jac23 wrote: Put your livebait out and cast yr stickbait around it. Worked for me last week. Caught on a Hammerhead Cherry pai 180 floating stickbait |
laidbackdood wrote:
Nice fish bro but i hope you had buddies with you to help you out?...or did you manage to land him while your L/B was still out?....If so....lucky you. |
jac23 wrote:
Hey LBD, Had help. Other chap in background managed my livie once I'd hooked up and provided the vital gaff shot 😉 |
Reel_Tech wrote: Hi Goobernator The most consistant method for targetting kings off the rocks is hands-down livebaiting. Ive fished side by side many times with very experienced topwater fisherman (including Dennis Verreet) over the years and catch rates on average nearly always favour livebaiting. There are a few exceptions including lack of baits to swim and when sharks are so prolific livebaiting becomes impractical (this is the case at allot of my spots at times). If youre a trophy hunter like myself, you can swim large baits to 'weed out' smaller less desirable fish. The bigger baits will be left untouched by pesky rats and if a bigger fish swims by it will inhale it. This is something stickbaits lack as even a rat will execute the largest lure. In saying that though, adjusting bait size is all relative to what you want to acheive wether it be to 'just catch a kingfish' or targetting a trophy. If you are going to concentrate more with livebaiting, take note of the average size of fish you see at youre spots. If you see mainly small to medium fish, swim smaller baits if they are available. Youre results probably wouldnt be so good if youre swimming a 2kg+ kahawai when the the size of the general population of kings at a spot is mainly 10kg. Straylining baits like fresh dead piper is also an option but the problem with just 'blind' straylining deadbaits is you get too much by-catch. It is far superior to run a burley trail and sight fish kings when they turn up in the trail. Have youre deadbait pre-rigged ready to pitch. Another thing to remember is when you are trying to do three things at once (straylining, topwater and livebaiting) youre attention is compromised. I have seen too many big fish lost by guys swimming a livebait left in the holder whilst casting stickbaits around. By the time you wind back your stickbait, put the setup down, run over to youre livebait rod and pick it up that fish already has a big head-start on you. I never put my livebait outfit down, its always in my hands for this reason. Set yourself a goal and stick by it, which ever methods you are going to use. My goal is a 50kg landbased king, I have hooked, seen and lost a few fish close to this and run heavy tackle all the time. That is my goal and I fish exclusively for that fish everytime I livebait and I wont stop till I get him. So far my tally is 4 x 40kg+ landbased kings (best was 45kg on 50lb test), countless 30kg+ fish (on 15kg, 24kg and 37kg lineweights) and several in the 20's and high 20's on 10kg line. Its a challenging sport (compared to 'boat fishing' for kings) which is what makes it so addictive. Good luck with it all! |
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