Resolution No. 1
I will do several Blue Mountains Canyons in 2006
-
Rocky Creek
- Claustral
- To Be Decided
Resolution
No. 2
I will catch the following game fish in 2006
-
Bonito
-
Mulloway
Yellowtail Kingfish-
Tuna
-
Brown Trout
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Sunday 14th May 2006 -
Mother's Day. Leigh, John and I fished the dawn once more. It
had been a sensational full moon all night, and was still so bright I
hardly needed to use my head torch on the walk in. We are either
desperados or sadists, I'm not sure which. It was damn cold and a
bit windy from the south west. Not exactly pleasant conditions to be
out of our nice warm beds at 4.30 am, though thermal underwear and
balaclavas make it much more bearable. The swell was not all that
big at only 1 - 1.5m, but we would have to be very careful. The tide
was going to be high of 1.39m at around 9am, it can get more than just a bit nasty
at our spot. We didn't have much hope of catching a king this
morning as the water was like ice. As daylight approached the sky
started to cloud over. There were a few bream visible in the berley
trail, but we couldn't even see a single yakka.
Livebait is really scarce this morning. I managed to hook a small
scale bullseye, (Pempheris compressa - identification courtesy Dr
Ben Diggles
www.digsfish.com
). I actually managed to
hook a truly massive king on one of these a couple of weeks ago, and
although it's not a yakka, it is better than no live bait. When you
think about it, a hungry king is pretty likely to be tempted by just about
any reef fish giving off distress signals. They may even be easier
to get on bait other than yellowtail scad as our king spot has been
getting a lot of attention these last few months, and everyone uses yakkas
if they can. We have observed a few live baits get "plucked" from
the hook, which indicates to me the king knew there was a hook in the
bait. Perhaps the kings may actually become less cautious if the
baitfish is NOT a yakka.
Just as I am about to put the small scale bullseye out as a live bait, John
yells out. He's accidentally hooked a yakka on a 2/0 hook while
fishing for Bream. Unbelievable! As Leigh has caught two kings
already, and John doesn't have suitable gear for kings, Leigh graciously
insists that I put the yellowtail out. What a gentleman. Leigh
went to school with John and could have quite easily called on the old
footy team loyalty to grab the yakka. He's driven for a couple of
hours, all the way from Sydney in the very wee small hours to be here but
he still gave the baitfish to me. What a real mate!
This is a small scale bullseye, Pempheris compressa.
I hooked (and lost) a massive king on
one of these a
couple of weeks ago.
Identification courtesy Dr Ben Diggles
www.digsfish.com
John gives me the nice big lively yellowtail - you bloody beauty !
The yakkas at this spot are still almost cowanyoung size. I very
nearly lost the bait as I launched it back out to sea wearing a 9/0 hook.
A misjudgment in timing saw the line snag briefly on some cunji before
coming free. The sea was bumpy and so the washes were working well.
Within a couple of minutes, my balloon (bright pink) was floating a
hundred metres or so off the platform. I stood for nearly an hour
with my rod in my gimbal belt, and nothing happening. I had put it
in the rod holder and went back to trying to catch yakkas and bream.
Leigh hooked and lost four or five good bream in the berley trail.
Eventually he couldn't stand it any longer, as I'd had more than enough of
a chance to catch a king. He decided to put the small scale bullseye out.
Just as he walked over to the point we cast from, my rod took off.
Leigh takes full credit for working his magic - the yakka had been out for
around 90 minutes, and as soon as Leigh walks near my rod, the bait gets
taken in a big way. I didn't hear the ratchet screaming, but I
certainly did when I sprinted over. I grabbed the rod, looked at a
3/4 empty spool, and thought "Oh not another bloody shark". Kings
tend to run straight for the platform when hooked, while tuna and sharks
head wide as soon as they take the bait. It turned out this king had
gone deep. I wound the slack out and struck three times, as hard as
I could, before coming up solid to a nice fish. The fight was simply
a toe-to-toe slugfest, with the fish lunging and darting, while I
staggered about doing the "Kiama two-step", refusing to give an inch of
line.
I was extremely glad to be using 24 KG as the fish neared the platform.
It was still quite deep and the line touched the edge of the platform.
There were a few anxious moments, and suddenly a heap of slack - I thought
the fish was gone. I wound like stink, using the Tyrnos' 5:1
retrieve rate to full advantage (glad I didn't buy the TLD now!) to find I
was still solidly connected. Eventually the fish rose from the
depths, and was clearly visible in the waves, just off the edge of the
platform. The toughest part was just about to come. Leigh has
just bought a Dimax 3 piece gaff, and he is about to gaff a fish for the
first time ever.
The king arced backwards and forwards while the waves thundered in.
The sea seemed to magically get rougher as I tried to surf it up on the
edge. I was really worried that John or Leigh would slip as they
were trying to gaff the fish for me. It's a very stressful, exciting
time! I have been here so many times before and lost the fish for
one reason or another. Sometimes avoidable things cost me the fish
and other times it was just plain bad luck.
This time I managed to wash the fish up in two stages. Leigh makes
no mistakes with his first ever gaff shot, and suddenly we are all yelling and
hooting with delight. You bloody beauty ! We've done it!
I have FINALLY managed to land my first yellowtail kingfish. It went
a fraction under 11lbs on my scales. After three months solid of
early mornings and plain hard work, I have just fulfilled a dream. . .
Oh Happy Man - After 3 solid months of consistent hard work
and a great many dropped fish, I have finally managed
to land my first yellowtail kingfish, and it's a beauty.
Compare the size - a nearly 11lb King VS
a smallish
Striped Tuna & Bonito
I had to laugh - so many things conspired against me catching this fish -
I couldn't get live bait - John was lucky enough to snag a yakka for me.
I nearly lost the livebait as I cast it in - the balloon floated the line
free - 30 % of the time I have lost the livebait when this happened.
I could very easily have lost the kingfish when the line touched the ledge
- thanks to 24 KG line, I had a bit of a safety margin that was missing
when we were fishing 10 KG. The gaff shot could have been missed -
afterall Leigh had never gaffed a fish previously - but he didn't miss,
and is very welcome to gaff my fish anytime ! Finally, we were
photographing the fish, when I realised the hook had fallen out - the hook
had enlarged a hole that allowed it to fall out when slack line was given.
If I had not been able to recover line quickly, the hook may well have
fallen out in the final stages of the fight. I was very lucky, and
very grateful to John and Leigh - I wouldn't have caught it without their
help - and gave them a lovely big kingie cutlet each to say thanks.
I hope they enjoy the sweet spoils of making this dream come to fruition
for me.
As a point of interest, the kingfish had a completely empty stomach.
That's three of my five target species for this year - Tuna, Bonito and
Yellowtail Kingfish have now been caught. The next target is sure to
be the hardest - a school Mulloway or better !
Sea temperatures
Sunday 14th May 2006
Image from
CSIRO
A bit of an interesting aside, or
Kingfish anatomy 101.
Pyloric caecae
When we have been cleaning our Kingfish, we have observed a white organ
adjacent to the liver, consisting of a mass of finger-like projections
about 4 cm in length. Leigh and I discussed it, and we weren't
really sure. I favoured fat bodies, while Leigh thought they were
some kind of pyloric caecae. I thought it was worth talking to a
fish expert, and emailed Dr Ben Diggles
(www.digsfish.com)
regarding this organ and a species of unusual, nocturnal fish
we caught while chasing yellowtail scad for livebait.
Dr Ben Diggles said; "The
finger like projections are pyloric caecae, which are an adaptation of the
gut to increase its surface area for digestion. They are mainly associated
with digestion, particularly of proteins, and hence are usually present in
large numbers in fish which consume large numbers of other fish e.g. tuna,
mackeral, kingfish and the like. They can also be associated with
osmoregulation (water balance) changes in fish which move between fresh
and salt water (e.g. some salmonids)."
"The fish is a small scale
bullseye, Pempheris compressa. This group of fishes is closely related to
sweeps, batfishes and butterbreams. The distribution of P. compressa is
pretty much restricted only to NSW coastal waters, though at least 9 other
species of bullseye are found in other parts of Australia, and an
estimated 20 species are distributed globally in tropical and warm
temperate seas. Small scale bullseye grow only to around 20 cm and are
usually found in large schools on offshore reefs in 20 to 30 meters of
water. They feed mainly on zooplankton and other small crustaceans and
usually reside in or near caves and ledges during the day. As their very
large eye suggests, they are nocturnal and range freely through the water
column at night."
Many thanks to Ben for his assistance.
Wednesday 10th
May 2006 - Out of sheer desperation, Darryl and I drove for
hours to a far distant spot on the upper north coast. We saw a
couple of mackerel tuna landed to 10 lb, and late in the afternoon we
watched a couple of very small northern bluefin tuna buzz our live baits.
That was as exciting as it got. I dropped a bonito and a frigate
mackerel on a small metal lure. We had driven for many, many hours
north, thinking the water would be much more likely to be still warm up
here. I managed to catch a heap of tiny yellowtail for bait and one,
just-a-keeper yellowfin bream... The decision from all the blokes on
the platform was unanimous - the 2006 LBG season is for all intents and
purposes, finished.
Sunday 7th May 2006 -
I fished the dawn session again this morning, until 11am. The water
is green, lifeless and freezing cold. The yakkas are very scarce
indeed and almost impossible to catch now, and I am certain the LBG season
is coming to it's close for 2005/6. All I could catch in all that
time was a 2lb bream. Not that I want to complain, but I am really
after a kingfish, not 2lb's of tasty livebait! I'll have to be very
quick to get a jewie now. At least the tailor run is about to start
on the beaches now.
Friday 5th May 2006 -
I was back at the platform in the wee small
hours this morning. I arrived in the black of night and it was
really black. The moon is only a quarter, and it had set. Once
more I had the whole place to myself. A little cold weather and it's
only the keenest fishermen who can get out of bed. I watched shower
after shower of falling stars, making a wish to catch a big kingfish as
each one faded. The breeze was a mere breath, and it was blowing
straight offshore. My mate Leigh arrived and we joked as we rigged our
rods. It was an expensive trip for him, as the fuel prices make even
his Suzuki Sierra use just under $50 in fuel for the round trip from
Sydney. What was worse was he took a chance on a red light and the
camera got him. He's not looking forward to the bill.
Yakkas were once again, almost impossible to catch. We were lucky
enough to land a pair of pike. Mine went out and was promptly
plucked off the hook by a probable king. Leigh lost his in the worst
possible way - he snagged it up as he cast it out. Damn that hurts
when live baits are so hard to get.
Eventually we land three yellowtail in quick succession. Mine swims
out beautifully. Leigh casts his out successfully this time, and we
have two balloons bobbing away. Leigh's yakka was squidded. He
wound the dead bait in, the yellowtail had a piece the size of a 20c coin
bitten out of it's brainstem. Out goes the last yakka. Our
baits are about 30 feet apart. We are back trying to catch bait when
I hear a ratchet screaming. Sure enough, it's Leigh's rod, and he's
on!
The fight was impressive. The fish wasn't as big as some of the
others we have seen during the warm months, but it fought well above it's
weight. This fish took a fair bit of line against Leigh's drag.
There were a few close moments too when the fish was green and thrashing
right on the edge of the platform. It shows just how nasty the rocks
are - if you look at the photos, you'll observe a gash in the side of the
fish from a barnacle. That would have cut the thickest leader like
scissors if it had touched the line.
Leigh's second King went
11lb on the lie detector
Leigh surfs the beaten king up on the platform, and luckily for me, it
lays still for just a few moments. Those moments allow me to line up
a ripper of a gaff-shot, straight into the lower jaw, avoiding any damage
to the succulent flesh. You BEAUTY ! We put it straight onto
the scales - 11lb's.
It's stomach was chock full of small pieces of cabbage, and a couple of
six inch fish that were too far digested to identify accurately.
Presumably the king had eaten a luderick, rock blackfish or similar
herbivorous species a day or two previously. It may be worth
remembering as the yellowtail become scarce, and the blackfish begin to
bite. A legal sized blackfish as a livebait is surely going to
attract a BIG king though! ! !
I have to laugh at the way things have turned out. The whole idea to
target kings was one of MY new year's resolutions; I found our fishing
spot, worked out how to catch yakkas, what gear we needed and have put in
about ten times more time than Leigh fishing the spot. He's now
caught a bonito, amberjack and TWO kingfish, all from my spot. All I
have been doing all of this LBG season is watching lots of sunrises and
getting smashed up on gear that was too light. I have been catching
some nice bream though! It's just got to happen sooner or later,
probably next year when the warm water returns. Incidentally, both
Leigh and I were using the same colour balloons - a cobalt blue colour.
Sea temperatures
Friday 6th May 2006
Image from
CSIRO
Thursday
4th May 2006 - I meet Darryl and
Dan down at my favourite platform this morning. The swell is tiny
and the washes are hardly working, which is not a good sign. What's
worse is the massive school of Australian Salmon that are hanging just off
our kingfish platform. If we were to put a yakka out there would be
no doubt of it's fate.
Not surprisingly, the yakkas are playing hard to get with a massive school
of predators just a few metres away. Eventually the salmon move on,
and we start catching a few yellowtail. Darryl lands three live
baits in quick succession, and that's it, they are gone.
My yakka eventually dies unmolested, and so I put out a 1 lb bream, a
brother to the one I caught yesterday. But it too is untouched.
Darryl pulls the hook on a probable shark. He was using a yellow
balloon. Mine was green. Dan hooks a 2lb bream on his bait jig
and lands it! The chewing gum hooks should not have held up against
a decent bream like that. Dan lands a tiny rat king, barely 35cm
long and well undersized. It goes back to grow some more. The
fishing seems to be slowing down at the moment. There may be a plume
of cold water in close this morning.
Sea temperatures
Wednesday 3rd May 2006
Image from
CSIRO
Wednesday 3rd May 2006 -
This morning I am back on my local platform before dawn, and stand alone
with my thoughts watching the waves as the magnificent sunrise unfolds.
It's just a wonderful way to start the day. I have the place to
myself and I can't believe my good fortune. The rod I normally use
to catch yellowtail is in for minor repairs - I damaged the inserts in a
couple of guides. I am using my MT 7144, a 7-wrap beach rod better
suited for tailor and jewfish than yellowtail. I still manage to
land a well-and-truly keeper yellowfin bream, about a pound and a bit in
weight. It took a small cube of fresh mullet. I send the bream
back out wearing an 8/0 and a part-inflated balloon, and continue trying
for yakkas.
Amazing myself, I manage to land a yakka,
and it's a horse, almost cowanyoung size. I swap the bream over
(great stuff - bream for tea!) and get braced for some action. I
know from experience that the first yakka to hit the water here is almost
guaranteed a hook-up. This morning is no exception. After a
few minutes, the yakka starts to vibrate madly, and gets very boisterous &
excited, and even starts to take a bit of line against the ratchet.
The balloon doesn't release, and the yakka is not behaving like a normal
kingie hook up. The balloon slowly heads south, and I'm sure
something is a bit awry. I don't want to strike and risk killing the
precious, hard won yakka for nothing, but I have to see what's going on.
I retrieve the line to within 20 feet of the platform, and can't see the
yakka.
Bugger it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I strike as hard
as I can, three times. I laugh like a madman as I pole a massive
Australian Salmon onto the platform. It lets out a burp and
regurgitates the poor yakka, completely scaled and just alive. The
Salmon wasn't even hooked, it was just holding onto the yakka.
This is a very interesting point. I know that I had the hook point
really well exposed. I always double check the hook point is well
clear before casting the yakka out, to be sure it was free of scales.
I am well aware that a single scale over the hook point can very easily
prevent a decent hookup, and cost me a king. The yakka was swallowed
headfirst and probably just wedged. Was it the balloon that
prevented a solid hook-up? Chris tells me he hates using balloons
because they have too much resistance when the fish are being finicky.
It will be interesting to watch our success rates.
Speaking of balloons, when I was in Kiama last, the local in the tackle
shop said that kings have a definite attraction to balloons of certain
colour shades - purple and maroon. At the time I thought it was just
sales talk - they were selling pre-rigged black magic traces specifically
for kings, complete with 8/0 black magic hook and a balloon.
Surprisingly enough, the balloons were all either a dark maroon or purple
colour. A lot of the locals were using maroon balloons at the Kiama
blowhole. Is this a local Kiama belief/correlation, or just what the
local tackle shop had in stock?
I remember seeing an interview with Ron & Val Taylor. Val was saying
that most whaler sharks have a definite attraction to objects that are
bright yellow. I have a background in the life & earth sciences, and
have to be skeptical about colour preferences until I see enough data to
be able to draw clear and repeatable results. A lot of animals are
insensitive to the colours that we humans perceive, and can even see
shades that we cannot such as in the UV wavelength. Throw a bright
red toy for a dog onto green grass for example, and there's a good chance
if the dog isn't watching, it won't see it - dogs are red/green colour
blind.
The balloon I used this morning was a bright yellow colour. I'll
keep records of balloon colour to species hook-up.
Sea temperatures
Tuesday 2nd May 2006
Image from
CSIRO
Click Here for my trips targeting kingfish during
April 2006
Click Here for my trips targeting kingfish during
March 2006
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