Shallow Water Kingfish

When December hits in Frank Watkin’s small town on the Coromandel Peninsula, it’s time to put the soft-baits and strayline setups away and pull out the heavy artillery.

Through the summer months on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, the snapper either push out deep in search of colder waters or they take a much-needed summer vacation spawning in the Firth of Thames. In saying that, a few smaller snapper and the odd big moocher are still on offer through summer but they are few and far between, making for long hot tedious days on the water.

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Kingfish, however, are another story. You will find that, through the summer months, most reefs around the eastern Coromandel are holding good numbers of kingfish so you don’t need to overthink it. If the first and second reef don’t produce the goods, then do what I do and drag your fiancé around every shallow water reef on the eastern seaboard for six consecutive days. If that still doesn’t produce the goods, give her a one day break to show that you care, then repeat the cycle until you get the results you’re after. Remember, teamwork is dreamwork.

Successfully targeting kingfish in shallow inshore waters takes skill and quite a bit of luck.

Successfully targeting kingfish in shallow inshore waters takes skill and quite a bit of luck.

When it comes to targeting shallow water kingfish, strong effective tackle is a must. Kingfish are strong, cunning fish and will take any opportunity to run you straight into the reef given the opportunity. Unfortunately, we have learnt this the hard way over the years, losing many good kingies by fishing with light gear. When gearing up for a kingfish session, we like to use the Okuma Dethroner rod and Okuma Cedros 14000 spin reel setup. With 20kg of drag, we’ve been able to catch and release some unreal fish. Choosing the right line class to pair with your setup is equally important. We go for 80lb Black Magic braid and 80lb Black Magic Fluorocarbon leader. This is a strong and reliable setup, without being too heavy – we like it as we believe it gives us the best chance of landing a trophy fish.

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When fishing for kingfish from the boat, we find trolling live jack mackerel or small kahawai to be the most effective technique. While there have been times where locals catch them on stickbaits or jigs, we don’t find this method to be as consistent. We like to use a 9/0 Black Magic LB hook and thread it nicely through the livebaits mouth and out the nose. This enables us to troll the livebait behind the boat at the lowest speed possible while still giving the livie a natural swimming appearance to entice the bite. Once your livebait is in position, keep your bail arm open with one finger securing the line so you don’t spool yourself while the boat is moving. If there is more than one of you trolling, it is important to have one line in close, approximately 5 metres behind the boat, and one out wide at approximately 20 metres behind the boat to reduce the likelihood of tangles, especially when fishing with braid.

When sounding around, we are typically looking for reefy terrain and will troll along the outskirts in approximately 6-20 metres of water. Remember, persistence is key. We might troll up and down the reef 20 times before we get a hit. It’s just the way fishing goes sometimes, but when you do get a hit, you’ll know about it. A kingfish will grab your bait, causing the line to get pulled from your finger grip and start peeling off your reel. It’s important you give the fish five to ten seconds to really swallow the bait before flicking the bail arm over – then just hold on tight. One golden rule: before you even cast out your livebait, check your drag and make sure it’s set nice and tight.

A large percentage of these shallow water kingies range between 10-15kg but if you play your cards right and put the hours in, you could find yourself connected to a thumper in the 20-30kg range like one of my good friend Sean Peggs did last month.

Sean and crew were slow trolling jack mackerel around one of the shallower hotspots out from our town when a 25kg kingfish swallowed his livebait in just five metres of water (no surprises as this guy is an absolute fish magnet). Sean played the fish in five metres of water for the majority of the fight, which was full of line screaming runs over sharp shallow reef, before eventually getting it into a bit deeper water and landing the trophy fish. It was an unreal display of skill as we have all been run into the reef at that spot on a number of occasions by fish less than half that size.

Slow trolling a livebait is Frank's go-to method when targeting kingfish in the shallows.

Slow trolling a livebait is Frank's go-to method when targeting kingfish in the shallows.

My fiancé Jane and I are still hunting for our shallow water trophies. We have set our sights on a 20kg kingfish in under 20 metres of water from the boat and a 20kg kingie off the rocks. Jane came extremely close to ticking off her trophy from the boat last year when she got an estimated 20kg+ kingfish alongside the boat in 12 metres of water. Unfortunately, when I grabbed the leader to land it, the hook rolled out of the huge kingies mouth and Jane’s hard-earned trophy disappeared under the boat. It was a quiet boat ride home to say the least. On a positive note, a week later (still together!) we went back to the same spot and Jane landed a respectable 16.3 kg kingfish – her best to date.

For me, I’m happy to wait for my trophy fish. The longer it takes and the harder I work for it, the better it will feel when the time comes. For Jane, the sooner the better because she’s getting to know these east coast reefs very well. I’m pretty sure she can free hand draw all the contour lines she’s studied them that much this summer!

March 2021 - Frank Watkins
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
Copyright: NZ Fishing Media Ltd.
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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