Krispy ! Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Took a day off uni today as ive been ravaged by assessments in the past week and decided to target some surgeonfish in the harbour, which i havent done for about a year. The way i fish for surgeons is with 80lb braid to a tiny livebait hook and i keep the bail open on the rod and fish it like a handline, then when i hookup i close the bail and the reel is locked and ready to go. Loaded with 2 loafs of bread and half a kilo of fresh banana prawns, i arrived on location at 8 am and began the bread burley. A few yakkas cruising through, no sign of surgeonfish yet. It took half an hour of sorting through pickers before i recieved the all too familiar surgeonfish bite. A solid yet sudden downwards pull, i was having trouble hooking them, half the time it felt as if i was pulling it out of their mouths as the weight would load up and i would begin to apply pressure then the line goes slack. Everything went dead for about an hour when suddenly as i was multi-tasking on my phone, the line was ripped from my other hand and line was being stripped off the spool. I got up, closed the bail and the rod loaded up. This thing had me around a pylon already and i could feel the line rubbing along it for every metre i gained on the fish. About 2 minutes later the line was finally off the pylon and i had a clean connection to the fish which felt abnormally heavy for a surgeonfish. Eventually i managed to steer it out from cover and up came a solid king! At this point i panicked as i was solo and had no net but eventually realising it was hooked perfectly in the corner of the jaw i chanced my arm and hauled him up. Ive got to admit i was pretty surprised a king would take the bait especially since it was 80lb braid to the hook, but im not complaining It was nudging 87cm and id estimate it to be 6-7kg. After that i kept on fishing till i ran out of prawns but all i got was more pickers. Packed it up at around 12 with the weather closing in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefisherman6784 Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) Great fish mate I'm sure it was fun Well done Cheers thefisherman6784 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited October 14, 2014 by thefisherman6784 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krispy ! Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 Great fish mate I'm sure it was fun Well done Cheers thefisherman6784 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks mate it sure was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryder Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 A very nice by catch, and on a prawn, a nice surprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydneyfisher12 Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 nice fish there mate they pull so hard those kings never fished for suegeonfish im sure its fun cheers sydneyfisher12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Good work Krispy, the heavy line saved you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krispy ! Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 Good work Krispy, the heavy line saved you Sure did, doubt i would have landed it otherwise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaClH2OK9 Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Amazing work Krispy. Can I ask if you peeled the prawn? Just wandering how big the bait was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtBundy Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Awesome catch, nice work Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krispy ! Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 Amazing work Krispy. Can I ask if you peeled the prawn? Just wandering how big the bait was Peeled and the bait was the size of a 10c coin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryder Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 I don't know anything about targeting Surgeons. Why do you use braid straight to the hook instead of a heavy leader. Especially with the structure? Ryder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krispy ! Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 I don't know anything about targeting Surgeons. Why do you use braid straight to the hook instead of a heavy leader. Especially with the structure? Ryder Pound for pound a surgeonfish will match anything in the ocean on its first run. Almost impossible to stop using light gear. We are talking 50-60cm ones and 2-3kg. Not the little ones you see around manly. I used to try with 10lb fluro and the ratio would have been 10 hookups to 1 fish. with 80lb braid straight to the hook, i know it sounds weird but the surgeons arent too fussed with it, surgeons have wrapped me around a pylon with 80lb braid and i just reef them out no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaClH2OK9 Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Thanks for sharing Krispy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toboggi Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Wow great catch! Hope to get my first legal kingy this summer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cream Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 well done mate lovely kingie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Hi Krispy, Thanks for the insight into surgeonfish. Only caught a small one of these by accident but the idea of 2 - 3 jobs is pretty exciting given how much go the smaller versions have. Oh, and good work on the king too! Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
night_rider Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Awesome by-catch! Krispy do you have any photos of your previous Surgeorns? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingFishing Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 87cm Kingy by catch !! Awesome Better luck next time on those surgeons, are they any good eating or just for sport? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benm Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Wow, I am really interested in these surgeon fish you mention and I would also love to see some pics of your past surgeon fish. We got some small ones last week as a bycatch going for luderick/black fish with string weed, but I didn't know people actually targeted them primarily and that they got that big! Really interesting. Oh, and nice king Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krispy ! Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 Awesome by-catch! Krispy do you have any photos of your previous Surgeorns? Cheers Most of the pics were on my old phone but ive found a couple on my hard drive for you. The second one is my pb, went 60cm and i got it on 10lb, dont ask how lol but for some reason the line just didnt touch structure. 48cm 60cm 87cm Kingy by catch !! Awesome Better luck next time on those surgeons, are they any good eating or just for sport? They're awesome to eat, beautiful white meat. Can even have them sashimi. Wow, I am really interested in these surgeon fish you mention and I would also love to see some pics of your past surgeon fish. We got some small ones last week as a bycatch going for luderick/black fish with string weed, but I didn't know people actually targeted them primarily and that they got that big! Really interesting. Oh, and nice king I find the smaller ones usually love the weed, bigger ones more partial to prawns and bread. In saying that ive only ever targetted them with prawns and bread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
night_rider Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 Wow. That is not what I thought they looked like! 60cm one is a horse! I am definitely keen to land one now!! Might read a few more posts and go looking this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now