Catching Kingfish - Five Top Tips

Tony Orton is regularly quizzed on his ‘best kingfish tips’, and after reflecting on his past 20 years of targeting this species, he acknowledges much has changed. The following is his list of five things that help him consistently produce the goods for charter clients.

Bite leader

When live baiting for kingfish, I always aim for the best and most natural presentation possible. I don’t fish any leaders heavier than 100lb and use fluorocarbon. This line weight seems to be a great balance between being strong enough and offering good abrasion-resistance, while not being too heavy for smaller baits – like jack mackerel – to carry. I use the ever-dependable size 2 stainless steel NT swivel on the end of my two-meter bite leader. These are super-strong (rated to 133kg) and smaller than most conventional snapper swivels.

At the business end of the leader, I always use a size 7/0 in-line circle hook. Once you know how to set a circle hook, the hook up rate is fantastic, and the fish are mostly hooked in the corner of the jaw. This makes for an easier release and prevents gut hooking. Once you hook up with a circle, you do not lose many fish due to hooks falling out.

To connect my swivel and hook to my leader, I always use mini double barrel copper crimps. They fit snuggly on the leader and are a dark colour, so are not that obvious. The small barrel crimps are key for durable and strong connections to lighter leaders.

All the ingredients of a good bite leader.

MinnKota trolling motor

Over the last few years my MinnKota trolling motor has been a game changer when targeting kingfish. Being able to hold over a deep pin in an exact position is deadly when lining up on fish feeding in a small area. The ability to accurately set a course when slow-trolling live baits while still having the option of controlling the speed and direction always ensures our baits are in the right spot.

For topwater fishing, having a trolling motor allows you to hold the boat in one spot when putting your casts out, or to slow the drift down, letting you fish the strike zone for longer or hold back so fish are not spooked. Using a MinnKota has improved my results considerably.

Trolling motors have changed fishing forever.

Chirp sounder setups

As far as technology goes, the introduction of Chirp transducers has made a massive difference in the clarity of what you are marking below the boat on your sounder screen. Chirp transducers offer you better detail, resolution and greater definition of your targets (see Pete McGregor’s feature on sounders on pg 50 of this edition – Ed.), enabling you to mark individual fish. Knowing how to use and understand what you’re seeing is most important and the new Chirp transducer and screens have taken this to a new level. On my sounder, I can now easily tell the difference between snapper, kingfish, john dory, trevally, kahawai and jack mackerel, making catching bait and targeting kingfish a hell of a lot more precise.

Reliable rod and reels

If you are going to invest in a rod and reel to target kings, go and talk to people who are doing it all the time, understand where you are going to be fishing, the size of kingfish you are realistically going to encounter and the terrain you are fishing over. Once you have this sorted then always stretch your budget to buy the best you can possibly afford.

Kingfish, pound-for-pound, are one of the toughest fish that swim the ocean and have no respect for your gear – line and knots will fail, drags will seize and rods will break. Buy a reel that can easily be serviced and is designed for running a constant drag pressure of over 12kg. Our favourite charter reel for targeting kingfish is the Shimano Talica 12. Over the years, this reel has been a proven workhorse. It is solidly built (alloy body and spool), light weight, has a fast retrieve, and produces silky-smooth drag pressure. We match these reels up with a good quality PE8 (approx 80lb) jig rod that has a sensitive tip for detecting bites when live baiting, and heaps of power down low to drag these dirty-fighting fish off the seafloor. When you are going toe-to-toe with the fish of a lifetime, reliable tackle sure helps!

When taking on kingfish, buy the best tackle you can afford - then stretch the budget!

Multi-coloured braid

Having braid that changes colour every 10 metres is quite possibly one of the smartest yet simplest things that improves our results when targeting kingfish.

Knowing exactly how much line you have out is paramount. Whether dropping baits down deep to fish marked on the sounder or slow-trolling live baits out the back of the boat, this product allows your baits to be accurately deployed. As a charter skipper, knowing exactly how much line an angler has lost is critical when fighting a hard-running kingfish that only has one instinct ­– to break your line on any structure in its path.

Multi-coloured braid is the ultimate for targeting fish in different depths.

Combining these five items and understanding how they all work together will certainly put the odds in your favour. On that note, I would be interested to hear the five best things that have made your fishing better! There’s always more to learn about catching kingfish.

March 2022 - Tony Orton
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
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