johnlikes2fish
07-11-2005, 07:44 PM
Fished the rocks on straddie every morning for the past five or six days, specifically targetting Yellow Tailed Kings. My main plan was to use soft plastics as much as possible and hopefully get something over the 1-3kg range.
Started fishing tuesday at 4.50 am after a scary climb down in the dark, gear was Shimano Spheros 140000, custom made rod (pacific composite blank fuji bits and bobs) 10'6 25lb platinum, plastics were Atomic Shads in gold and Squidgie shads in a mackerel pattern (sorry cant remember the pattern name but I dont think the pattern mattered as much as the technique) both lures were around 120mm. Jig heads ranged from 25-35gm. After casting and retireving for 2 hours with no success, I changed the rig to one I have success with using pillies when targetting kingies. On went the float stopper, float, large ball sinker, swivel, 35lb trace to the jighead and plastic, I use this as kind of a down rigger to retrieve pillies or plastics now at various depths. The rig is retrieved slowly with the odd jerk. During the second retrieve I had my first taker and after a rugged ten or so minutes up came 90cm (dont have scales) of upset Kingy I wouldnt guess this fish weighed more than 6-7kg but I reckon these are one of the toughest fighting fish going and it felt more like 25KG+, after a bit of a rest out went the rig again first cast off it went again but I couldnt stop it before I was busted off on submerged rocks, this pattern continued with the kingys repeatedly smashing me until I finally managed one of very similar size about an hour or so later, that was enough for me so off home I went. the next day I used the same technique to pull in a half dozen Kingys around the 60-65cm mark I was still busted off plenty times (got to start thinking about 35lb line). The smaller Kingys persisted each morning and were great fun to catch.
The weeks fishing was fantastic the soft plastics are starting to feel a little addictive even my wife likes them as there are less stinky clothes and gear.
Started fishing tuesday at 4.50 am after a scary climb down in the dark, gear was Shimano Spheros 140000, custom made rod (pacific composite blank fuji bits and bobs) 10'6 25lb platinum, plastics were Atomic Shads in gold and Squidgie shads in a mackerel pattern (sorry cant remember the pattern name but I dont think the pattern mattered as much as the technique) both lures were around 120mm. Jig heads ranged from 25-35gm. After casting and retireving for 2 hours with no success, I changed the rig to one I have success with using pillies when targetting kingies. On went the float stopper, float, large ball sinker, swivel, 35lb trace to the jighead and plastic, I use this as kind of a down rigger to retrieve pillies or plastics now at various depths. The rig is retrieved slowly with the odd jerk. During the second retrieve I had my first taker and after a rugged ten or so minutes up came 90cm (dont have scales) of upset Kingy I wouldnt guess this fish weighed more than 6-7kg but I reckon these are one of the toughest fighting fish going and it felt more like 25KG+, after a bit of a rest out went the rig again first cast off it went again but I couldnt stop it before I was busted off on submerged rocks, this pattern continued with the kingys repeatedly smashing me until I finally managed one of very similar size about an hour or so later, that was enough for me so off home I went. the next day I used the same technique to pull in a half dozen Kingys around the 60-65cm mark I was still busted off plenty times (got to start thinking about 35lb line). The smaller Kingys persisted each morning and were great fun to catch.
The weeks fishing was fantastic the soft plastics are starting to feel a little addictive even my wife likes them as there are less stinky clothes and gear.