Kingfish lure set up

[corro]

All

I'm currently in the market for a rod/reel fishing primarily from a boat in Port hacking (or just outside) and Botany Bay. 

I would like a set up solely for lure fishing and a bit of micro jigging as I have an ugly stick and shimano Sedona 5000 for live / dead baits, it's just impossible to throw a lure comfortably on it.

I'm targeting any pelagics that are foolish enough to stumble to this novice fisher but ideally kingfish.

For a reel I'll either be buying at stradic 4000 or 5000 but I'm undecided yet on a rod. Currently deciding between 7ft Samaki Zing or 7ft Abu Garcia Veritas 3.0 (both probably in the 10kg variants), likely to be equipped with 20/30lb braid.

Are there any other options I've missed that should be considered?

Considering the areas I'm fishing, do I really need 10kg or should I be dropping to 8kg rods with 15lb braid?

Appreciate any advice you can give!

Budget for the rod is around $150 and reel $200.

Thanks

[Rebel]

Hi,

I went through this .Ended up spending to much money. But it all worked out in the end.

I bought a 9' Abu Garcia Veritas 3.0. The reel is a Fin-nor 60 Lethal. Great rod.

Then I Found a 9'6" Dawia 962mh Demon Blood on special. The reel is Fin-nor 100 Lethal. Great outfit.

Then I found a 10' Shimano Jewel on special. The reel is a Stradic 4000 c14. Great outfit

They are all great lure rods. Cast a mile plus. I only use the best Mono.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

[JonD]

I've been using a little ci4 3000 stradic over the last few weeks on kings, which I keep expecting to break. Trouble is the little snapper outfit is just so much fun on the small kings we have down here at the moment. Combined with a Daiwa black 2-4 kg I'm hooking king after king where lads using much heavier gear are barely getting a fish. I'm finding I've had enough by the time I reach around 15 kings though as lightgear can be pretty tiresome after a while. Most of the kings are in the 55-60cm with a few legals among them, there are some far bigger fish here but the rats get in first. I know there are bigger kings as my daughter has been spearing them over 1m as I target them on light gear. ( can't post pics due to the no spearing thing the site has).

Took a mate out yesterday who wanted help getting both his boys into kings. I decided to take a heavier outfit with a stradic 5000fk just so I could get my kings in and out of the way quicker with kids onboard. My first flick was rewarded with a 75cm king which got the kids fired into action ( they had been quite dispondent having not done so well on their own boat). Wasn't long before the kids were both hooked into undersized rats, on their own much heavier gear supplied by their dad. They managed around 5-6 each before I introduced their dad to swimming in a mass school of kings. 

Over the years I've dropped down in outfit size, simply finding the action and ease of use of the light gear and the fact I catch way more on it is worth loosing the odd fish every now and then. Even using my 10000 sized outfits with full drag didn't guarantee landing bigger fish, my best on the light gear has been 90cm which is good going over rough ground among a 4000 strong seal colony.

[corro]

Thanks rebel, the length of rod is probably slightly above what I'd like from the boat but gives me some confidence the models I'm looking at are okay!

2 hours ago, Rebel said:

Hi,

I went through this .Ended up spending to much money. But it all worked out in the end.

I bought a 9' Abu Garcia Veritas 3.0. The reel is a Fin-nor 60 Lethal. Great rod.

Then I Found a 9'6" Dawia 962mh Demon Blood on special. The reel is Fin-nor 100 Lethal. Great outfit.

Then I found a 10' Shimano Jewel on special. The reel is a Stradic 4000 c14. Great outfit

They are all great lure rods. Cast a mile plus. I only use the best Mono.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

Thanks a lot Jon D.

I've only ever landed just legal Kings so a 90cm fish is beyond my wildest dreams at the moment. Given I'm trying to get more into lure fishing and will be casting constantly I might downsize and go the 4-8kg with the stradic 4000. I'm not quite game to go all the way down!

My gf caught a decent salmon on a 1000 Sienna, 2kg rod with a pilly on a long shank when the rest of us on the boat weren't getting a bite. So I can potentially see that the lighter line encourages more bites!

1 hour ago, JonD said:

I've been using a little ci4 3000 stradic over the last few weeks on kings, which I keep expecting to break. Trouble is the little snapper outfit is just so much fun on the small kings we have down here at the moment. Combined with a Daiwa black 2-4 kg I'm hooking king after king where lads using much heavier gear are barely getting a fish. I'm finding I've had enough by the time I reach around 15 kings though as lightgear can be pretty tiresome after a while. Most of the kings are in the 55-60cm with a few legals among them, there are some far bigger fish here but the rats get in first. I know there are bigger kings as my daughter has been spearing them over 1m as I target them on light gear. ( can't post pics due to the no spearing thing the site has).

Took a mate out yesterday who wanted help getting both his boys into kings. I decided to take a heavier outfit with a stradic 5000fk just so I could get my kings in and out of the way quicker with kids onboard. My first flick was rewarded with a 75cm king which got the kids fired into action ( they had been quite dispondent having not done so well on their own boat). Wasn't long before the kids were both hooked into undersized rats, on their own much heavier gear supplied by their dad. They managed around 5-6 each before I introduced their dad to swimming in a mass school of kings. 

Over the years I've dropped down in outfit size, simply finding the action and ease of use of the light gear and the fact I catch way more on it is worth loosing the odd fish every now and then. Even using my 10000 sized outfits with full drag didn't guarantee landing bigger fish, my best on the light gear has been 90cm which is good going over rough ground among a 4000 strong seal colony.

 

[JonD]

I'm seeing so many people frantically working big jigs on heavy outfits for very little reward. I'm simply flicking or allowing my Zman lures to gently fall then slowly retrieve which the kings seem very keen on at the moment. I've even had good success slowly trolling the lures back up the drift, the good thing is that it's all slow work and quite relaxing ( untill a king hits )

These two trevala rods are both heavier than the Daiwa black and still cast lures well as long as you don't go over 20lb.

 

 

This style of fishing is as relaxed as you can go in my opinion, also have the bonus of picking up snapper. Loose a jig and it can cost $20 or more, lose a plastic and there's $2 gone.

I was using $800 jigging master rods before dropping down, still have a few but sold most now,

 

Edited January 4, 2019 by JonD

[anthman]

I agree with the above, go light. I've been enjoying catching rat kings on my light setup from both land and boat:

* 7' 3-6kg trion ii

* Epixor xt 30 size (3000 Shimano size equivalent)

* 10lb braid (breaks at 12-15lb) 

* 20LB fc rock fluoro

Have been catching them on 5" zman jerkbait (pilchard colour), 3" powerbait minnow pearl blue and my absolute recent favourite, a chinese made surface lure that has been killing it (walk the dog style).

[corro]

I ended up buying a Samaki Zing 702sm (4-8kg) and a Stradic 4000. Spooled it with 15lb of Daiwa J-Braid. 

Great little combo for casting lures, still feels like there's more than enough power there for any fish I am likely to encounter in Botany/Port Hacking which is where I fish.