NSW: JB Cherry Poppin'

[premium]

First up, this sh*t is hard to do upside down!!! - apologies if it looks a bit crazy.

I'm sure there'll be plenty who agree... there's nothing like a plan that you've worked on for a while coming together...

Have been heading to Jervis bay as much as possible this year, in hopes of nailing my first kingy.
After multiple trips, I've learnt wuite a lot - like catching livies is bloody hard, and just what an angry salmon can do to your lure...

With good weather scheduled for saturday (for once), and knowledge from my previuos trial and error trips, i was feeling unusually confident - I think it started around 5 on friday arvo, when the local Hobie dealer rang to say that their new shipment of deep gear buckets for the 8" hatch had come in. Funny how that little extra got me pumped.

The plan was coming together. Anyway, launched nice and early, but couldn't buy a livie. anchored up and berleyed, even used my own bait catching rigs, but couldn't raise anything more than schools of leathers... ended the bait session with one small yakka and a pike. Confidence was a little rattled.

Trolled my way out to the reef, enjoying the conditions, at least the weather was perfect. Strangely enough, there were hardly any boats around...

got out to the reef, whacked the nearly dead pike onto my livie rig, dragged him round for a bit until the rig snagged on the reef, managed to get the rig back, but no pike. No Interest that i could tell.
Chucked the yakka on, and sent him down, and cruised along for a while, after ten minutes or so felt him getting a little twitchy, and sure enough BOOM! and we were on!for the first little bit, it was a 50/50 affair,and i was worried i might be about to cop another dusting.
However, with a few carefully chosen words through gritted teeth, i began to get the better of things, and once i had the fish pointing the right way, it came up pretty easily... my first ever kingy!!

Sorry about the phto quality, only had the phone and was a little bit too excited to care about great photos.
needless to say, pretty pumped - of course, it went 62cm on the lie detector so i there's another plan to work towards now.

[Dodge]

No longer a kingie virgin, well done mate.

[Bertros]

Great result Premium. It took most of us a whole lot longer to nail the ever elusive first Kingy. Bet I can guess where you'll be next weekend.

[Barrabundy]

Well done with the kingie. You're keener than me, don't think I could have managed to post a report upsidedown.

[smithcorp]

Fantastic! My plan for my next Currarong holiday is to try to catch a King! Now I'm even more inspired.

[kayakone]

Isn't 62 upside down 95? A keeper!

Brilliant.

Trevor

[Darwin]

It doesn't matter it is a Nikon camera or poor mobile phone camera. You have captured your triumph moment! What a catch! What a picture!

Cheers
Darwin

[bunsen]

Good work, I know how hard those kings are to crack, it took me years to nail a legal one.
Were you out at the middle ground?
There are usually yakkas around the Murrays beach area and around Bowen island, but you probably know that already.
Might be easier to catch some squid for livies if you launch out there, there are usually tons to be found, and I havent met a king yet that can resist a live squid (or even a very recently deceased one!).

[premium]

Thanks guys, it was a good feeling, just gotta get a few more livies on my next trip and hopefully i'll crack a legal one!

Fantastic! My plan for my next Currarong holiday is to try to catch a King! Now I'm even more inspired.

Smithcorp, if you need a yak buddy when you're down next let me know.

Bunsen, i was just at longnose, not too keen on heading out to middle ground without a bit more gear/experience, or a buddy to go with. was out there in a mate's stinky the other week, they weren't biting while we were there (which i'm glad of now, getting y first kingy out of the yak feels like more of an accomplishment haha).
I usually launch at honeymoon bay and get some yakkas there, never had a problem berleying them up before... and yeah murrays is great for squid isn't it?

went there about 3 weeks back when it was raining and got 8 in half an hour, within 100m of the ramp!! surely it's not that easy all the time?

some of the squid from JB

How do you usually rig a live/dead squid, just the old 'one through the hood, one under the head' trick?

[Levi]

Nice mate, that first one is the best feeling ever! Upsizing has been the real challenge for me, i think i have caught over 100 undersized, and only 3 legal... and still sub 70cm.

I'm now putting in the effort to learn, upgrade the gear, and go to town with Livies..... it'll have to pay off soon!

Good luck with the upgrade

[bunsen]

Premium, that bommie off longnose is a fish magnet, but almost every time I've been there, there's been spearfishers around. I've thought about dragging a yak all the way into target beach, near hoeymoon but it's a long haul. I used to surf there when I was in school, and it was a long way just carrying a board.

You can nearly always bag out on squid around murrays, unless it's too windy, and you just drift too fast. The corner nearest Bowen Island seems to be the spot for small ones which are perfect livies. As you say, pin one through the mantle, and one between the eyes. I like to use a treble for the bottom hook, and it's almost always the one that is still in the fish's mouth when they come aboard.

Now you have one under your belt, you'll have yellow fever, and all winter you'll be plotting your summer upgrades!

[premium]

Hahah i definitely have yellow fever now... don't think i'll be waiting for summer, i'll be out there all year, even if a i don't crack a legal (grew up in victoria so not too fussed about the cold)

You're right about those spearfishers, had one day out there with stacks of bait all rippling the surface but also a constant pack of at least 15-20 boats and spearos around, and no one catching anything!

will have to have a look around for those smaller squid, tho ones i got were probably too big for livies (with the gear i run anyway...)

[benj1706]

nice report. My plans normally turn to sand as soon as I hit the surf. Having said that, I do plan to spend the Easter weekend targeting a feed of whiting and flatty especially since they're going for over $40/kilo in the fish shops.

[dicko69]

if you guys wanna get some good kingys outa ur kayaks and ur in the currarong area wat i do is drive over to long beach get 10 or so squid live or dead doesnt seem to matter as long as they still have a bit of colour in them. get back in the car and go launch at the currarong boat ramp (the new one in town cant miss it) paddle out currarong bommie late arvo is best just as the sun goes down .. i use a 200gram knife jig clipped to my snap swivel and on the other end of the jig ive crimped with 150 pound leader and a 2 hook rig one in the tip of the tube and one through the bottom of the tube , and paddle it around slowly around 10 foot off the bottom.... most of the fish u hook u will loose on the reek , i went on friday lost 3 got one all in the last 2 hours of light the one i got was 6.8kg the first one i hooked was easily 20kg but kingies like this your never going to stop before they reef you ...i use 50lb braid on a saltiga with a shimano terez rod , and i let them run for a second and then pretty much have it locked drag after that ive stopped a few around the 5kg- 8kg mark but nothing above that in the kayak ....yet .... if you have a sounder great i fish between 45foot and 65 foot on the north eastern corner of the bommie (u will see the drop off on the sounder ) you want to fish on the top side of the ledge normally they will wack ur bait and run off the ledge into deeper water ....hope to see a few of u get some of these kings , il be out there tomorrow some time ...p.s. watch out for sharks... good luck hope this helps u out il try put up a couple pics for u guys tomorrow night... remember catch and release

[dicko69]

went out the bommie again today couldnt get any live squid over callala this morning had to settle for some yakkas i picked up just around the currarong boat ramp ... was a few rat kings around got 2 keepers on the livies, then went in towards lobster island and picked up 3 snapper fishing the bottom....there was a heap of kayakers and boats around today cant tell you exactly how deep or wat gps points because i was fishing blind today i blew a fuse in my lowrance which i thought was a bit strange....