‘I don’t think it’s that big, Andy!’

At BCF last weekend and bumped into a fan of the Facebook page. We got to talking and, being a generous type, he told me about a special mark they’ve been fishing which held a stack of kingfish. In 140 metres of water which immediately got me interested because that’s the depth of Allmark, off Port Stephens. With the boat being stored at Port through the winter we managed a few runs to that mark and scored a few on jigs:

He made me swear I wouldn’t share - which is perfectly understandable. Corey and (son) Kingston met me at Bayview ramp on Thursday morning. First stop the Valiant wreck, for live bait. The Valiant was a 23 metre long tug that sunk off Barrenjoey, back in 1981. It holds a lot of bait:

Loaded just 6 or 7 baits into the tank (because we were planning to jig.) Then a 20 knot cruise up to Terrigal FAD, which was right on the way. Had heard a few whispers about mahi at the Sydney Waverider buoy. And, thought we might be in with a chance. But it was dead. We left it to two boat loads of spearos who weren’t seeing much action:

On to the Secret Spot – only to discover its not so secret! There were five boats there, including a charter boat. But while we did a pass around the fleet, trying to find the best spot to drop, I saw a chap in another boat catch a good size kingie. ‘Got to be worth a jig here’, I thought. I spot locked the electric outboard and down we went. Here's Kingi’s first king, taken on a small live yellowtail:

Kingi is part of a fanatical juniors fishing team. You can check them out here:

M.A.C.K. FISHING

We were keen to get him his PB. Dad Corey hooked up on a nice one but I was having troubles with the Minn Kota. As the nor’ easter started to pick up, and with the three of us right down at the stern, the prop was lifting out of the water every so often. And, spotlock was cutting off. As soon as that happened we were off the mark in a minute or two. Asked for advice on Facebook and as (almost) always got some good answers:

MINN KOTA PROBLEMS

Shocking pic I know, too much reflection! But if you look hard you can see all the midwater action. I had a feeling the bite was going to get hotter:

Then something interesting happened. Two of the boats had bailed, leaving just three on the mark. One of the three didn’t have an electric outboard – which made getting a strike way harder. A big piece of hard rigid plastic floated straight over the mark, and some stonker kings came right to the top to check it out:

I had suggested to the lads that they bring a light 7 foot combo along in case we could find any mahi at the FADs. I was pleased to see that Corey already owned one of our 702 combos, and had brought it along. It’s supposed to be a light 10-15 kilo casting outfit, but it’s the same combo I used on a big cobia last month for 45 minutes – until a shark bit its tail off:

So the blokes without an electric outboard raced over to the plastic and stopped about two metres from it, immediately scaring the kings away. But we still figured some kings might be left high in the water column. Grabbed a 702, pinned a small slimy mackerel through the nostrils and cast it back. BANG! Kingi on strike. His first words: ‘I don’t think it’s that big, Andy!’

What a battle. The king raced to the bottom and, because the drag never got tightened, he made it. You could see the bare spool with just a couple of turns of blue braid showing. After a mighty lift and wind session for at least 15 minutes, he was in the net. Personal best accomplished, 86cm:

I love my 702 combo for dollies and snapper because when we first got them we took one combo up to the local footy field to check its casting distance. With a 40 gram jig and 15 kilo line, 65 metres! Long casts are a must for me, especially when casting into a FAD or a top water bust up:

Here's Paul with some keeper dollies using his 702 combo:

Check it out here:

702 COMBO ROD REEL & BRAID

Out again to the same spot this week and will report in on the Facebook page if anything interesting happens. Thanks for reading
Andrew Hestelow

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