arrived. ‘Of course.’ He picked it up on Friday.

Me: ‘Still going tomorrow?’
Brendan: ‘Not sure! My crew just cancelled.’
Me: ‘I’ll be your crew!’

Down at Roseville boat ramp on Saturday and impressed with his Stacer 5.0m bowrider. He’s attached a step to the trailer, a great idea if you’re launching solo:

First stop Obelisk bait grounds, and it didn’t take us long to put a few live yakkas in Brendan’s portable tank. No more snatching at fish in the water or swiping around with a little net. With this setup you lift the straps and all the live baits are high and dry:

Across the Harbour to the Yellow Can, at Neilsen Park. In the old days this used to be one of the best kingfish spots inside the Harbour, and east of the Bridge. But it’s been on a steady decline for years. On Saturday the sounder showed there were no kings on station:

Moved over to the Sow and Pigs reef. The only excitement we had there was when a sailboat competing in a race nearly ran over us:

It was only late morning, but the Harbour felt dead as a dodo. We decided to can the fishing – and start again the next day, Sunday:

Weather had backed off and we were able to downrig off South Head. It didn’t take long for Brendon to hook up and boat his first ever kingfish:

King Number One

Yes, it was only 60cm:

But with this blokes’ positivity and energy there’s no doubt that plenty more are in his future. I tied on one of our new 40 gram Glow Jigs. These are the usual minnow shape, but the lure centre is a cavity, through to the other side. This cavity securely holds a small chemical light – supplied with the lure. Meaning that underwater, the jig radiates a low level light. Tried them in December at Avalon. The kings went crazy for them, but I wasn’t sure whether that was because they loved the jig, or because there was so many kings at the spot. After last Sunday I'm confident it's the jig:

Thanks for reading
Andrew Hestelow

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