KayakPat Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 (edited) So started yesterday at 5am, getting to the rocks at dark but not being too keen on the point of the tide and the swell I sat around for a bit watching the swell on the rock. With nothing coming over the main ledge for 15min and another bloke there I got out and started spinning. Again a slow start with my first fish a small amberjack (1st for me) coming at 8am. Apparently he was from a school of salmon, pretty much everyone landed a salmon from that school, I even dropped one on my single hooks , then it went quiet again. My reel started to feel sticky so I switched to my blackfish setup and mucked around with it for a while. Got the float out with a good amount of cabbage on it and then as the wash came through my float didn't resurface. After tightening the line it felt pretty snagged. I felt the smallest of bumps through the snag and I realise I'm snagged with a fish on >.< curse you barnacle encrusted rocks!! so I try using the flow of the swell to pull my line free and make a little headway but when ever the line comes free the fish pulls it deeper.... So i change positions, moving around to the spinning shelf that gets me almost sea side of the fish. Again timing my pressure with the swell I manage to get the fish free. Once I got him up into the wash the water movement and my pressure kept him up easy, it looked like a very odd blackfish to me... turns out it was a drummer going 36cm, stoked!! Tried for some more black fish but got bored so looked at my spin reel, turns out the line was looped at the rod tip =/... so fixed that problem... one of the guys there was livebaiting and was having some success so I made up a quick yakka rig and started trying to pull out my own for a 1st shot at live baiting. Didn't take too long to get a yellow tail and send it out. Take happened after a few min and of cause (I'm a spinner) I struck way too early and pulled it free. winding in my yakka i see its being chased by kings so i start "working" it with some pauses, then boom down goes the float and the guy next to me gets all excited and his excitement leads me into an early strike :'( no yakka back this time... so back to trying to get another yakka. Burly doing the work with a huge school of yellows coming up for bread. I drop my bait rig in and I'm on to a yellow... yellow tail king that is.. zzzzzzz...zzzzzzz ...zzzzzzz... ping goes the bait rig >.< So i re-rig and get another yakka out, with my rod in the rod holder, I continued to try for more bait fish so i didn't have to muck around if the next one was taken. 20min later my reel goes off (ultra light drag so the fish can take the bait). I wait a good 15 sec and set the hook, done and im onto my first livebait fish so I'm wrestling it up and getting closer to the rock and it dives, ping... busted up at my main line so there is a king swimming around dragging a lovely looking float rig... So again I get a yakka out and wait. Same thing, float downs reel runs, I wait and set! Aww yeah this feels heavier!! after 30sec of tussling it zooms to the surface and.... its a salmon :'(.... But a big one so hey who cares! I get it in and try to get my hook out, but its taken quite deep, salmon dont have "teeth" but when a 3kg salmon clamps down on your thumb with those little chompers you know about it!!! Needless to say after dropping him off my thumb the hook came loose . Still not entirely happy, I sent out another yakka, and start packing up. This little guy just kept going and cruised out to about 150m before I stopped him form going as far as he wanted and spooling me... He sat there for 15-20 with not much going on so i bought him back in. He was still super fresh so I sent him back out and only gave him 40m or so of line. 10 min later my rod is bending and bouncing and my reel is running, I grab it and look at the guy next to me "I guess its already set ay?" He nods and I pull up tight. ZZZZzzz my reel goes straight to the rock over hang on the left. I can feel these big tail beats as my line gets closer to the rock, then i feel the weed and rocks on my line >.< lightening my pressure on the fish and reaching out from the rock I feel the tail beats and occasional line slip on the kelp/rocks... not a pleasant feeling. Every time I tried to pressure the it would strip line off me. So i kept a light bend in my rod and slowly walked back across the ledge then forwards winding up the slack I continued this for a few minuets and then he turned back out into the clear!!! aww yeah up goes the pressure!! and ZZZZzzz, so down goes the pressure and I continue to walk it in inch by inch... finally hes up at the surface and we confirm its a nice king. Now I realise I didn't bring my net.... or a gaf...so the art of swell landing is tested waiting for a swell to lift it on to the lower rock shelf, phase one done then waiting for a suitable swell to push back up a gutter so I can land him in it... Phase 2 not so smooth... one of the other blokes that was there was trying to reach with lip grips but couldn't make it, after 2 min of messing around he found a gap between the swell and jumped down and gill grab him for me. BOOM first legal king, fist time live-baiting, all on 20lb braid with 30lb leader! he came up at 76cm at the fork and 5kg. I then made dinner and the star of the show kingfish sushimi. p.s. How does kingfish freeze? I have quite a large amount hahaha p.p.s Still keen for some northerners to show me some spots (happy to trade info haha) Edited March 15, 2015 by KayakPat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbu Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Awesome report and great effort on the king! Bravo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KayakPat Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 Whoops forgot to add the pic of the food Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchie18092 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Great effort off the stones! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryder Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Great report. Congratulations, that's a very respectable first. Top stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest no one Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Well done bro! Top fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtBundy Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Awesome report - sounds like a lot of fun even with all the bust offs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roughstyler Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Incredible! Man, this is so reassuring. I'm glad you shared this story. Sounds like an amazing day out. I cannot imagine the excitement you got when a fish hooked on to the live-bait and the rod bounced like crazy. I am so looking forward to that! How was the fight of the Salmon compared to the King? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Zod Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 (edited) Congratulations, nice report and fish. I knows its 76cm but that 3rd last pic the way your holding that kingie it makes it look way bigger than what it actually is. Roughstyler that kingie would have pulled heaps harder than the salmon. Edited March 15, 2015 by General Zod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KayakPat Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 Yep the king was soo much stronger, but because of the way they fight I couldn't muscle the king. I had full pressure on the salmon, which is fun, but the king required more tact and strategy. If I tried to pressure the king he'd just take more line closer to the rocks. My favourite fight to date was my 62cm bonito, the runs are straight at the horizon so you don't worry about being busted off at the bottom, and they're strong enough at that size to take a lot of line quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCOTTYB Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 That's an awesome post! What a fantastic day! I kept waiting for the bit where 'he got away', after reading about you getting bored (thinking that you might not have been paying attention due to boredom). Actually did a couple of air punches when you got the Kingy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KayakPat Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 Haha I thought about putting in a "zzzzzZzzz, ping!!" Towards the end for a joke but thought better of it yeah I was so bummed when he had me on the rocks, thought there was no way the 20lb braid would hold up as I'd already lost a fish there... There was lots of fist pumping when we landed it haha joy shared by people that didn't even speak the same language, priceless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roughstyler Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Aren't you meant to be measuring to the end of the tail? http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/regulations/sw/sw-bag-and-size/measure You will be pushing past 80cm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackHawk Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Top effort mate,looks like 80plus fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Zod Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Aren't you meant to be measuring to the end of the tail? http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/regulations/sw/sw-bag-and-size/measure You will be pushing past 80cm. Good observation, I didn't even pick that up. yeah he'd be pushing past 80cm close to 90cm I reckon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seasponge Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Great outting and great report. I've never fished off the rocks before, but reading your report sure gets the juices flowing, as does the picture of dinner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dododog Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynabolt Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Fantastic write up. Have you converted to using livies then? Personally I started with bait, then went onto lives and am now learning to us SP's and hard body lures.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KayakPat Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 Haha nah not a full convert the excitement that comes from the chase and hit while spinning lures is for me, livies are for when I am playing around with other rods ect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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