Thread: catching kings

was out near mana island the other day, come across a massive school of kingis, we tried catching some with baits and spinners but had no luck. what is the best way to catch kingis when theyre in a massive school like that? we were in 40 meters of water, they thick from the top to the bottom.

Jigs

Spear gun! ....

Jigs are the shit though.... But at a pinch a buttterflied bait sinker on the nose of the bait.

Originally Posted by silentscope

was out near mana island the other day, come across a massive school of kingis, we tried catching some with baits and spinners but had no luck. what is the best way to catch kingis when theyre in a massive school like that? we were in 40 meters of water, they thick from the top to the bottom.

What were they doing when you chucked spinners at them following ... Or ignoring it. We're they chasing bait schools? What bait did you try ?
Guess what I'm trying to say is not everything is like the fishing shows where they're going hard out ... Last Kingis we had round the boat were chasing our cod to the surface and our sinkers to the bottom, we tried many many things .... No go they just followed it in and buggered round causing me frustration and disappointment. Got my gear on , in the water and do you think the buggers would come in shooting range ... Not a snow balls chance in hell.

Originally Posted by stingray

What were they doing when you chucked spinners at them following ... Or ignoring it. We're they chasing bait schools? What bait did you try ?
Guess what I'm trying to say is not everything is like the fishing shows where they're going hard out ... Last Kingis we had round the boat were chasing our cod to the surface and our sinkers to the bottom, we tried many many things .... No go they just followed it in and buggered round causing me frustration and disappointment. Got my gear on , in the water and do you think the buggers would come in shooting range ... Not a snow balls chance in hell.

with the spinner they were following it but not taking it, i even tried dropping it to the bottom and jigging it up but still they followed it but no bites. i had pillies for bait so i threw a few of them over but still they just looked at it. even put a live blue cod on and threw that over but no interest

and as for the spear gun, the one time i leave it behind this happens haha, no way was i getting in that water tho the current was pumping all day long.

I was smashing them on the weekend dropping a softbait down and jiggling it. Great fun on a 4kg rod

Live school bait like mack etc. by spinners what lure do you mean? Stick bait or popper sounds like it may have worked. Jig is good when they are deep.
They can be wily buggers. They will see the trace and hook and not go near the bait, take it off the hook and throw it in and they will scoff it. Can drive ya buts when they are eating causiously.
@Spanners a mate got a 20kg on his softbait gear when fishing for snapper in the harbour. Took 40 minutes and the had to chase it in their tinny like you do marlin

Originally Posted by Gibo

Live school bait like mack etc. by spinners what lure do you mean? Stick bait or popper sounds like it may have worked. Jig is good when they are deep.
They can be wily buggers. They will see the trace and hook and not go near the bait, take it off the hook and throw it in and they will scoff it. Can drive ya buts when they are eating causiously.
@Spanners a mate got a 20kg on his softbait gear when fishing for snapper in the harbour. Took 40 minutes and the had to chase it in their tinny like you do marlin

just the good old kahawai spinner is all i could find. since it was our first encounter with kingis i had no proper jigs or poppers or anything like that. im going to invest in a few next time im in the shop so maybe next time i can try a few different things.

Originally Posted by silentscope

just the good old kahawai spinner is all i could find. since it was our first encounter with kingis i had no proper jigs or poppers or anything like that. im going to invest in a few next time im in the shop so maybe next time i can try a few different things.

Dropping it and jigging will pick them up.

Often they will be feeding on a certain species of a specific size. If your not there you're not on. Freshwater guys call it "matching the hatch".