King chaser

Peeps, 

Been heading off Terrigal in search of a few flatties. Fished in the 40m mark east of Terrigal however couldn’t find a patch. Fishing a running rig with half pilles. 
 

Looking for a hand finding some consistent flatly grounds off Terrigal any tips re depths, rigs and bait would be helpful.

8 hours ago, 61 crusher said:

Well done on a great solo session & finding a new mark, nothing better than being away from the masses & getting into a few good ones 👍 some nice fillets in that lot, how was the current 

Hey crusher current was steady running up hill wasn’t too bad at all, wasn’t raging but enough to cover some good ground! 

23 hours ago, Pickles said:

Hi King chaser - great report. I share your passion for Kingies - a great feeling to have your arms (and calves) burning from a good session on the kings.

Whole body was hurting today, but that was ok because still on a high from a cracking fishing trip. Can wait to get back out there and get stuck into another King.

11 hours ago, Fun2fish said:

Hi how far out to Texas if coming  from brooklyn 

Fun2fish it’s about 26 nautical miles (50km ish) from the mouth of the Hawkesbury best to launch from Terrigal if you can.

Sitting at my desk all week watching Willy weather, psyched myself up for a trip out wide for the weekend.

Had to fish solo today, the old man wasn’t keen. launched at terrigal and filled up on livies. Sea was 21.3 degrees, water was clean and seas were gentle made a quick Punch out to Texas (The cones if your speaking with a local). Not long before it was a car park.

Fish were spread out no big schools or markA few people had some luck but they weren’t thick by any measure. Did some exploring to the south and found a nice rock in the middle of nowhere with a good show. 
 

They were not interest in the livies. My yellow and green jig was left untouched. Switched to a red and blue jig and the action started. Got my 5 pretty quick biggest went 90cm. Stoked when I got the fifth, my arms were gassed 

The run in was quick, nearly flat stick.
 

The oldies, in-laws and my house hold will smash up the fillets in no time!

Stoked I found a new mark, now back to dreaming about my next trip.

Hey guys, got a Shimano Tekota 700 spoiled with 15kg mono looking to make it my trolling / part time live baiting set up. Looking for a rod recommendation.

i considered the terez but the lighted terez over head is 40 - 100 pound, I’m worried it may be to stiff and ruin the lure action.

i then considered a Shimano tcurve over head either the 200 or 400 but again worried it’s a Jigging rod and may not be good for trolling.

ill be fishing for kings / dollies

looking for recommendations for rods for Tekota 700 spoiled with 15kg mono for trolling / live baiting

38 minutes ago, Squid Lips said:

. Heading out to Texas this Saturday (weather permitting) to drop some jigs/livies down. Fingers crossed

Good luck squid let us know how you go!

9 minutes ago, tyrone07 said:

Good intell the kings are holding on Texas in good numbers, majority on the smaller size around that 75cm mark with some bigger hoodlums including some undtoppables in the mix. Have a look on your Navionics there is a few good pinnacles south of Texas, that is definitely worth a look, when it gets crowded you need to find other spots 

 Cheers for the intel Tyrone, if I’m heading wide I generally make a day of checking out those couple southern peaks before heading out to Texas, in summer checking out the nearby fad on the way! The hope is the fish will be at one of those three spot!

Hey squid! Works got me tied down for a couple of weeks but certainly keen to team up! Not sure which mark you refer to as ‘the farm’ perhaps I know the same spot as a different name? Perhaps pm the spot? 

Always keen to team up, not to long before the kings come back in hopefully we can get on them this summer!!! 

On 10/5/2019 at 7:20 PM, Squid Lips said:

King chaser,

I just came across your post when looking for advice on exactly the same areas. Ive been fishing the same spots and techniques as you over the last year and have struggled to find any sort of consistency. I'm just not finding the grounds I'm used to further south. I'd be interested if you've had any more luck over the last two years and even if you'd like to team up and head out one weekend?

Hey squid! 

Since that post I’ve had some cracker days and days with a big duck egg. In no way have I figured things out yet but good days seems to start with sounding out the spot and finding a show on the sounder. It key to be fishing off the reefs and drop offs in the area whilst also finding some bait or schools of fish in the immediacy area.

understanding the seasons and what fish are around is a big one too for example in summer the Pelagics smash up the area and if you don’t find them move around till you do find them. Also live bait is the key. Whilst in winter the structure and gravel bottoms near reefs and drop offs have found me good reds.

That also speaks for the way you fish, ie live baits in winter in those areas are pointless in my opinion whilst in summer it’s a must.

I have been trying to go to areas I haven’t been and just sound out the area for a bit, I have found two good honey holes this way.

In summary a whole bunch of trial and mostly error is starting to pay off for me. The sounder is the key.

Always keen to share info and team up!!! 

Banjo shark!

Was in two minds of going wide chasing kings or staying in close and going for reds. Local intel was that the current was running strong out wide and the fish were hard to find and in small numbers. I also knew I had till late morning as the wind was picking up to 20 knots.

The chase of a big king was too great so tried to raise yakkas and  but couldn’t find them in my usual spots. I took it as a omen and fished in close. I stayed in close and targeted Reds. However with no live or fresh bait I was fishing with pillies.

On the travel, passed a couple pods of dolphins and dodged a whale that breached close enough for me to clinch the cheeks.

Tried a new spot in 35m mark, spent some time sounding out the area and found a drop off into gravel/rock. I was burleying hard and few small reds came up and went back, you beauty I’m in the game. Trying a range of depths the deeper baits snagged a few duskies, the biggest of the day was 54cm. Was stoked with that as now I had a feed for dinner.    

I was perhaps burleying to hard cause next fish was 3 port Jackson’s and 3 banjo sharks, they all went back. Bloody hell the arms got sore.

Wind was picking up and on packing up the boat snagged a blue mowie and another dusky. Was a lumpy ride in and took me two passes to get the boat on the trailer in blowy conditions.

top way to start the long weekend, and a feed of fish for the table. Just what I needed was a day on the water.

Great report, good that you went home with a feed.

I also have not had great success at West reef! The best I have done there is after doing some heavy sounder work prior to anchoring up finding structure and what appeared to be a school of fish, even after that it was nothing special. 

I wonder if anyone has had a good session at west reef or have some tips for it?

Nice one mate! Do you chuck the mullet in whole or cut/cube them up when using them for crab baits? 

I’ve been cutting them to try get more sent through the water but not sure if it’s needed!?

Cheers guys will be crabbing in Tuggerah lakes, I believe they are legal in there except a exclusion around the entrance. Cheers for the clarification!

@kingie chaseryes mate similar names! I sometimes get tagged in posts meant for you!! 

Gday guys.

just checking a crabbing law in NSW. Crab dillies as seen in the image below. Are these classed as ‘Witches hats’ or ‘crab traps’, ie can I fish with two or four at a time per person.?

and in addition if they are classed as witches hats as I suspect. Can I fish with 4 of them in addition to two crab traps in the water as well, per person in the boat?

Then if there are two people in the boat can we fish with 8 dillies and 4 traps? 

Cheers 

1 hour ago, tyrone07 said:

You end up going? Forecast was nothing like predicted as usual

Yea I did mate there is pushing it and then there is stupid! 

Kicked off the day at terrigal ramp with a slight breeze, boat went in good I got this solo launch down pat! 

Before I knew it had 20 or so yellow tail in the tank. Started to head out to Texas and it was smooth sailing till about 10 nm out. The westerly wind was hitting the southerly swell and it was just a washing machine. 

Wind picked up to at least 15 - 18 knots and before I knew it I was down to a crawl. I knew I should of turned around at the half way point but the promise of a king was to tempting, also chuck in a bit of stubborness. 

Finally got to texas and mate the swell frequency was about 5 seconds between peaks and it was about 1.5 meter swell out there and throw in that belting wind, the swell was so steep and throwing the boat all over the place. there’s keen and there is stupid and i was being stupid being out there. 

Did a sneaky lap of texas in case there was a mass ball of kings for the picking .... no joy and limped back into the ramp and out of the water.

lesson learnt re westerly wind + southerly swell. Should have fished Pittwater, I hear there’s kings hanging around Scotland island. 

On 7/27/2018 at 10:32 PM, GoingFishing said:

Nice report.... i wouldnt call a 50cm snapper trip a donut!! 

Hopefully next time you tangle with your target species

It did put on a nice feed with ginger and shallots + a bit of soy??. 

4 hours ago, antonywardle said:

The Terrigal ramp is tough by yourself. PM if you ever want some company, I'm just down the road a bit. I'm going on a charter boat soon to try for some king fish, so if I figure out what to do, I'll let you know. You can look on YouTube for Ultimate Fishing channel. There is a kiwi called Matt, and he has some good tips, although I don't know if they translate to Aus conditions.

Will do Antony cheers!

1 hour ago, tyrone07 said:

I avoid launching at Terrigal solo solely because of that surge. The kings that have been showing up at Texas and the perchys i have heard have been small lately all just legal fish. Seems to be plenty of reds around, we went south yesterday arvo and had a shocker copped a straight northerly the whole ride back.

That’s no good Tyrone, I hear that kings r thicker down south at the moment widenof Sydney/ Pittwater. Thinking of giving Texas another run in the morning, spending some time out there doing some serious sounder work and hunting for new spots. Another raider had success around the 120m mark yesterday. Cheers

Nice king mate! Conditions look mint!??

Had the week off work and was keen to spend most of it on the water. 

Monday was solo launching from terrigal. It was a little ugly but got it done! Filled up the tank full of livies and headed straight out for Texas.

once out there temp was 18.3 degrees clean water. The sounder wasn’t showing anything. Found some life right on the bottom but think it was perch or nanagyi. Had lives out (high and low) and was also jigging. Few hours later, nothing. Hadn’t marked any bait or kings since getting out there so went in close.

Managed 3 snapper in 30m of water, largest 50cm. A sealed showed up which didn’t help the fishing. 

Getting the boat out of the water went a bit smoother. 

Thursday

Solo again the launch went much smother, again filled up the tank full of livies. A bit out of with the lack of show out at Texas the other day decided to stay in close. 

Fished The bull, the Bommies and foggies and all I could manage was undersized reds and a shark which all got thrown back.

Called it a day. Getting the boat out was very ugly it was very surgy at the ramp. Solo launch / retrieves are tough

back at the ramp few boys had boxes full of kings they said they got out wide. /sigh

anyways any time on the water is better than anytime at work.

looking for a buddy to help out with advice re putting some kings in the boat, send us a message if you can lend some advice. 

59 minutes ago, DerekD said:

Hi King Chaser,

Actually with the depth of the water (which has an impact on the the scaling on the screen) and the limited strength of the transducer I think we were lucky to see the structure itself. We couldn't see a lot of detail (in fact it it was just a flat solid line) and so we just fished on the basis that the kings were there. Be interesting to send a camera down there to see the shape of the structure and the amount of tackle hung up on it and the size of the schools down there.

Regards,

Derek

Yea nice Derek, fish the gps mark and hope for the best in that sort of depth! I find it interest just structure in the middle of no where in that depth I bet many jigs and tackle has been claimed by it! 

Good report mate. Stella catch!

Were you guys marking the kings or any bait on the sounder? Where were they sitting? Cheers 

Long awaited day out this the old man, we started the day off at terrigal boat ramp water sitting  at 23.4degrees. Hit the marker and picked up a tank of livies. Was using a chicken pellet/fish oil burley which made the task really quick.

The plan was to hit the FAD but after seeing a tone of boats heading that way we decided to fish a closer reef. 

After steaming out we fished the top of the reef up current and sounded out where the bait was. Water was a little dirty, current was light and water 23.3 degrees.

As soon as we got there a pesky seal started to terrorise us for the next half hour!

Burleyed up with the chicken pellet and fish oil mix and it paid off brought in the teraglin and snapper. Trags were smashing the yellowtail and snapper hitting half pillies.

Ended up with 6 trag, 3 snapper, 3 travalley. 

Biggest trag 83cm, snapper 42cm

Staying in close paid off, not sure how the fad went. Best part of the day was hanging out with the old man and putting a few in the boat!

Red algae slick, that’s what I must of been fishing through. Anyone know how it effects the fishing?

Hit the water by 530 at terrigal haven, the water was 24.2 degrees and extremely dirty, there was a brown algae or what ever it was on the surface and water was very frothy.

Anchored up near the red marker and and had a tank full of livies in no time. Speared out to terrigal fad and the trip was very comfy seas less than a metre. First boat on scene 24.4 degrees clear water at least 20m vis and small current. Dropped a livey down, Bang bang, two dollies in the boat on the first drift pass. Though you beauty we are on here. 

Next pass got harrassed by hodlums / rats. Kings were around the 55cm mark and eating  everything that was thrown at them. 

Couple boats showed up and they got lock jaw, they went totally off the livies. Burley up with chunks of pillies but still no hits.

switched to bait and the rats made another show. From here could see schools of dollies under the boat and no takers. After a hour of frustration managed another keeper spinning a metal behind the fad. We could see tones of dollies, jumping around and everything but they were just not interested in what we threw at them.

Gave up and headed close in. The brown algae showed up again was 24.2 degrees. Anchored up and could see a pro boat pulling in bonito after bonito. They must of took at least a couple hundred kilos in a few hours. Whatever they were doing they kept the school under their boat and couldn’t even manage to pull one in even just 30m away. Not sure how they kept them there so long and so thick and why we could even entice 1 over our way.

Had a livey out the back and got taken a few times and my 100 pound leader bit right off. Switched to circle hooks and had a 30 min fight with a 2meter dusky whaler with the hook holding on in the corner of the mouth. Couple happy snaps and off he swam. 

With a feed of dolphin fish in the boat we called it a day! 

Better than a day in the office! Tight lines

Thanks guys after looking at whaler sharks, from what I recall it’s pretty much bang on that, I would say more a dusky whaler from the absence of the bronze sides after inspecting it for a while!

cheers, chaser