If You Chum, They Will Come

Headed offshore on Thursday, with the first stop being Obelisk Beach live bait grounds. Finding this spot fantastic for tiny yellowtail – which work well when fished live for kings, and mahi:

I’ve gone back to handlines for these shallow live bait grounds. And swapped hooks, from the size 12 long shank style to a size 12 ringed Sneck. Give those a try? Certain they reduce bait jump offs. Around the corner of North Head and up to Long Reef. Deployed the burley can off our electric downrigger, with a prismatic dodger on top. The flash helps:

During Covid I have to fish on my own. The burley can, fished at depth, is deadly on both the live bait grounds, and deep reefs like the Peak and the Twelve Mile. It can be hard to wind up when you’ve got a king on the rod – in deep water! When you’re alone, that is. Single button helps retrieve but in anything under 30 metres manual winding is fine. On Thursday, fish swarmed in the burley. Rough image (wrong settings ) but the horizontal line is the chum can:

Water depth 15 metres, so chum can at 10 metres – directly under the stern. I set a live bait at 10 metres under a balloon, and let it drift back in the trail. It didn’t take long:

Fish a useful burley trail: Use this session alongside practical choices about delivery depth, bait position and steady feeding.

Strikes came thick and fast, with about half the kings landed being legal - 65cm plus. All fish went back in:

I could see them hanging deep in the burley trail and decided to break out the fly rod. Lots of fun but small trevally kept grabbing the fly before the kings could get to it:

After a couple of lean weeks, I got the impression things are heating up. Stacks of fish caught, small pelagics busting up around the boat – but I didn’t want to leave my anchor point. Whales around and, on the way back in, a big seal tearing a fish apart, just off Bluefish Point:

Recommendation? Try a burley can, and chum off your downrigger. Not just for kingfish! Confident the technique will deliver results, on anything from snapper to spotted mackerel. And it goes without saying it’s a deadly tool on the live bait grounds. Haven’t got a downrigger? Here’s where to look:

downriggers

Thanks for reading
Andrew Hestelow

Fishing Long Reef by boat: See how this deep-burley approach fits a full session, alongside live bait, small jigs and current reserve rules.

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