Mackerel, Kingfish and Sharks

TUESDAY! Wanted to downrig small live bonito around Long Reef for a stud kingfish. Our purple trolling lures accepted the challenge:

Unfortunately, the two bonito caught died in the live bait tank. I ran one out as a slow skip bait anyway, but it was flopping on its side. Fitz broke out this interesting piece of gear. The bait wouldn’t swim because it was already going into rigor. But slow trolling it vertically looked way better than on its side:

No result, current very light, so we decided to drift and fish snapper baits on sabikis. That produced some keeper reds and good size bream. At one point Dave wound in to find a small king on one hook, and a red rocky chomped by a shark on the other:

I should have taken the warning 😊 Instead, I broke out my light jig combo. Our Bay Jig rod with our 3000 reel, spooled up with six kilo braid. Small hook with a long thin yellowtail fillet attached. Down the burley trail it went - and wham! Fight lasted 20 minutes:

Result? A 1.4 metre 20 kilo bronze whaler. The lads decided they want to eat it, so the shark was gaffed and boated:

While I was fiddling around with strip baits and sharks, new downrigger owners were slaying quality fish. Here’s Chris Daly in southern Queensland:

Fantastic catch. The big plus with downriggers is the way they extend prime fishing time. After mackerel finish their dawn hunt they take up station on a reef. But they can't resist a bait swimming through their living room. Sean Morgan is no new chum but he's an expert fisho on the NSW mid north North Coast. He sent me this video on Friday:

Saving the best for last! New downrigger owner Ian Hissey at a super hard fished spot – the South Head, of Sydney Harbour:

So it's all good news, up and down the coast. Want to get into the same action? Check this out:

Downriggers - All You Need To Know

Thanks for reading and give me a call if you want any more information
Andrew Hestelow

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