Portland

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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DougieK
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Portland

Post by DougieK » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:24 pm

Even though the news is already out, have a report.

About a month ago, forum member adtrac used a couple of free days to drive down to portland and have a look around. He was probabbly sick of walking into ridiculous spots with me, and you can fish out of the back of your car off the Lee breakwater, which also has a reputation for producing some seriously good LBG action. Ads spent the night successfully fishing for smaller fish, and on his return firmly told Carl and I that this was the place to go.

So on Thursday i cruised down to portland to have a look arround. I stopped in Warnambool on the way for a grappling sessiion with the team down there, then arrived in portland at approx 10pm. I had a quick drive down the breakwall, then parked in a quiet street and crashed hard for the night. Up at dawn the next morning to scout out some spots then hit the breakwater around lunch time, awaiting the boys arrival that evening.

I fished Friday from 2pm until about 9pm for banjo's, Pj's and an assortment of garbage fish. I was not all that enthusiastic about the situation, so when Carl and ads arrived i wasn't too excited.

About 130am saturday morning, my saltist doubled over and i set a hook on what felt like a very good something. Gaff at the ready as i battled, adam and carl's headlamps lit up what turned out to be a 5 foot (approx) 7 giller. While Carl was holding the leader and I was screaming not to gaff it, the 100lb wore through and it swam off peacefully. First 7 for me and a good start. Throughout the evening the boys landed some squid and some couta which we put to use the next morning.

Saturday morning up just before dawn, saw us start spinning straight away and eventually slap out some kingie baits. More than one forum member had recommended a squid strip under a float, so that's what we all went with.

At approx 730am my float dissappeared and re appeared. While I was checking out my squid strip which had been ripped in half......Adams float dissappeared under the water....then his rod doubled over....then the drag screamed...."Ads Ads you're on you're on!!!!!!"

After a fairly sturdy fight, i grabbed Adams busted gaff and positioned myself to make the shot while carl took what in my opinion is picture of the trip....

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Shitting absolute bricks and with adam yelling at me to stay calm we successfully landed our first ever land based kingfish....

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Un....freaking...believable. What do you think adam? (language warning)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oriqN7yepss

Just as while we were posing for some pics and still out of breathe, my nitro doubled up and the lethal drag engaged, the mono screaming off the reel like nothing i've ever seen...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X3pGRWLbEA

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Amazing fight, pulled probably 100m off me in the video there, super powerful fish that i'm very excited to have finally encountered...

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Couldn't possibly be happier with that result. Exactly what we came to do and it worked.

Ads and I were pretty happy with that. His at 96cm and 8kg and mine at 105cm and bang on 9kg.

Even though we consider all of these fish a team effort, we were still super keen to get Carl onto a fish. I changed the handle on the lethal from right hand wind to left hand wind in anticipation and gave MrG instructions that the moment it went off to grab it... and it's a good thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faPRKuWDn3Y

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Carls first king. Unbelievable.

Completely satisfied and still high fiving each other and talking about how awesome this is, carl's big Okuma doubles over.....

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Two for the G man! Lighting it up.

Having enquired about our tactics, the lads next us manage to adapt and hook up as well. I was more than happy to run over with Adam and put in the gaff shot for them....leading to 5 kings getting landed in the space of a couple of hours.

About 1130 we were sitting around discussing what had happneed and we figured out...Ads got the first one...I got the biggest...Carl got two.... Pretty much perfect distrubution of awesome.

Nothing much really happened until dark after that, when we targetted and landed some fresh squid for the morning and couta for the tide change.

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Literally nothign happened all night. Fresh couta head and fillet out produced nothing, So it was up at dawn to do it all over again.....

I landed another king which took me a while to dehook and decided to release it in a hurry rather than stop and pose for a photo. A few of the locals couldn't believe we were releasing kingfish, I have a lot to say about catch and release but this is not the time or place so i'll leave it alone other than to say there is absoltuely no reason for three of us to take more than the two fish we kept for the weekend.

After a bust off for Carl and a hookup and drop for adam, Carl got another nice model...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pLHrrdlLbY

And that was a rap for the day. The boys have a few more pics and vids that i'm sure they won't mind sharing. The drive home seemed to dissappear in front of me. The excitement of sharing this experience at the forefront of my mind.

So the three of us, 8 days short of what would have been a year after we started trying, hooked and landed 6 kingfish land based in Victorian waters. No matter what we did we just could not get them to take a lure, but i'm not going to let that thought get too far into my mind. Each one of these fish represents almost a year of effort from the two guys who've come on this journey with me, and from here on in it's upwards and onwards to better things.

I'll post details of rigs and technique we are using later in the thread. Thank you all for putting up with me over the last year, usually my reports and much wordier and fluffier but honestly, the vids and pics speak for themselves.

Onto either a big shark or a SBT off the rocks......
Chasing LBG and sharing a love for the Martial Arts, everywhere, all the time.


LBG Season 2023/4 :

Kingfish : 61

DougieK
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Re: Portland

Post by DougieK » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:25 pm

As per freaking always, if a mod could embed the vids for me
Chasing LBG and sharing a love for the Martial Arts, everywhere, all the time.


LBG Season 2023/4 :

Kingfish : 61

poodoo
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Re: Portland

Post by poodoo » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:29 pm

Nothing but awesomeness in this report!

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Re: Portland

Post by poodoo » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:30 pm

DougieK wrote:As per freaking always, if a mod could embed the vids for me
Fixed it for ya....

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4liters
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Re: Portland

Post by 4liters » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:33 pm

Good stuff! All that walking to remote rock ledges and you finally got them within spitting distance of the car lol
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

DougieK
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Re: Portland

Post by DougieK » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:38 pm

Some more pics i didn't put in....

Image

Image
Chasing LBG and sharing a love for the Martial Arts, everywhere, all the time.


LBG Season 2023/4 :

Kingfish : 61

drew 2
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Re: Portland

Post by drew 2 » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:47 pm

Congrats to all :a_goodjob: :a_goodjob: :a_goodjob:

Great report,loved the vid's :thumbsup:

Snapper Snatcher
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Re: Portland

Post by Snapper Snatcher » Mon Jan 25, 2016 3:55 pm

That is so sick guys well done to all of you. It feels so much better pulling off such an achievement when you really work for it. I'm sure you'll do both sbt and sharks off the rocks, both are very possible.

Nude up
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Re: Portland

Post by Nude up » Mon Jan 25, 2016 4:10 pm

well done boys, a great session and your first you will never regret.

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4liters
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Re: Portland

Post by 4liters » Mon Jan 25, 2016 4:33 pm

Out of interest (I've decide to head down on Wed), how much leader did you have between your float and the hook?
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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