30kg King

[Holy_Mackerel]

I've always wanted to fish Lord Howe Island. Who hasn't???
I finally managed to wet a line there last week. After a week of work the week before, I got a few days there before I had to go home.
What an amazing place. Each afternoon at 4:30 I'd go to Ned's Beach to watch the feeding of the fish. Kings ranging up to 20+kg feeding around your feet is enough to make anyone want to through a line in.
Most days I fished off the rocks or the jetty.
Captures included a 6kg king from the Old Gultch. Bluefish up to 2 kg.
Who can resist the big silver drummer that swim around the jetty? I chased the 2kg record unsuccessfully. Losing some fish after 15 minute fights. Also chased the 4kg LBG Whaler shark record. Nearly got spooled twice and lost 4 fish in a row off the jetty.
But it wasn't till the last day that it all came together. I was out on the boat Phasmid. The skipper Dave Gardiner is a really great skipper. He took us down to between the island and balls pyramid - on the 100 m dropoff. I fished live mullet (I caught about 30 for livies before the trip) near the bottom while most of the other guys were using big jigs. That is until I started hooking up with livies. I caught a shark, an opal eye cod of about 10 kg, lost a king of about 15 kg when my trace broke at the knot. Then one of the boys hooked up on a jig and started fighting a bigger fish. I dropped my livie down again and hooked up to a big fish. The other fish came in at around 20 kg, mine took a further half an hour to land. Most of the time I had the my 24kg reel delivering 10kg of drag. I was just hoping I had a king, not a shark. Hard to tell at first as he was a very very strong fish.
Finally he broke the surface and smashed my goal of a 20kg king. He finally pulled the scales down to 30.14 kg. I'll never ever forget the sight of that magnificent fish and will always be grateful for the chance to be connected to it.
Wes

[philip_thomson]

well done on that kingy
that is a massive fish. what are kingfish like to eat? i want to head over to lord howe and do some fishing there one day but. being at school still and parents having planned the holidays for this year already.
ill get there one day and hopefully catch some nice fish.
well done
philip

[northsboy]

TOP FISH MATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D [smiley=2thumbsup.gif] [smiley=2thumbsup.gif] [smiley=2thumbsup.gif] [smiley=2thumbsup.gif] [smiley=2thumbsup.gif] [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]!!!!!!!!!!!!! All i have to say is WOAH! ;D

[Hutcho]

I've heard Lord Howe has some of the best fishing on the East Coast of Oz. with fish like that Kingy, it proves that theory right. Only a 2hr flight from Brissy too i think? Great catch you got there. Looks awesome scenery in the background too of your photo.

Cheers,
Hutcho

[bidkev]

Some fish Wes! Well done!

kev.........jealous as buggery.

[damons33]

my older brother and i both caught a 30kg king each at the curtin artificial(had one other mate get done 4times in that session, he was a nooby!)- hard to stop from reefing you off on the wrecks, needs some tactical thought to catch em'- however they dont eat good as they have a parasite makes their flesh mushy!(in qld)
# so i won't be trying it again, finding it hard to land any amberjack over 15kg with the same tackle(24kg super braid).
# i think that the cobia is the wooden spooner in the kingy bunch fight wise, caught one of them on a bait jig 32kg with 15kg mainline.
# sounds like you had great holiday! i love the fight that silver drummer give! those yellow tail kings fight hard and you would be sore after that fish- good job! did u get any double headed wrasse?

[Lucky_Phill]

So I suppose you are going to tell us your arms are now 2 inches longer than when you left OZ ? ::) ;D ;D

Phill ( nice work & report )

[mono]

Well done Wes. Having been to L.H. and caught similar size fish I know the buzz you would still be feeling. It's hard to put 'that' feeling into words. Sounds like you had a great trip and remember to keep a photo of that fish close by so if your ever feeling a bit down, pull it out and bring back the memories. I'm sure it will lift your spirits again-it works for me. Well done.
Capt Mono

[saen]

WOOOOAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

[kingmad]

That is a great fish mate.
I think your smile tells it all. What did you endup doing with it?

[basserman]

yes i have also been to lord howe island and i hope it wan't the last time i will go!
one hell of a fisherys over their with kings like that not to uncomon and more sharks than you could poke a stick at ;)
i have eaten the kings on the mainland and over at lord howe and they are chalk and cheese with the kings from loard howe one of the best eating fish i have had!
but one thing that sticking in my mind other than the fishing, food, landscape, handfeeding fish, catching sharks on bread IS at balls piramid the YELLOW DRUMMER! and thats no lie! they look like huge goldfish swimming in the sea!
great place to go and i know i will be back

[Al_Macka]

How many WHEAT BIX that morn`n 2 lift that sucker????

[adriancorrea]

Well done Wes [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]
Bet your still buzzing?
Great fish, put up a good fight those kingys, and I havent caught that big yet.
Hope to get to LH someday
Well done once again

Tight Lines
Adrian

[Holy_Mackerel]

Thanks for the comments guys. Still buzzing. Watching the vid footage often etc.
Daimon33 Where's curtains artificial? Sounds like you've landed some good fish. I didn't get to chase any double headers, though I saw some.
Kingmad. The skipper took me out on a commercial day. In other words, no clients for the day- he's just catching fish to sell to the restaraunts. So that's where it went. The eating quality of big kings on Lord Howe is still very good.
Basserman. There are plenty of yellow drummer around the rocks of the main island too.
Amazing place. Just wish I had my boat there rather than relying on other boats.
Wes

[damons33]

back of morton inbetween bulwer and cowen cowen in 20 meters there a heap of large ships(8 odd) sunk there also 500 cars, 140 trams and tyre bundles etc etc! there is 2 white x's on the beach marking its location- however it is so hard to stop these fish going to ground at this spot! you must berley the fish away from the wrecks to have any chance even on 24kg, those fish where a quest for me and brother and now having achieve success we leave them alone (they dont eat good- so let them go, we learn this the hard way- it was alot of work carving them up into cutlets only to use them for berley after discovering they where shit to eat, kingys under 5kilo are ok in seq after that they have the bug!).
# #another fish worth a stretch of a line is the batfishes(long finned or short) they pull like truck and go to 10kilo in some parts. it take a fair bit of home work to find out whats cooking fish wise, but once you do you will know you are living in a great part of the world for fish- blue marlin ie,this season are the envy of any game port of seq!
# i'm off to woody heads with brisso sportsfishing club this weekend to fish the rocks for bream and niggers, also offshore for snapper and jews. monsters lurk in funny places!