Deep-water kingfish can give even experienced anglers a real hiding so when you deliberately target them in the shallows you need to be prepared for utter carnage! By WARREN KEELAN.
AFTER copping a hiding for the second time in less than 20 minutes, I was seriously doubting myself for a third attempt. My knots were strong, my leader was fresh and there was no visible wear in my braid, yet on both occasions I had been outclassed, coming off second best to a pair of shallow water brutes. Ever a glutton for punishment, I re-rigged, checked myself (and my gear), and scooped another offering from the livebait tank in the hope of regaining what little pride I had left!
As we moved along the rocky headland for a third pass, I sent out an unweighted squid about 40m behind the transom. With my drag set tight, I opened the bail and grabbed my line in anticipation. Big kings can literally demolish you within the blink of an eye. When they’re fired up, nothing comes close to their sheer power and strength. Big kingfish are truly the pinnacle of shallow-water sport fishing.
The sounder displayed two large arches only a few metres below the surface. With so much bait present, we knew the resident kings were still on the prowl. Kingfish are tricky customers at times and will often follow a bait, eyeing it off and mouthing it before actually committing to a serious strike. Today, though, it was a case of hit and run, as the steam train I was hoping for bumped my live squid and bolted, ripping the line from my finger and attempting to empty my spool in the process. Could I strike out for a third time?
Picking up the game
This is the point where most fish are lost. It’s the crucial moment in the game which can either make or break you, but if you can keep your nerves at bay you’re in with a solid chance. When slow trolling for kings, a great technique is to leave your bail arm open (free spool), cupping your spool or holding your line in order to feel your livebait and any attention from below. When a king takes off, release your grip and leave it a few seconds before applying pressure, allowing it to swallow your bait and increase the chances of a hook-up.
Your timing will depend on the environment, how deep you’re fishing and any nearby structure which can bring you undone – somewhere between three to five seconds is ideal, but you can be the judge on that one.
The second part of this method is the hardest to execute, especially when you only get a couple of chances to get it right. Instead of just closing your bail arm and striking to set the hook, simply begin winding to apply pressure – your hook will hopefully turn and lock you onto the fish. Circle hooks can also be employed for this job as they almost always ensure the fish is jaw pinned. The next step in this method is to turn the king’s head and lead it away from danger. However, that’s easier said than done when you’re talking about metre-plus kings in shallow water!
After securing a connection between myself and this fish, I knew I was in for a hell of a time. Kings of this calibre know how to buckle unsuspecting anglers into defeat and this fish was no exception. The shallow water between us and the rocky shoreline meant we had little choice but to hit the throttle and attempt to drag it out to sea; into a slightly more even battleground, if you will. This time around my knots stayed true, and after a few minutes of mayhem I was able to catch a glimpse of my opponent before braid was once again torn from my Saltiga.
If you have enough room in the ocean to joust with a big king, back your drag off slightly and play out (and enjoy) the fight. For the most part, though, it’s a lock ’em up, drag ’em out style of fishing – highly addictive, yet extremely taxing on the body. But like all species, kingfish will eventually tire and can be slowly coaxed back towards the boat for landing. Within minutes I was greeted with what turned out to be 10kg plus of solid Sydney kingfish. Arms stretched and legs shaking, I was on top of the world. Sure, they get much bigger than 10kg around the Harbour City’s rocky headlands, but to pry a fish of this size from less than 15m of water is an achievement in my book!
The lowdown on kings
DOWNRIGGING live or dead baits is also a great method for chasing shallow water bandits. If used correctly, a quality downrigger enables an angler to position a bait to an exact depth – essentially in the face of sounder-marked fish and potentially in the strike zone. Downriggers aren’t cheap however, so if you’re on a budget there are much cheaper ways of achieving pretty much the same result, albeit without the same level of depth accuracy. A popular technique is to attach a snapper lead to your leader swivel via a rubber band. This will allow you to easily swap sinkers depending on the need to change depths. During the fight, the elastic usually (but not always) breaks, meaning you’ll lose a few leads but that pales into insignificance when you come tight to a rampaging hoodlum. When it comes to actually rigging your baits, a two-hook rig is preferred for squid (one hook at either end of the squid’s mantle). Kingfish tend to mouth baitfish head first, so slimies and yakkas require only the one hook pinned through the soft nasal tissue to assist with swimming and a successful hook-up.
Live tactics
Targeting kingfish on livebait requires a bit of work, but the results are worth the effort. On this occasion we opted to use small squid as bait. For me, it doesn’t get much better than live squid when targeting kings. They are fairly easy to catch, present well, and their soft jelly-like bodies and tentacles make them irresistible to large roaming predators. On the other hand, other anglers prefer to deploy slimy mackerel or even yakkas (yellowtail) as livebait. Pike, cowanyoung, garfish, tailor and even silver trevally can also be used as livies when targeting kings. It’s all a matter of what you can get your hands on or the amount of preparation and time you can invest in catching bait before heading out to fish.
Bait-sized squid can be caught in and around shallow reefy shorelines along the coast, hiding around the kelp beds and ribbon weed patches fringing our many boat harbours and jetties. Whole live squid work best, as it sorts out the pickers, but slow trolling squid tentacles can entice a bite. I prefer to use smaller squid jigs like Daiwa’s DS Darts or Emeraldas cast out over weed beds and slowly retrieved, patiently waiting for that distinctive slow tug on the other end. When fishing shallow areas, I believe smaller jigs work best, as they sink slower and allow more time in the zone.
Slimies and yakkas can at times be hard to locate but berley can work wonders around shallow reefs or structure. Once you get a school behind or under the boat, a light handline rigged with a small, lightly weighted long shank hook baited with fish, squid or bread will effectively catch you baits. A sabiki rig is a more efficient way of catching multiple baits and is particularly effective on slimies holding in deeper water. Keep an eye on your sounder while gathering bait, as there’s always a chance of a king or two circling below. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the years it’s not to miss an opportunity to get a line in the water, as you’ll often hook up while plucking bait.
Top-water explosives
When the water heats up, so does the action. During the warm summer months water temperatures along the East Coast rise, bringing an assortment of pelagic surface action. About now as you read this is generally the most exciting time of the year to fish, and it can also be the most productive. Surface lures and plastics come into play and can make for some intense topwater action. Cup-face poppers like small gold Halco Roostas are ideal for throwing over schools of kings. The noisy, water-pushing action of a quality surface lure often results in follows and strikes from a turned-on king. Poppers are also effective when trolled. You’ll certainly hook fish but the main aim of the game here is to “tease” fish up from below. Kings, however, aren’t the only predators hunting the ocean, and you will often encounter angry and sometimes annoying schools of bonito, salmon and tailor as by-catch.
Along with poppers, large plastics such as 7” Slug-Gos and Gulp Jerk Shads are ideal for enticing a surface strike from shallow running kings. Large stickbaits are also worth a few casts. With the correct retrieve these lures can prove hard to resist within a frenzied school of kings. The idea with any lure fishing for kingfish is to keep them moving – the faster the better. The moment you stop, the fish will shy away. And remember to keep your lure active all the way to the boat as the fish will often strike within arm’s reach. When this happens all I can say is “hang on to your rod!”
Structured success
Once hooked up, not only do you have to deal with a rampaging king, you also have to contend with the environment in which these fish occupy. Whether it’s a mountain of reef, submerged rocky ledges or lonely channel markers like the iconic Sydney Harbour “wedding cake”, kings tend to congregate around structure of some form.
Juvenile kingfish utilise structure for protection against other predators, but these areas are a great location for kingies of all sizes to source food (mainly smaller fish) which are there seeking shelter from strong currents.
Unfortunately for anglers, kingfish know their “home” structures all too well and will use them to their advantage. In Sydney Harbour, for example, many of the most productive channel markers and buoys are floating in between 5-10m of water, so you need to employ the “the hook-up and go” tactic if you’re to have much of a chance of pulling the fish away from cover. Sometimes, however, you just can’t stop them …
Big kings are fairly easily marked with the use of quality sounders. You can generally see them as red arches or blobs sitting just above or below schools of baitfish. Casting plastic lures close to these harbour channel markers will give you an idea if anyone’s home and hungry. A live squid floated down is an even more surefire way to eliciting some interest.
If the area you are fishing has received little pressure prior to your arrival or if the fish are feisty, you’ll more often than not experience the brute force of an angry king within seconds.
Other times these fish just can’t be tempted no matter what you offer. This is especially true when there are lots of boats around or when the tides are unfavourable. When the fish refuse to play ball, it’s time to move to the next marker, reef or waypoint, or wait out the tide change and employ new tactics.
Shallow water kingfish are tough adversaries, but with persistence and the right gear and tactics they can be conquered. Get out there and start dethroning!
