Hot Kingfish Session off Gold Coast

[PlasticFantastic]

Went out this morning with fellow Ausfish member BrentP on Seaprobe Charters to get some jigging in on the Kingfish reefs. For the first half hour or so we jigged one reef and only myself came up with a Kingie of around 7kg. Gavin the skipper of the boat said bring in the lines we're heading for the hot spot, so up come the lines with haste as we moved further along the reef. When we got there myself and BrentP were jigging the other customers were using livies. After about 5 mins the yell comes out I'm on, on the jig only to be follwed by i'm on as well and another was on and another in total four hook ups. Two on jigs two on baits. All fish were about 10kg and over biggest going about 15 kg. We continued drifting back and forth over this area with multiple hook ups in the end we had 15 fish 10 kg and over in the ice box and released about 6 more 10 kg and over. All this occured in the space of about 1 hour. The best part was when they were on the chew you only had to wind the jig a short distance to hook up and if you dropped it another usually grabbed it.

We left the fish still biting as we had more than enough and there's no point in taking more than you need.

Seaprobe's Number 1 ;D


PlasticFantastic

[PlasticFantastic]

This is what we kept.


PlasticFantastic

[Deiter]

that's an impressive looking haul there Plasticfantastic! would have been awesome fun.

Damo

[larfin]

Sounds like a top day-and a good feed to take home.
cheers
greg

[Pitsta]

Great work Plastic ! Lucky buggers ....

Mark

[Careel]

You've gotta be happy with that. Good to see a bit of size in the kingies.

[PlasticFantastic]

Hey Matt (Fish The Deep), yeah there was some good size too em, they were pretty thick there at one stage. Brent managed to beat his old best that he caught on your boat was 11.5 now 13.5 kg. I think between Brent and myself we managed 10 fish over 10kg. You know that reef though one day they are there the next they're not. Hope to come fishing with you some time in the New Year until then good luck.

Seaprobe's Number 1 ;D

PlasticFantastic

[Brent_P]

I thought I might as well post a photo of two of my kingfish here as well ;D. I ended up with six kingfish, all on 300g jigs, from six hookups (a few crossed lines worked out all right for me, and I was lucky to stop two kingies just above the bottom), and Mark (PlasticFantastic) also boated six, all on jigs. I only weighed three of my fish - two were around 11.5 kg and one was 13.5kg - but I think all six were over 10kg. From my estimation, the majority of the fish boated were between 11 and 12kg. The biggest kingie was a really fat fish of at least 15kg, caught on a livebait.
When we had enough to take home one fish each, and a few spares (and we couldn't shut the fish box), we started releasing them. Unfortunately, a couple of fish floated after being unhooked, which seemed strange to me. I've released smaller kingfish before without a problem, and it was not as if we were bringing the fish up quicker than we would a small kingie and so bursting their swim bladders. So we decided to leave them and go trolling.
It was the best day's jigging I've ever had.

Brent.

[aussiefool]

those Kingies are sooooooo much fun to catch. Well done to all on board

[Fishing_Freddy]

Great report sounds like everyone got amoungst the fish, Nice looking haul of fish well done
Ken

[Edmo]

top catch :P do the kingies from up that way go mushy like the ones off tweed? if any 1 has any comments i would like to hear them ;)
merry christmas to all :)

[Brissyguy]

Great effort guys,

Seems there is gonna be some good competition around the local charter operators.

Great fish and great feeds comin' up as well.

Cheers,
Rich.

[PlasticFantastic]

Edmo, no they don't seem to go mushy they taste pretty good actually. I have caught a couple off Point Lookout (land based) before and they were mushy and not much chop to eat.


PlasticFantastic

[Smailesy]

some big fish there guys nice catch

[ON-THE-CHEW]

Good work Mark and Brent sounds like the season for jigging isn't totally over yet. It's a good day when you go out on a charter and get your moneys worth, which you well and truely did today. You probably don't have many more trips this year Mark to beat Brent's record. ;)

Also Brent I thought you might want to know that I heard from a little birdy that if you and a certain Ausfish member hooked onto a similar size fish at the same time, that ausfish member would have time to bring it in, unhook it and go upstairs and have a drink in the same time you would take to get yours aboard. :D

I had to do it Mark, while you two are the only two going outside I had to stir up the competition a little bit.

Yes I am envious but if I could stand up for any more than five minutes outside I would definately come out and give it a go :(

Andrew(one with weak stomach)

[PlasticFantastic]

I thinks its more the fact that I've got 200 odd dollars of 90lb braid on the reel I want to get them up quickly as to avoid tangles with other customers and having my line pulled into the prop or tangled beyond help. In Brents defence his Saltist won't hold the drag my Saltiga can as such making it alot easier for me to pull the fish up quicker and his fish was 13.5 kg bigger than my 11.5 kg tiddler. Brent's not into competition but claims he won with the bigger fish go figure. Andrew I reakon with the fish hitting the jigs like they were you wouldn't have time to feel like being sick, your sore arms and back would take your mind off your stomach.

PlasticFantastic

[Brent_P]

Andrew,
I originally posted a few smart remarks about Mark on here - something about him needing to take a rest in the middle of the action while the deckie used his rod to catch a big king - but after I posted it I saw Mark's post, which he was writing at about the same time as I was writing mine, and so I've edited it all out ;D.
I don't think he got all of his up quicker than mine though. Every kingfish is different. The 13.5 kg kingfish was the biggest I caught that day, but it wasn't the hardest fighting. I had to completely lock the spool with my (taped) thumb a few times when the fish were very close to the bottom (great stuff, colour-coded braid!), but I didn't lose any fish or end up in the prop - that prospect is pretty scary when you're risking $100 worth of braid and 15 minutes to re-rig.

Edmo,
No one who has eaten the kingfish I've caught off the Gold Coast has complained - I haven't taken home a mushy one home yet. I read a magazine article by David Green a few years back, where he mentioned that the local kingfish are usually infected with a microscopic parasite that turns the flesh to mush, but I've always found their flesh firmer than most other species of fish.

Cheers,
Brent.

[snapperm8]

a nice haul of kingies there gotta be stoked with that


cheers dave

[Zulu_1]

Top fish mate good work ;)

Cheers Brett :)

[Jay_S]

Excellent kingies mate :o :o :o
WELL DONE!! :)




Cheers Jay 8-)

[Sea-Captain]

great stuff - I caught my first kingie when I was 12 on a hand line, 30lbs worth - almost pulled me in!! man they can fight ....well done...

[rollie]

great photos super day out fishing, Hope theres room in the freezer? ;D