}); All information © 2020 The Fishing Website, Maintenance tips before the summer fishing season. And that although kingfish will sometimes eat almost anything that wriggles, they still prefer some species of baitfish more than others — especially if these baits are also in tip-top shape and are a kilo or more in weight. If presenting your bait under a balloon it should be hooked through the back just ahead of the dorsal fin. Slimy mackerel and pilchards are particularly well suited as they’re so soft fleshed that hooks can rip out easily when placed in their shoulder or back. You can catch them off the shore and in the boat anywhere from as shallow as five metres, right down to well over a hundred. $(function() We’re fishing as deep as 200 metres and often in 80 to 150 metres and we almost always drift so this is so important. Winter fishing has its challenges. This certainly serves to slow kings down, but escapees or released fish have a high mortality rate. In the South Island, you can also fish for salmon in many places. Some of the best known and most successful pins in the Coromandel are located around the Alderman Islands, Mercury Islands, north of Ohinau, and the pins north of Cuvier Island.

You don’t want any of your leader in the reel. ", The boys find themselves in the right place at the right time. $("#major4").html(" " + data[1].major2); People think, ‘oh my gosh, these are big heavy fish’ and they think they need big heavy trace and big hooks but that’s wrong.  The Whitianga harbour is often loaded.

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However, for the weekend angler it is always smart to carry a live bait outfit in the boat or on the rocks for you never know when an opportunity will arise. But during summer it is not hard to target kingfish at known spots. type: "post", They’re guided more towards casting than fighting. If the fish is going to be kept for eating, it should be gaffed somewhere around the head, so that its energy when it reacts to the gaff shot actually helps drive it upward and into the boat. No pain, no gain. A good rig starts with a decent quality, dedicated live bait hook (either a circle or J hook to suit the bait size) which is attached to around 1.5 to 2 metres of trace which can either be mono or fluorocarbon. $("#minor4").html(" " + data[1].minor2);  Metered line is marked a different colour usually every ten metres, so you can tell as you release your line that ‘three colours’ off the spool is roughly 30 metres and so on. Big heavy rods can put more hurt on the angler and that can have a negative impact on your fishing. Fish that are handled will be a different, more stressed colour, and are more likely to die than their untouched counterparts, especially over the course of multi-day trips. He shares how landbased fishermen across the country can... more >, Tony Orton often gets asked which drag system is best for catching kingfish – spin drag, lever drag or star drag. }); Getting an intimate knowledge of your sounder through time on the water is hugely beneficial, allowing you to differentiate between what is worth fishing and what might well be a waste of time. Generally, a good hardy bait such as a kahawai or decent jack mackerel works well, and will need to be hooked through the nostrils, or up through the mouth in order for it to swim well under tow. Well here's something to really occupy the bored fisho in lockdown or when the weather is driving you crazy. We’re now designing the rods in line rating and it’s to match up with a reel that’s got an equivalent rating. Aaron Covavich on the Leigh charter vessel Thor calls them ‘kingfish candy’ and loves dropping them on to the deep reefs around the Mokohinau Islands. Proven baits include yellowtail and slimy (blue) mackerel, koheru, squid, flying fish, pilchards, piper, kahawai, trevally, and, last and least, the humble sprat. For leader, use 150lb Sufix Superior and no less than 100lb. Just follow the stream up the valley, turn and come in,” he instructed. Kingfish are large predatory fish with adults growing to over 1.5m in length. If you don’t have those, then you’ll end up in trouble. More often than not, we have jack mackerel that are little bigger than your hand so everything needs to be balanced. $('#date_time').datepicker(  In fact sometimes the action of multiple jigs in the water will be all that is needed to get the kingies excited into action.  Along coastlines, around headlands, through bait schools or workups, in shallower bays or even off beaches. Waiheke Island could never be described as an ‘average’ destination, the stand out region for me has always been what is commonly known as the ‘bottom end.’. Instead, run the back of a butter knife up into the bend of the hook so that the hook bend is pointing upwards and the fish is hanging down over the livebait well or container. All swivels used on kingie livebaiting rigs should be ball bearing types. In shallow water at anchor, putting a livebait out under a balloon is a good passive method, slowtrolling livebaits allows you to cover ground to find the kingfish, and my preferred method in deeper water is dropping weighted livebaits directly over fish. We’ve covered this off before in some previous videos – so here’s a reminder in case you missed them. Always stay with the better-known brands. Whereas if you go gently, gently, the fish isn’t overly alarmed and if you’re lucky it will swim out into deeper water then you can slowly but surely put more drag on there. We've caught everything from snapper and kingfish, to albacore tuna and exotic species overseas on this versatile slow pitch/mechanical crossover lure. This article is reproduced with permission of You have to be prepared to do it for a sustained period. You can fish stick baits ‘blind’. It stops you from getting a good cast and you can end up with a big mess.

In many areas, livebaiting is the best method to consistently catch our distinguished inshore gamefish. The best months in the Gulf are January, February and March and the amount of kingfish we catch in these months is anywhere between 10 and 30 in one day. Selecting the best size hook is determined by the size of baitfish. The tackle. This is probably because the majority of anglers will be chasing kings around reefs and rocks close to the coast.     Â, Stick baits are available as commercial plastic models, however the purists will love hand-carved in Japan versions, that swim just that bit better and are true works of art. With new technology we can craft rods that are light and thin to look at but they have enormous power when fighting fish.

Is the fishing really as good as they say it is? Yellowtail or jack mackerel are the most common bait fish around the coast and the easiest to catch, so they are used a lot. The hook size should match the size of the bait, not the fish being targeted, and you can catch very big kings on small live bait hooks which are made for that purpose.  The second it appears get the boat in reverse to hold position and deploy baits pronto. $("#minor1").html(" " + data[0].minor1); "Kiwis are exploring New Zealand like never before. Here's Espresso talking about a hot new colour out for this season, the Rainbow Warrior. Whatever bait you end up using, your choice of hook and where it’s placed are the most important aspects. A balloon will not be needed in this situation; just drift and let out a couple of livies. The humble jack mackerel is the easiest to manage as they are the most prevalent, wont shed scales or slime into your tank, are hardy and come in a range of edible sizes depending on the day. Here is the best sabiki rig tutorial video we have seen. Be prepared to re-tie after catching a decent fish. And again, keep in mind that the hook kirb should stick out and away from the bait when it swims off, not downwards and into the body. Some places are well know kingfish haunts while others could be classed as opportunistic locations, like when coming across a work-up. People look at the size of the intended quarry and rig accordingly but that’s not the way to go at all. 12016 estimate based on total mortality compared to target mortality. Generally, jigs will catch smaller fish than livebaits, although they are very simple to deploy. With standard mackerel livebaits on circle hooks I fish with the drag set at strike.

This can result in some very ugly messes after a few hours. "New Zealand is one of the world's great fishing countries. A kingfish, even a relatively small one, is extremely strong. Choose a jig colour or type that is different from the rest on the first drop. But you are keen to change that for something more respectable, and to head out into wider waters the locations below are well known producers of … When reporting any suspected poaching put your personal safety first. I swear by that.  However, the best case is where you can actually see baitfish or splashing on the surface as kings bust up.  You’ll be amazed at how many you will go through if there are a couple of anglers, so be prepared to sacrifice kingfish time catching bait as long as they are coming on board (even if it is slowly one by one). First points to the kings.

 There's a very special atmosphere that goes with the relaxed vibe and awesome white sandy beaches, sometimes kingfish are just a bonus. You’ll feel that rod load and the moment it’s hooked, you won’t be able to jig anymore. Often, where there’s a lot of current, kingies will hug the bottom so you do have to look for the marks on the bottom. But we’re finding a lot of people, ladies in particular, are looking for a rod that’s more supple and forgiving. Be prepared that you might not come back with any but you’ve got to really target them. If the boat is backing up quick, the angler has to be reeling in real quick to make sure there’s no slack in that line. I think I’m fairly fit but you always get sore muscles.  If there is just no sign at all you may have to opt for jigs only. Jigs are an option if you cannot find livies, or simply prefer the excitement of hooking up on lures. Make sure you have long-nose pliers and a big net. I’ve always found pinks and pilchard colours and blue-silvery colours to be the best picks for me. Drop it in the water so you can see it and observe the way the jig ducks and dives and wobbles before you actively fish. Top of the list is probably the blue koheru, found offshore in Northland. The Coromandel peninsular is famous for some stellar kingfish action, so let’s look a bit closer at the many options here. Kingfish - methods for catching them Extra tasty livebaits.  Often the other boats will give away the location of bait schools without much problem. Sweep and pause retrieves are the most effective, and it pays to practice with different brands and models as each will have a unique action. The majority of work-ups will involve kahawai, mackerel or small tuna but there are usually kingfish hanging around the edges. Green and gold is another good way to go. NZ Fishing World’s Forsyth Thompson has fished the length and breadth of New Zealand.   Â, Another happy customer on board an Epic Charter trip out of Whitianga.

Some kingies will move with the bait whereas others will just hang around structure all the time. Anyone who has ever battled one of these beautiful fish will tell you that they test your strength, technique and tackle to the limit but with the right preparation and a little bit of knowledge, any angler can become a successful kingfish fisho. A sinker rig suits shorter traces of around one metre, as long leaders can tangle up with the mainline on the descent.