Kuerschie 2,309 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 So I’ve heard many stories of people finding rat kings within a couple of hours from metro in the last six months and never had any thought of chasing them due to not owning the correct gear. However, one close fisho friend of mine gave me some sound info a fortnight ago and gave me motivation to have a go at a landbased king. Not having ever seen one in the wild (plenty in aquaculture) and never having caught one, I went out chasing. Day began at 5am, left home early and drove up to an area that had frequent sightings of rat sized kings. Armed with a few combos and a couple of not-so-fresh baits, I was hopeful. I began by sending out a freezer squid under a float and let it drift way out off where I was fishing. Whilst that was out the back, I began tossing a squidgy flickbait around on my 1-3kg Samaki Zing and my newly acquired Daiwa Caldia 2004 hoping to nab a few salmon or maybe a snook. After a long while and no hits on plastic, I swapped to a simple paternoster rig hoping to at least catch a fish. Managed to catch typical reef/rock fish such as sweep, zebrafish, wrasse and heaps of leatherjackets in the small size range. I kept periodically checking my whole squid throughout the day but it remained untouched. I swapped out the squid and put on half a garfish just to see how it went. After midday I swapped back to plastics and was rewarded with a solid hookup and strong run. The Caldia was singing loudly and I was losing heaps of line fast. The fish hadn’t jumped so I knew this was no salmon, the Kingies were finally here!! I fought this legal sized fish for five to ten minutes but without a crab net to lift and having completely the wrong gear it was hopeless. The king went for a short run and busted me off on the last pylon. I couldn’t entice another strike from anything until around 4pm when I began to bring in my last half a garfish bait under the float. As I retrieved the float, it began to bloop and pop the garfish across the surface. To my surprise two/three kings came from nowhere and smashed the gar on the surface and things came tight. Against strong drag from the Stradic 5000, it still managed to take line and felt like the harder I pulled, the harder it tried to run away. Eventually I got it close and was able to deadlift it on 40lb leader. Success!!! My first ever kingie at 70cm. Great fight to it and to do it by myself was awesome. Now I just have to wait until late spring to hopefully go and find some more. Would love to land one on plastics as well, so that’s my first summer goal for next season. seagypsy, Tinker, Raider and 23 others 26 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
southie THE BANGA 2,304 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Glad you got one mate! Well done Kuerschie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kuerschie 2,309 Posted May 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 I wouldn't have gone unless a certain someone gave me the goss As you could've heard by my voice on the phone, was pretty ecstatic. southie THE BANGA 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay R 151 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 That is well deserved mate!! Kudos to you!!! :D Kuerschie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
brenton 637 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 they are a blast at any size ,well done cheers b Kuerschie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kuerschie 2,309 Posted May 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 they are a blast at any size ,well done cheers b Yeah, I saw the hookup and it fought like a bigger fish than it's weight that's for sure. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plankton 725 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Well done mate. I haven't been able to cross kingies off my list of firsts yet. I wish they were more consistent in the Metro area, how good would it be to have rat kings around in numbers! The story about the gar skipping across the surface made me think about how fishing a popper might have gone. Kuerschie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kuerschie 2,309 Posted May 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Well done mate. I haven't been able to cross kingies off my list of firsts yet. I wish they were more consistent in the Metro area, how good would it be to have rat kings around in numbers! The story about the gar skipping across the surface made me think about how fishing a popper might have gone. It would be an awesome sight to see them metro on a regular occurrence. I mean the Port sometimes gets them in there and you do hear rumours of fish from Hallett Cove, O'Sullies area as well. Just wish they were going around in schools like snapper and so on do during the year. I tried a Roosta Popper for a few casts and had a few casual follows but they weren't going hard at it, just cruising. Fast worked plastics and strip baits would work well also. plankton 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ShoreJigger 171 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Well done mate. Very jealous. Been trying the last couple of years to get one. Have had a 70cm + king follow my plastic for about 20m, so close to it, the paddle tail would of been tickling its nose. Didn't realise they were still around at this time of year. Kuerschie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plankton 725 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 I tried a Roosta Popper for a few casts and had a few casual follows but they weren't going hard at it, just cruising. Fast worked plastics and strip baits would work well also. Kingies are common in Southern California, they call them yellowtails, and throwing large bodied metal lures (casting iron) and retrieving quickly across the surface is a method that works well there. I have a collection of these lures, might have to give them a try when I finally find myself in the company of kingfish. Kuerschie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
keenfisho 1,416 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Well done mate, one word comes to mind bas%&d Kuerschie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kuerschie 2,309 Posted May 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Well done mate. Very jealous. Been trying the last couple of years to get one. Have had a 70cm + king follow my plastic for about 20m, so close to it, the paddle tail would of been tickling its nose. Didn't realise they were still around at this time of year. If you speed it up and do it repeatedly it can switch them on by pissing them off that their prey is getting away. I didn't realise that either but talking to some divers and boats from the area said the water temp was higher than this time last year by a few degrees. But after all this cold wintery weather we've just had they may have disappeared. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kuerschie 2,309 Posted May 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 I've been called worse Keeno, so I'll take that as half a compliment ahahah Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alexsfishin1 781 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Well done!!! That's a decent first kingy! Bad luck on the one you lost :/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kuerschie 2,309 Posted May 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Would've been a similar size but was a way better fight on the bream gear. Wish I landed it too as it would've been epic Alexsfishin1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bjorn2fish 4,612 Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 Awesome mate, I know you put in the hours so it's a well deserved catch Kuerschie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Magoo 152 Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 well done Kuerschie Kuerschie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hoopsy 697 Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 well done mate and i bet the blood was pumping specialy seeing others busting up great report and congrats on ya 1st Kingy Kuerschie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
psari 19 Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 Man that's awesome... well done Still trying to get a hook up locally pisses me off that they chase everything I throw at them but don't take it...me thinks they are a bit street smart The day will come though Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kuerschie 2,309 Posted May 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 Man that's awesome... well done Still trying to get a hook up locally pisses me off that they chase everything I throw at them but don't take it...me thinks they are a bit street smart The day will come though If you continually pull it away from them they get pissed off and it flips the switch into feeding mode most of the time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cal 480 Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 Nice one Keurshie, congrats on your first king.Did you keep it for the table?I caught 2 a few years back in similar circumstances and took them home for a feed.Was'nt keen to be honest, very strong dense flesh I found. Was'nt too bad smoked, but in hindsight would of been better off releasing them . Sportfishing 10 out of 10...eating qualities 3 out of 10.Hers a pic of one I got, same deal on a gar under a float. Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kuerschie 2,309 Posted May 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 I did keep this one being my first to try and see what it was like. I bled it, gut and gilled before leaving and had it in an ice slurry all the way home. I actually thought it tasted really nice when we cooked it up. Had two servings, one fillet was cut down to smaller fillets and shallow fried in breadcrumbs, and the other was beer battered with lemon pepper seasoning. Slowly_evolving 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay R 151 Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 Eaten it a few times, I reckon it's great. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nickvellasfishn 4 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 nice job mate yet to catch a kingy where abouts tho Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kuerschie 2,309 Posted June 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 nice job mate yet to catch a kingy where abouts tho As it says in the report, within a few hours of metro Adelaide. They have moved from this area and headed north up to Port Augusta at this time of year. Brankim 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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