Sydney Harbour Kingfish

Out last week in the small boat for a couple of sessions with Oscar:

The Harbour is getting an absolute thrashing, this summer. Any bust up -however small - immediately attracts anything up to a dozen boats. Known kingfish spots like Seaforth and Clontarf are chock a block, every day. And the number of blokes fishing from wharves and rock walls on the run down the Harbour is just incredible. Four factors mean the difference between success - and failure:

1. live cuttlefish
2. live squid
3. live garfish
4. live slimy mackerel
5. live yellowtail

Third, the tide. The high tide triggers the bite and you should be on your spot ready to go at least 30 minutes before the tide change. Don’t worry if you’re not marking kings! As long as you’re marking bait and activity you’re in a good spot:

Lastly, technique. In my opinion the only way to go is downrigging squid or cuttlefish, using a slider rig:

Here’s how to do it:

And here’s the essential tool for success:

Downriggers mean you can present the bait at the depth activity is showing on your screen. You are covering ground, not fishing passively. You are hunting for activity, not hoping the activity comes to you. And when you do hook up, the action is behind the boat and way more manageable. You won’t have to deal with your kingfish swimming around your other lines - or even worse, the anchor line. Here’s Oscar with one we took off the downrigger on Thursday:

Don’t want to sound like a know it all but, if you’re in Sydney, and having trouble cracking the kingfish code, drop me an email or give me a call? Happy to help. But if you don’t have one of these you’re making things harder than they should be:

downriggers

Here’s some nice feedback received today (Sunday 17th January):

It’s not so much a case of where. More a case of how, and when.
How - with the best bait you can get. Live cuttlefish better than live squid;
When - 30 minutes either side of high tide.
There is no secret spot where it’s all happening but if you see a collection of boats on the certain mark either side of high tide, probably a good idea to check it out. Good luck and let me know how you go, Andrew

And if you’re outside Sydney (like most of our readers) check this out? Don Cummings’ results from just one morning, downrigging off Coffs Harbour. Don’t take it from me! Take it from Don:

STOP PRESS. just as I was about to click 'send', this arrived from son Christopher. Well done, Will Jacobs! That's an absolute beast of a Sydney king:

Thanks for reading
Andrew Hestelow

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