Kingfish time
A good 20yrs ago the boys and I changed over from chasing big snaps to kingfish. We had lost our fishing mojo due to 40yrs plus of constant snapper fishing and decided to see if chasing kings would spice things up. At first we were a little frustrated with it as we didn't get a lot, but venturing out wider and further north we started realising where to find them when jigging or livebaiting.
Our day four weather forecast was for premo conditions. With it being hard going on the snapper side of things over the past couple days we decided to go and jig for kings at an old haunt. It had been a good 3-4yrs since we had really tried for kings on our annual far north trips. The spot we were heading for was just mins from the Top 10 where we were staying and this spot used to hold some good fish up to 20kilo. We had even caught a few we couldn't stop.
We hooked the boat up and 1min later we were dropping it in and heading for our spot. The sun had already awoken as we made our way out into the bay. The sea was smooth in places between the light breeze patches and it was only going to get better as the morning wore on. A few mins later we were dropping our jigs away. It was so good coming back to our old haunt and I was hoping the Lowrance wasn't lying to us with the baitfish sign it was showing. There was baitfish bubbling on the surface also in spots which was great to see. After moving about and reading the sign it took about 5mins for our first hook up.
I was onto a nice little green back, only small but it was a good warm up and still a lot of fun. We moved back up for another drift and this time it was Stevo's turn to hook up. It was another fun tussle and although going 85 long Stevo was keen to watch it swim away. Another re-drift saw another hook up. It was great to see our old spot still produce, not like how it used to but still awesome to see. This one was a better fish than my last and even pulled a little string! I tried to put a bit of hurt on him as he gave me sign he had made it to the rough. This one was a lot better model and a lot better fight with my Cavalla being stripped of line and my jig rod bent like a horse shoe.
A couple mins later I got busted. I wasn't too sure if it was from it making it to the rough or being a bronzie haunt as well it may have been sharked? It's always a bugger when ya lose one but more so to a shark. I re-tied and moved us back up for another drift. it was great the wind had died for us as it made for a very slow drift which was perfect. It was like Stevo and I were tag teaming them as once again he was hooked up this time. It was just a small one and noticing the stress jumping of his jig rod I knew something bigger was chasing it. Couple more winds then the next thing his reel was screaming away. His little king fight had now turned into a battle, a bronzie had taken a liking to it.
It was an epic battle and what made it more so was we were able to get it close enough to the boat to be able to get his jig back. They are such amazing creatures when seen in the wild. The sea was starting to become silky smooth as we headed back for another drop. We were hoping that would be our only shark encounter. The crazy thing is it's the very first ever shark we had caught from here in the years of fishing it. I was hooked up again to another little rod bender which went 90 long which went back to fight another day. My next king was just another small one around 76/77cm and Stevo's last one went sim size.
The sharks were still there so after a couple hours of morning fun and not wanting to kill fish just to have more fun we called it. It was awesome to come back and catch a few kings from our spot and awesome having a fun few battles. Jigging for kings is so much fun and 100% if you find yourself getting bored with your fishing, this is something that can bring that buzz back....
Tight lines
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