The Kingfish and the Turtle

[wazatherfisherman]

Many years ago, my mate Ross and I were having a beer at our "local" tackle shop, "The Fisherman's Friend" at Yagoona, as the swell had been really big for a few days and we couldn't go rock fishing. The shop was on Liverpool Road and outside of clearway times, there was plenty of parking straight outside. A guy pulled up with a 13 ft aluminium boat and came into the shop to buy some feather lures for Kingfish and we started discussing the favourite lures we all used.

We pointed out a few of the "new" Christmas Tree trolling lures and a few others on the wall, but the guy then said "I just want plain white feathers- I've been getting a boatload of fish on them every morning- come and have a look in the boat"

It was a small "sit-down" boat only marginally bigger than Ross's 12 ft car-topper and there were Kingfish literally all over the floor. He said there were genuinely acres of them and they were in the entrance to Port Hacking and all along the front of Jibbon Bombora, been there for two weeks he said. Some mornings, they were in almost to Bundeena. They were easy to get, you just had to troll the outskirts of the schools, which were clearly visible, pretty much right on the surface.

He'd been using plain white feather lures with either 2 or 4 oz heads, but added that if the fish followed the feathers without striking, there was a simple trick that was working really well. You needed to take an octopus around 15-18 inches long with you and cut the legs off it. Then you just needed to add a single leg of the Octopus to the lure's hook (which was a 7/0 or 8/0 Stainless "O'shauhgnessy" pattern- a Mustad 34007). The hook was just pushed through the leg once, leaving both hook exposed and leg free to "wiggle"- this turned out to be vital information. 

After seeing all his fish and getting the info, we asked the guy if he thought the 12 footer would be big enough to go out in, he said yes you're only fishing the entrance really. Our mate who owned the shop agreed we should be OK, so we went up to the fish shop and bought 2 octopus and organised to go the next morning. We were going to meet this guy (who's name I can't remember) at Bundeena Wharf and go out together. As we were meeting at Bundeena, we decided to just drop the boat in off the wharf.

Early next morning, we drove through the National Park and down to Bundeena arriving well before light and we carried the boat, motor, fuel tank and very minimal gear down onto the wharf. Fishing gear was just 2 Butterworth "Jig King Deluxe" rods- 6 ft 20 lb jig/troll rods, mine with a Penn "Jigmaster" overhead and Ross had a Shakespeare overhead, both with 20 lb mono. A small tackle box with feather lures and a few Christmas Trees, 7/0 and 8/0 trolling hooks, a few swivels and some 50 lb Weiss Perlon for leader. Plus the octopus.

We had forgotten the anchor and rope, only remembering while unloading at Bundeena, however as trolling was the plan, we thought we'd be able to do without it. Gear loaded, rods rigged by the light on the wharf and we waited for the other guy to turn up. 

After waiting until well into the morning light, we decided to have a bit of a troll around where we were, keeping an eye out for the guy, who was by now getting close to an hour late. He didn't turn up, so we decided to head out towards the ocean without him. 

As we got to the entrance to the port, we could see literally hundreds of Mutton birds just sitting on the water only a couple of hundred yards out, no sign of any fish though.

There was still a big southerly groundswell rolling in, but the swells, although large, were smooth and a fair distance apart, so we thought we'd brave it and off we went. The things you do when you're young. At first, we stayed within a couple of hundred yards of the entrance, trolling up and over the big swell- no problem, quite comfortable actually. 

After trolling around for more than half an hour and not sighting the "acres" of fish, we went just a little further out and finally got a double hook up on kings and as they came boat-side, were followed by a few more. Got them in the boat, but after taking the hooks out and trolling around again, no more action, so we thought we'd try the octopus leg trick.

Octopus leg added to each lure and off we go again, but still no visible schools on the surface. After about another half hour we were thinking about going in- at least we had one each, trouble was, it was the week before Christmas and although we normally caught plenty of fish each week, due to the swell being up, neither of us had any in the freezers and we both had big family gatherings and fish were "expected" by the relatives, to take home.

Then we spotted something large up on the surface about 50 yards away and went over to investigate. Turned out to be a really massive Turtle just up on the surface, however, in the shadow cast from the Turtle, were masses and masses of Kingfish, all jostling for position in the shadow. We dropped the lures over complete with octopus legs and watched as the fish came straight over to investigate. We were amazed that although there were heaps of them and they seemed interested, at first, no takers. We then dropped the baited lures just out of sight and they started "nibbling" -super soft bites on the powerful troll rods. We tried all sorts of different approaches, including raising the lures into sight to see if it was the kings biting or something else, then all of a sudden they just switched on and swallowed everything including the lure and leg bait. It was easy fishing for a while, then all of a sudden they were gone.

We started trolling again and spotted the Turtle about 50 yards away again, so went to see if the Kings were in the shadow. They were, and this time we only had to drop the baited lures over about 6-8 ft under the surface and they literally climbed over each other to be first on the bait. There were no bag limits (or size limits on kings then) and we caught heaps before the fuel tank got seriously empty and we had to take off.

 As we were heading down the face of a decent swell right in the entrance, all of a sudden the entire ocean was suddenly alive with the kings, there genuinely were acres of them. Whether it was the stage of the tide that brought them up to the surface or not I'll never know, but they were in the tens of thousands I reckon. If we hadn't seen the Turtle and found that first school, we would have gone back in and not seen what still remains to be the biggest aggregation of Kings I've ever seen.

[big Neil]

Great read Waza, thanks for sharing it. bn

[Yowie]

I saw them like that on a fishing trip in Lord Howe Island, around 1983.

The charter skipper said the kingies had gone quiet, so we trolled around until a hookup, then stopped and dropped over a hand line each. Under the boat was alive with kingies, not big fish, but if you did not like the size of the one about to grab your bait, you pulled the bait away from him so that a bigger one could grab it. It was fishing by sight.

A solid wall of kingies. After we caught many, we moved somewhere else for a few bigger ones.

The kingies at Lord Howe I found to be very good eating, better than on the mainland.

[kingie chaser]

Having a beer in the tackle store, well those were the days eh 😂.

I'd rather be drinking a beer & looking at tackle rather than the mugs at the Hume hotel 😉

 

[Rebel]

Super Story.

[bessell1955]

Wow, your stories are great and your style of writing enthralling.  You write great word pictures, using high modality words. 

 

[masterfisho7]

Top read WOW

[Green Hornet]

Them were the days, hey Waza.

I remember fishing the Big Bommie at Currarong from my cousins boat, long before the days of GPS. Heading out of the Crookhaven River mouth our marks were, run a direct line between the lighthouse and the tip of Beecroft and when the water turned black you were there. The water was black with kings just under the surface.

Another great read!

[wazatherfisherman]

8 hours ago, big Neil said:

Great read Waza, thanks for sharing it. bn

Thanks Neil it was an awesome sight to see that many good sized fish

[wazatherfisherman]

4 hours ago, Yowie said:

I saw them like that on a fishing trip in Lord Howe Island, around 1983.

The charter skipper said the kingies had gone quiet, so we trolled around until a hookup, then stopped and dropped over a hand line each. Under the boat was alive with kingies, not big fish, but if you did not like the size of the one about to grab your bait, you pulled the bait away from him so that a bigger one could grab it. It was fishing by sight.

A solid wall of kingies. After we caught many, we moved somewhere else for a few bigger ones.

The kingies at Lord Howe I found to be very good eating, better than on the mainland.

Hi Yowie we did the same, just pulled the bait away if a smaller one was first there and we worked them by keeping one swimming until the other was pulled in and next hooked- works a treat

[wazatherfisherman]

3 hours ago, kingie chaser said:

Having a beer in the tackle store, well those were the days eh 😂.

I'd rather be drinking a beer & looking at tackle rather than the mugs at the Hume hotel 😉

 

Some days there'd be up to a dozen blokes from the club there having a beer or two, the shop was tiny and we ended up sitting out the back- which was also pretty tiny, but always a fun time.

Played cricket at the Hume for a few years

[wazatherfisherman]

3 hours ago, bessell1955 said:

Wow, your stories are great and your style of writing enthralling.  You write great word pictures, using high modality words. 

 

Hi bessell1955 thanks! Had to look up "modality words" though LOL

[big Neil]

4 hours ago, bessell1955 said:

Wow, your stories are great and your style of writing enthralling.  You write great word pictures, using high modality words. 

 

Teacher talk?

bn

[kingie chaser]

2 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Some days there'd be up to a dozen blokes from the club there having a beer or two, the shop was tiny and we ended up sitting out the back- which was also pretty tiny, but always a fun time.

Played cricket at the Hume for a few years

Grew up in the area but not familiar with the tackle store as at the time I was more into the slot car track at Yagoona near the station. But I was in high school at the time.

I used to play cricket for Bass Hill RSL which is now sadly gone 😥

[wazatherfisherman]

11 minutes ago, kingie chaser said:

Grew up in the area but not familiar with the tackle store as at the time I was more into the slot car track at Yagoona near the station. But I was in high school at the time.

I used to play cricket for Bass Hill RSL which is now sadly gone 😥

The tackle store was on the southern side of the road a couple of shops the other side of the railway overpass- there were only about 3 or 4 shops there, then a driveway before the baby health centre. The driveway lead to an "unofficial" car park which was very convenient for the shop. Although genuinely small, that shop had everything you needed and no junk. George, the owner is the best all'round fisho I've ever known, such a pity he still isn't there., it was always fun going to the shop, whether to buy tackle, have a beer or just catch up with club members. Fun times

[kingie chaser]

8 minutes ago, wazatherfisherman said:

The tackle store was on the southern side of the road a couple of shops the other side of the railway overpass- there were only about 3 or 4 shops there, then a driveway before the baby health centre. The driveway lead to an "unofficial" car park which was very convenient for the shop. Although genuinely small, that shop had everything you needed and no junk. George, the owner is the best all'round fisho I've ever known, such a pity he still isn't there., it was always fun going to the shop, whether to buy tackle, have a beer or just catch up with club members. Fun times

What year are we talking here Wazza, just curious?

[wazatherfisherman]

Just now, kingie chaser said:

What year are we talking here Wazza, just curious?

From about 1981-86 roughly

[bessell1955]

Yes, big Neil Teacher talk.  I have to remember that I am not in front of a class.  The text is very well written and makes the reader want more.   Well done wazathefisherman.  You would have received an A+ in my class.

[kingie chaser]

14 minutes ago, wazatherfisherman said:

From about 1981-86 roughly

Sorry I don't mean to distract from your great story Wazza but it just interests me when 2 people can connect in 2020 from something in each persons past. 

Not related to fishing but I used to catch the train from Yagoona to Birrong for high school from 1980 to 1983. 

 

Never know but it could have been a shop my old man used to visit, wouldn't surprise me!

[wazatherfisherman]

51 minutes ago, bessell1955 said:

Yes, big Neil Teacher talk.  I have to remember that I am not in front of a class.  The text is very well written and makes the reader want more.   Well done wazathefisherman.  You would have received an A+ in my class.

Thanks! It also takes me back to those days and exciting times, even though some of the things we did were foolhardy to the point of being stupid!

[wazatherfisherman]

46 minutes ago, kingie chaser said:

Sorry I don't mean to distract from your great story Wazza but it just interests me when 2 people can connect in 2020 from something in each persons past. 

Not related to fishing but I used to catch the train from Yagoona to Birrong for high school from 1980 to 1983. 

 

Never know but it could have been a shop my old man used to visit, wouldn't surprise me!

Hi Adrian (I hope I got that right) there was also another tackle seller in Yagoona then- on the north side of the road and at the extreme end of the shops going east. It was primarily a dive shop but from memory had a little bit of fishing tackle. 

I attended Fort Street High at Petersham on P'matta Rd, but had many mates that lived in Bass Hill

[61 crusher]

Hi Waza another great read, that sounds like it would’ve been an amazing sight & session. I once experienced seeing about a football field of striped tuna going ballistic & another time as we were about to head in from a great cubing session south of browns the the ocean erupted with 35 kg yellowfin every where, definitely an awesome sight to behold like which you experienced 

[wazatherfisherman]

1 hour ago, 61 crusher said:

Hi Waza another great read, that sounds like it would’ve been an amazing sight & session. I once experienced seeing about a football field of striped tuna going ballistic & another time as we were about to head in from a great cubing session south of browns the the ocean erupted with 35 kg yellowfin every where, definitely an awesome sight to behold like which you experienced 

Hi Dieter the Kingfish used to be in those huge schools around all the major port entrances like Botany, Port Hacking Broken Bay and the Harbour every year. The bigger fish arrived first around mid October to early November and were available from the rocks, followed by the 4-6 kg size and then the 1-4 kg rats early December. Each size range used to be cruising up on the surface for about 2 or 3 weeks before dispersing to wherever they moved to next.

Often there would be what seemed like a school in every direction, but that first day at Jibbon the whole ocean was a mass of yellow tails as far as the eye could see.

That many 'Fin would be awesome to see. Hopefully one day they might be back again