First kingy

Yellowtail Kingfish (Scientific name - Seriola lalandi), Kingys, Kings, Hoodlums, Bandits or "Rat Kings" are a strong, exciting gamefish that strike savagely at a wide range of lures, live baits and dead or cut fish fillets. Victorian Yellowtail Kingfish reports right here.
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4liters
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First kingy

Post by 4liters » Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:47 pm

I had the North Shore Challenge kayak fishing comp in Portland this weekend. I took Thursday off work and headed across, it's about a 4.5 hour drive from Melbourne and I got there around mid morning. My plan was to catch some squid and couta the day before the comp to use as bait, but despite several hours on the water I couldn't catch a thing. The wind was up which made fishing unpleasant so I gave up and went to the tackle shop and bought some frozen mackerel.

Comp day came and it was still ******* windy for kayak fishing. 14 knots gusting to 17 and it was hard work pushing into that. I stayed in close and tried to start a drift over the reef but the wind had me drifting too fast so I gave up and came in. About half an hour after I came in a call came over the radio from a bloke in a Hobie AI that had started to fill with water, and the organiser told me that another bloke had capsized his yak just 100m out. Not long after that the wind got too bad and everyone was called back in.

Day 3 came, and it was still pretty windy. I decided to check out a nearby landbased spot with a view to fishing it at some stage. It was a very impressive spot but you definitely need two people and a long gaff to land a fish there so I didn't stay around. By lunch time the wind had died enough to get the kayaks on the water and I spent an unproductive 4 hours paddling around looking for fish.

So far it had been a decidedly vegan friendly fishing trip.

Day 4 came around, and it was perfect. Little to no wind, low swell and temperature in the high 30s.
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We made our way to the ramp and it was mint
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After the ******* easterlies we'd put up with over the last few days it was just good to be able to enjoy being out on the water. My sounder died so I was fishing blind which was pretty frustrating though.

It took an hour or so but I finally got the first fish (cephalopod actually) of the trip. He went straight on a 5/0 and was dropped behind the yak. A cuttle came shortly after, perfect kingy bait.
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The guys I was fishing with found a school of big kingfish, and I could see them swimming around under the yak but they had zero interest in the baits I had out for them. This went on for a while until the other two headed back in with kayaks full off fish. I couldn't see the schools down deep due to the sounder, so I just trolled around aimlessly. I met up with another guy from the comp who was fishing much further out. We came across a school of Australian salmon feeding on something on the surface, but they were easily spooked and the lures splashing on the surface was enough to have them scatter. I got one, but let it go.

It was getting on, and I had a long drive home ahead of me so we headed in slowly. I was trolling my last bit of bait, the cuttlefish head when there was a huge whack on that rod. I looked around and saw some huge, yellow striped silhouettes swirling around the bait, one of them darted towards it and I felt a solid hookup. After 3 days of catching **** all the sound of the Slammer's drag getting tortured was music to my ears. It was a pretty big fish, and it towed me around for about 25 minutes before I got it up to the surface, every now and then it went on a scorching run like I've never had before from a fish. The other kayaker came up and loaned me his gaff and next thing I had my first kingy bled out in the fish bag.
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It went just over a meter long, and it weighed 9.5kg when cleaned.
2015/16 Fisting Victoria Species comp total: 289cm
Brown Trout: 37cm
Flathead: 51cm; Squid: 36cm; Australian Salmon: 51cm; Snapper 46cm; Silver Trevally 23cm; KGW: 45cm
Major Sponsor: Rim Master Tackle

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Boonanza
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Re: First kingy

Post by Boonanza » Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:52 pm

Cracking fish mate well done :thumbsup:
A smart person knows what to say. A wise person knows whether to say it.

cobby
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Re: First kingy

Post by cobby » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:12 pm

About bloody time :tongue:

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Re: First kingy

Post by skronkman » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:13 pm

Best feeling in the world. Well done and well deserved for all the effort you put in. Congratulations 4L.

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Re: First kingy

Post by Yota » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:20 pm

Great effort and persistence
Nice write up too.

Well done

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Re: First kingy

Post by smile0784 » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:22 pm

Great fish maye7

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Re: First kingy

Post by cheaterparts » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:29 pm

well done Ian wish we had your day 4 weather for Aust day

good looking king something you could have done with on Aust day
My kayak PBs
Gummy shark 128 Cm - Elephant fish 85 Cm - Snapper 91 Cm - KG Whiting 49 Cm - Flathead 55 Cm - Garfish 47 Cm - Silver Trevally 40 Cm - Long Tail Tuna 86 Cm - snook 64 Cm - Couta 71 Cm - Sth Calamari 44 Cm hood - Cobia 117 cm


Cheater

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Re: First kingy

Post by Lightningx » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:29 pm

That’s a beauty mate. Well done :thumbsup:

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Re: First kingy

Post by rb85 » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:30 pm

Well done mate. Whats next?

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Re: First kingy

Post by 4liters » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:42 pm

rb85 wrote:Well done mate. Whats next?
Hang the frame over the side of the yak somewhere south of cape woolamai and catch a mako
2015/16 Fisting Victoria Species comp total: 289cm
Brown Trout: 37cm
Flathead: 51cm; Squid: 36cm; Australian Salmon: 51cm; Snapper 46cm; Silver Trevally 23cm; KGW: 45cm
Major Sponsor: Rim Master Tackle

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