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Three Kings for Xmas - Sat 18th
Monday
Now I had the bit between my teeth. Land based fishermen don’t often get the chance to get amongst the Kingfish. So after a great morning on Saturday, I decided to put in another early start on the Tweed rockwall on Monday.
I arrived just before first light around 3.45 am and was treated to a beautiful early morning sky and very calm conditions. A slight westerly wind was blowing and it was distinctly cooler than the hot and humid conditions on Saturday.
I walked to the end of the rock wall and started casting a 110mm River 2 Sea Dumbell Popper in the Pilchard colour. After twenty casts there was no interest, so I switched to an 85 gram SPANYID Raider metal slug. I put in another twenty casts without a touch. Things were not looking promising. It was now about 4.30 am and the westerly wind was getting up.
I switched to soft plastics lures. Specifically, I put on a GULP 3†Shrimp in the Peppered Prawn colour. Again I rigged it on a ½ oz 4/0 jighead. I cast out and let it sink down and counted to ten, to let the scent circulate a bit. As I lifted it off the bottom, it was struck hard by a fish. The fish came up to the surface fairly easily but then made a blistering run round to the front end of the rock wall. I gradually worked it back round to the left hand side, tightened the drag and lifted it up the rocks. It was a 50 cm Yellowtail Kingfish. It had a very recent looking wound behind its tail, where it had obviously had a run in with a bigger predator. After a quick picture, I returned it.
I continued fishing with the soft plastics and felt a few nudges and bites but no hook ups. I got snagged and lost my last GULP Shrimp plastic. I switched to a 5†Crazylegs jerkshad in the Watermelon colour. At about 5.30am the line came up tight again. I was now fishing with the drag very tight, to slow the initial dive down into the rocks. It was another Kingfish around the 50cm mark. Again, I brought it round to the left of the wall and pulled it up the rocks. Then I measured and photographed it and threw it back.
Another half an hour passed and I tried the metal slug and popper again, with no luck. I went back to plastics and put on a 5†jerkshad in the Lime Tiger colour. It was now around 6.30 am. After a few casts, I was on again. After a brief fight I pulled up another Yellowtail Kingfish, about the same size as the previous one.
Three Kings but nothing for dinner - I will have to come back again soon.
Now I had the bit between my teeth. Land based fishermen don’t often get the chance to get amongst the Kingfish. So after a great morning on Saturday, I decided to put in another early start on the Tweed rockwall on Monday.
I arrived just before first light around 3.45 am and was treated to a beautiful early morning sky and very calm conditions. A slight westerly wind was blowing and it was distinctly cooler than the hot and humid conditions on Saturday.
I walked to the end of the rock wall and started casting a 110mm River 2 Sea Dumbell Popper in the Pilchard colour. After twenty casts there was no interest, so I switched to an 85 gram SPANYID Raider metal slug. I put in another twenty casts without a touch. Things were not looking promising. It was now about 4.30 am and the westerly wind was getting up.
I switched to soft plastics lures. Specifically, I put on a GULP 3†Shrimp in the Peppered Prawn colour. Again I rigged it on a ½ oz 4/0 jighead. I cast out and let it sink down and counted to ten, to let the scent circulate a bit. As I lifted it off the bottom, it was struck hard by a fish. The fish came up to the surface fairly easily but then made a blistering run round to the front end of the rock wall. I gradually worked it back round to the left hand side, tightened the drag and lifted it up the rocks. It was a 50 cm Yellowtail Kingfish. It had a very recent looking wound behind its tail, where it had obviously had a run in with a bigger predator. After a quick picture, I returned it.
I continued fishing with the soft plastics and felt a few nudges and bites but no hook ups. I got snagged and lost my last GULP Shrimp plastic. I switched to a 5†Crazylegs jerkshad in the Watermelon colour. At about 5.30am the line came up tight again. I was now fishing with the drag very tight, to slow the initial dive down into the rocks. It was another Kingfish around the 50cm mark. Again, I brought it round to the left of the wall and pulled it up the rocks. Then I measured and photographed it and threw it back.
Another half an hour passed and I tried the metal slug and popper again, with no luck. I went back to plastics and put on a 5†jerkshad in the Lime Tiger colour. It was now around 6.30 am. After a few casts, I was on again. After a brief fight I pulled up another Yellowtail Kingfish, about the same size as the previous one.
Three Kings but nothing for dinner - I will have to come back again soon.
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