Kingfish Techniques

 

Diving

For me, November is all about kingfish. Big kingfish. This is when the big boys start returning in numbers from further north, still in prime condition, before racing around to spawn over summer, and before they’ve had too much fishing/spearing pressure. 

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This year, it looked as if November was going to slip away without a big king hunt, thanks to the weather, three teenage kids and work commitments. 

However, as luck would have it, an opportunity opened on the last day of the month, when a business trip to Australia was cancelled and the weather came good. 

I sent word out to my mates in the Axemen Spearfishing Club and my ‘Axebro’, Marcus Petraska, who’s self-employed and loves a mid-week spear. 

The ensuing trip turned out to be a cracker.

Go where the big kingfish are. 

Big kingfish love remote locations with pinnacles or headlands coming up from the deep amidst plenty of current. Big kingfish hotspots include White Island, Mayor Island, the far north of Great Barrier Island, the Mokohinau Islands and, of course, the mighty Three Kings, along with associated Middlesex and King Banks. 

We only had time for a day trip, and my boat, a Ramco 600 fisherman Awarua, is stored at our farm at Pakiri, so the Mokes provided the most practical destination. 

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We started at a great pin near Fanal Island, but while the current was running nicely, it was quiet, with only a few small kingfish spotted. So off to Maori Rocks we headed. 

The charter boatOffshore Adventure was working the area too, and we could see someone hooked into something solid, which was a good sign. (Except that the fish turned out to be a mako shark around 200kg! I’m glad I didn’t know that before getting in, though in truth the presence of sharks indicates you are in big kingfish country!) 

The key to finding kingfish is to get up-current of pins or rock structures, and find where the baitfish are. No baitfish, no kingfish, so keep looking until you find that sweet spot and then work it. This ended up being quite a long way from the boat at the far north of the rocks. 

Be patient – let the smaller kingfish swim past! 

This is easier said than done, as sometimes it’s hard to tell how big they are, and letting decent kingfish swim past without pulling the trigger can be a tough ask even for experienced spearos. This is critical though, as the bigger ones often take a bit longer to show, tending to be on the outside or deeper than the smaller ones.  

On this occasion, though, patience was not needed. As soon as I got to the baitfish, a school of about 15 big boys came in from the deep, agitated and in hunting mode. They were big all right – in hindsight I think all were 25kg plus, and I’m not even sure the one I speared was the biggest. He swam right behind me and then swung wide on a long loop, which, for him, was not a good idea. 

Be prepared – it’s critical to have big fish gear 

Most important are a big float, a slip-tip spear, long gun, and I like a breakaway bungee-line setup. In this case my long (150cm) double-rubbered gun came in handy, as quite a long shot was required. (Some like shorter guns that track a little better through the water, but given the big boys hang out wide and deep, I prefer my long gun.) 

I believe a slip tip is a must – this sees the spear tip drop off once it’s through the fish, but still connected by a cable, preventing the spear from coming back out or ripping big holes in it. 

Again, it was critical this day, as the shot was in the upper gut area - lower than I’d like - and given the pressure involved, a normal spear would have ripped out quickly. 

The fish took off powerfully for deeper waters, and I was soon hanging onto the float and being towed sideways for about 50m, with several powerful runs to the deep threatening to pull my big Riffe inflatable float under. 

Normal-sized hard floats can’t handle big kings - you will lose your fish and gear. It’s important to keep the fish off the bottom where they can rip themselves off, and to get them up and away from possible sharks quickly. 

I managed to get the fish up after about a 10-minute fight, which was just as well, as a big 3.7m (12ft) bronzie was circling it menacingly. It was therefore a long swim back to the boat with my hand in the king’s gills, looking over my shoulder for the shark - but there was no way I was giving up this fish to the taxman. 

Back on the boat, Marcus and I tried to guess the weight. I estimated it at about 33-34kg, but on the digital scales it went 37.5kg. 

This made it the fourth 30kg+ fish I’ve caught while diving with Marcus, with my biggest being 40.5kg from White Island (in November 2010). Marcus’ best is one of 36kg from Spot X near Great Barrier. We must be good luck charms for each other! 

Offshore Adventures pulled up next to us, and who should be on board but NZFN Editor Grant Dixon, who asked us pose for a photo – a day of good luck indeed! 

 

 

 

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