Give it death at hook-up, to turn its head and get it hopefully moving away from the reef. Once you get it in clear water, then you can take it a little easier, but not much.Basically a good kingie on your line means a real balls-out scrap.

Pretty much no matter the size of the kingie, you usually beat them in about 20mins this way, which is why i like them so much, no boring long 2-3hr marlin hauling  episodes! Sing it everyone.... da-da-da-daaa-daaaa!

give me a kingi,

a mean fightin' kingi

a kingi will make my daa-aay,

they'll take you, and break you,

and really truly shake you,

"Sure kingis are the best",you'll saaa-aaaayyyyyy.

Cheers, Stu.

Hi Grant..... Did you loose a big one did you? Trust me.... it does happen!!!! I have had some experience with several monster Kingfish... some of the best challenges I have had with fishing. Catching Kingies is a game where the best player with luck on his side wins on the day..... as the line goes screaming out at a million miles an hour and we see our spool nearing its end... what do we do? Buy the right gear for doing the job/winning the fight in the first place... in other words before you get into the the ring with the King be prepared for the fight like any good fighter. You may catch Kingies in many various locations, this will have a lot of impact on how you play the fish as will the mentality of the fish itself, what you intend doing with the fish (ie/ catch and release, going for a game record....etc). Heavy Duty gear you can be a lot harder with, but don't get too carried away, lighter tackle you will need a lot more luck and take it easier. Better still throw the anchor rope over with a bouy attached and go chase the bugger.

To put it simply to catch Kingfish there is no hard and fast rule but there are a few things which will definitely help. Have the right gear for the job, be prepared for the unexpected, keep the line tight at all times, be patient and make sure that you are wearing your Lucky hat.

ps: If we landed every "King-Hit" we wouldn't have any of those classic fishy stories to tell around the campfire so don't feel too bad if the odd monster leaves you dazed and confused.

Far from it,

Just an observation recently aboard Cascade at the Ranfurly that by putting an even but constant pressure on a king, and maintaining this thru the fight, this result worked better than other techniques where anglers went for broke at hookup and got dragged round the decks, getting busted off. Basically by running round the decks, some never seemed to get in control of the fish.

Also Spanners made a comment recently on TV re fighting Kings to the effect that the harder you pulled the harder they responded.

Any other thoughts welcome,

Cheers

Great replies. The techniques for fishing Kingies (or Yellowtail as we call them) isn't much different up here, except what we consider a big fish (20kg) is much smaller than the brutes down in your area. Our experience is, if we are fishing near structure (kelp, rocks, ect.), if you don't get their head turned around quick, you will lose them in the structure. So when fishing around structure or kelp, we tend to fish with pretty heavy drags.

When fishing Mexican waters for the larger YT around structure, you can end up fishing 60-80# test, with the drags buttoned down in order not to lose them. I could imagine with the larger ones in your area, this type of set-up could be like hooking up to a freight train.... 

Given the size of the Kingies you guys fish for in the pics I've seen, the descriptions posted above with bruised and bloody knees on the rocks with only a good story to show for it  is a great image. It sounds like fishing for the big ones is more like armed conflict vs recreation.....  . Keep the discussion going.... it's great! (at least now I know to pack my knee pads!!!!!)   

Kind regards, Bill

If you want a couple of pics of NZ kingies such as one can hope to catch, here are one or two...



or perhaps... let's see, any others i have around here....

Nope no more kingis loaded on that server, but you will also be getting hapuku like this....



oh, here is another kingi i found...



and if you are very lucky, you will maybe set to see these darlings that are out there...

Geeezzz Louis!!!

I just renewed my membership at the local gym!!!! I was thinking this 'recreation' was starting to look more like warfare..... now I know it!

Those are some great pics Cap't., they really made my day.

BTW, are you the same Cap't that post's on Stan's Marlinnut site? Stan is also local to us and while we don't get into the marlin quite like some other areas of the world, there is a wealth of info on the board and it's populated with some great guys (Stan included) While I don't post there too often, I read his boards quite a bit and do get to fish with them. Great group of guys. 

Thanks again for the pics! They were awesome..... BTW, is that you in the pics?

Really looking forward to January!!! The only problem now is, I was thinking of bringing my wife and girls out a week early (maybe seeing if Kerren can still find me some room on a boat for his tourney), but I think the pic of your Kingies has my 17 year old daughter rethinking doing some fishing down there. Both girls love to fish (17 and 7 years old), but I think they agree this looks more like wrestling than angling!!! LMAO!

Looking forward to January!!!!

Thanks again for the awesome pics!

Bill

Morning Kerren,

I'll be sorting out the details over the coming week, but the family is all over the idea of heading down under and visiting your exciting country. One question I had was regarding accomodations. We could do the hotel thing, but I was wondering if you had any recommendations on maybe a short term rental near the water front? The girls would probably leave me after the first week (as I head south for the Badman Charter), but if there was something or somewhere you would recommend that might be interesting for a 17 year old gal (going on 22) and a 7 year old going on 12.... as well as my 21 year old wife (well.... if you knew here, you would know why I wouldn't dare posting anything older).... I'd greatly appreciate it. We could do the hotel thing, but you can never replace 'local' knowledge.....

Regardless, I should be able to confirm the dates within the week, but in general, it certainly looks like a go!!!

BTW, while my wife doesn't like to fish, my 17 year old is great at fishing or even crewing, so if someone needs one good looking angler and one 'cook' or galleymaid/deckhand, let me know..... Uh,,,,, I'm sure you can figure by the last comment that I'll be the one cooking, swabbing decks and gaffing the fish!  LMAO!

Best regards, Bill

Hi Bill, yep, that is me, the one and only Captain Asparagus.Notjust the marlin nut site either, but a few others (naturally)

If you are coming down a week early, do the family thing for the 1st week, on the second week, the familycould head down country with you, check out the Rotorua area and the Bay of Plenty, the beaches etc around Tauranga/Mt Maunganui etc and then be really handy to you when you get back from your trip.

Looks like i may down the Ranfurly way when you are anyhow, on Pacific Invader out of gisborne, maybe see you there. Ifi had'nr been I'd have suggested coming for a couple of days to our beach place at Whitianga and maybe get out on Superhero for aday or so, but that may not work out. Depends on our weather!

back to the family... Rotorua is a real tourist centre here, has lots of geothermal stuff, and other things for kids/young folks to do. Head there a day or two early, and get a trout fishing charter there, nice trout in the rotorua lakes, average fish are about 4-5lb Rainbows.

If your wife is comfortable driving here on the correct side of the road (all the civilised world knows you guys drive on the wrong side) then you could hire a car and they could even check out places like Waitomo, do some blackwater rafting (the 17yr old would love that) and other stuff like that.

However, blobbing out on the beaches may be even more popular?

cheers, Stu.

Oh, and the fish are not, of course, all that size. Those are good ones. Average kingies are around the 20-30lb range. Perhaps if you get to whakatane early, you could do a small family day out on one of the other boats there?

Bill, accomodation in Auckland during that time will be very hard to find & expensive when you find it because of the America's Cup event.  Maybe Kerren knows of an empty flat or friends wanting their house sat.

Chris

Kerren, Chris, Cap't,

Thanks for the replies. I didn't think about the America's cup until Chris brought it up and I checked the schedules..... yep, it looks to be pretty busy indeed.

Kerren, thanks for the link. That's a great site to browse around. I'll check it out more in detail over the next few days. Our actual schedule still needs to be confirmed with other activities (ie. School), but it they are all excited about heading down there. I'll be sure to take you up on your offer for advice before making a final decision.

Thanks again,

Best regards, Bill