# Kingscliff reef 5-11-06



## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Fishmatics [Andrew] and l arrived at the boat ramp at 4.15 am and headed out to the reef in perfect conditions.
There were mack tuna chopping up bait every where,the bait was so small we couldn't match it with anything,we tried every thing small metal slugs,live yakkas, pilchards,SP,HB lures and l finally landed one on the old fathfull Gold Bommer.
l have been impressed with the Glup shad SP on a1/4 oz jig head in the water melon,have a look at the nice snapper l landed.


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## WayneD (Jul 11, 2006)

Looks like a bit of fun , nice catch there spottymac.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Great snapper on an SP Spottymac  Go the GULPs! :wink:


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## Duran (Nov 19, 2005)

well done stu  2 nice fish :shock: 
good to see there are fish coming out, now i cant wait to get out there this weekend hope the weather is good :roll:


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

Wow!, ..... Thats what I call time well spent! :lol:

Fantastic, well done.......Please let it be me one day.... two good fish in a day

Cheers Andybear :lol:


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## couta1 (Sep 10, 2005)

nice catch stu,it looks like you are going to have to change your name to "snappermac" instead of spottymac on the forum.it sure beats working on a monday


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Onya Stu...

The mackies seem to be chomping small whitebait that are everywhere. Can't see your pics but glad you got on.

How was the swell out at Kingscliff?


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## Rod L (Aug 29, 2005)

Geez you get into some good fish Stu.
Great stuff mate


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

hey stu,

awesome catch there, 
how often do you get snapper/squire out on kingscliff reef??

also what other species have you caught out there?


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## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

Onya Stu, some nice fish there and a great report.

Catch ya Scott


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## Redro (Sep 5, 2005)

Great pair of fish, you have there Stu - well done. I wonder how the S African guy who bought my Swing and tackle is getting along - have not seen any posts from him lately (can't remember his name now). Your mention of the Gold Bomber got me thinking - as one was amongst all the tackle I sold with the kayak. Great lure. Have a good summer at Palm Reef - I envy you guys (I had my first taste of this winter's snow in Vienna, this weekend).


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## PoddyMullet (Aug 29, 2005)

Always thumping fish ya put up Stu...bloody whoppers!! Ya work every trick in the book over by the sounds of it, short of dynamite stick. Nice stuff 8)


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWVlT77YAABrfgAASYINAgAChGAA/79+gMACm2Ip4keo2lMmm1NPIZMmoRT1Npig2kAAA0GqemmhGEBoAACAYMMOTB8vrZ2fCbGoQkM+VyYFExc0WKNP23bda2pwl47gOgu1N6+VSHhZbyPG3EFJSOtkjh1KLrtgK/2ESQuPbFufzBFJN7SMRISSU1BpGjAJBTjyNd8IipjK1ATg1fz2I6qSgr4CqRJxTKIicjcoGKQYZRQsy/i7kinChILKn32w=


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Hi Redro,snow in Vienna,we will keep you posted with pics from sunny Qld to cheer you up, take up skiing that would be a lot af fun.

Hi Ben, Fishmatics, Couta and Dennis have all caught nice snapper about the same size, other species we have caught are Jew, l landed a 12 kg last year,Yellow fin tuna,Tailer,Shark,Bream,Trevally, We are having trouble landing the big King fish they go for the bottom and cut the line off on the reef,spanish and spotted mackerel and Wahoo can be caught on the reef at times.

Dan the swell had picked up by the time we headed back in [10 am] and with the run out tide at the bar it was looking a bit of a challenge Andrew made it look easy l messed it up a got rolled,[But two nice fish in the bag made up for it]


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Stu if you keep nailing quality reds you will become the Kingscliffe guru, and the tuna is no dwarf either, well done mate


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## Jesse_Ape (Oct 17, 2006)

Great fish 

The amount of times i have dived/speared kingscliff I have never seen a snapper  How deep was he if you don't mind me asking?

And those kingfish are easyer to handle when the have a 7mm steel shaft through their head  they don't cut the line so easy then.

Cheers

Jesse


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Hi Jesse
The water was to dirty for the divers last weekend,funny thing other divers have said the same thing about not seeing any snapper ,l have a dive DVD and it said the snapper are to smart to be caught by divers, they get out of it reel fast,l got him between the second and third reef l think they call it the cannon.
l would love to know what you have seen down there,it's very hard to get the full picture of the reef on the fishfinder.
They tell me there are two ship wreck on the reef,one was about 1890 and the other about 1920 have you seen them
l agree a 7mm steel shaft would make short work of a big kingie but you would want to hit him in the right spot.


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## Jesse_Ape (Oct 17, 2006)

Hi SpottyMac,

The Reef at kingscliff is truely beautiful and is a sight to behold on a clear day. It is an amazing reef. One of the best I have seen so close to shore. I have seen the wreaks they are over rated as there is not much left of them now but they sometimes hold a fair bit of bait . Which in turn holds big fish , jack hang round 'em in summer too. There is a really nice cave at kingscliff that sometimes holds monster jew and Jacks but it's only good if you spear plus it holds a big black cod. There are some really good cray holes too but I will never tell where they are 

The snapper are sneaky little ninja fish. They are one off, if not the hardest fish to shoot on the east coast of Australia. I have seen them off mortern but they leave the area REALLY quickly. I have heard of a few guys spearing them off kingscliff but only in 20m of water. You really need to be quite round snapper... jumping of a boat doesn't do anything for your odds .

At kingscliff I have seen ..... Kingfish, Cobia, Jew , Jacks, HUGE Bream (i got a small one at 42cm once), blue bar parrot, Blue Grouper in plauge proportions (all the time, can't take on spear), goaties, fingermark, tuskies, big black cod (can't take) talior, tarwhine, luderic plus alot of other fish not worth mentioning. ie wobbie, lepard sharks, drummer etc

The Best thing I ever saw of kingscliff was humpback whales I literally got within 20cm of them whilst in the water....there was a pod of three damn they are huge majestic creature.

I once saw a HUGE adult sunfish in the tweed river... that was a weird day. It was about 2.5m in diameter and 70cm thick it had an eye ball like a tennis ball

I used to line fish but spearing opens up your eyes as to whats underneath. You get more dive time than a bubbly, more fish than a lineo, more exercise than both together and you get to shoot stuff  Man it's fun but not for those who are sensible. Something is not right about being 15m deep on a single breath but you get used to it. My little brother shot a fish in 20m of water on sunday  he is diving better than me

There is more fish at fidos but 

Anyways enough of my rambleings I am going to bed

Cheers

Jesse


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

That's a beauty kawakawa! I'd like to eat one of those fresh.

Z


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## Kevin (Aug 29, 2005)

Great brace of fish Stu.


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

great stuff stu. How long did the fight last with both fish?


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## feel the sting (Aug 8, 2006)

Gday Spotty Mac

Great fish. Do you ever fish the lagoon/ lake at kingscliff? I once holidayed at cabarita beach and borrowed a surf ski and paddled from the canals at cabarita beach to some big lake which seemed fairly shallow but very fishy. Started to go up a creek that i think ends up at Kingscliff, but got tired and pulled the pin.

feel the sting


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## yaker (Aug 29, 2005)

.


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## fishbrain (Oct 19, 2005)

Well done Stu you SNAPPER king you! Cheers Fishbrain


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

yaker said:


> Zed said:
> 
> 
> > That's a beauty kawakawa! I'd like to eat one of those fresh.
> ...


Rrrrrraw, to answer your question. :lol:

Well we have the same general disdain for bonita over here.
I've only caught one (1) kawakawa and that was off of southern Baja MEX. It was good tuna if bled and chilled right off.

I'm under the impression kawakawa is a step above skipjack which is the major player in canned "chunk light tuna". Whatever the tuna, filleting the dark meat out leaves fine fare.

Rumor has it that bonita is delicious, too, if taken care of after catching.


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

Nice fish Stu, great looking yak too.


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Hi Jesse 
Do you use your yak to dive from,on some days when the water is gin clear l have spent half a day just drifting around looking into the water ,the reef is unbelieveable.
Kingscliff has so much to offer whales'reef good fishing and the weather and it's moods.
We have been out to Cook and fidos a few times and thats another awesome place.
Hope to catch up with you soon


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Dave they fight very much alike, they both shake there head and go for big runs, on the day the tuna put up the biggest battle.

Feel the sting, l have paddled up the creek to the second bridge and is very narrow and shallow further up from what l could see.
lt looks like a good trip down the creek from Cabarita lakes,they tell me there are good flathead caught all the way down.


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

I can fell an AKFF camping trip to Kingscliff coming on. :twisted:


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## Y-Knot (Sep 26, 2006)

reel sweet couple of fish there Spotty, nice fish... nice day... nice life. 8)


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

What a great result Stu. Champion effort


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## Jesse_Ape (Oct 17, 2006)

spottymac said:


> Hi Jesse
> Do you use your yak to dive from,on some days when the water is gin clear l have spent half a day just drifting around looking into the water ,the reef is unbelieveable.
> Kingscliff has so much to offer whales'reef good fishing and the weather and it's moods.
> We have been out to Cook and fidos a few times and thats another awesome place.
> Hope to catch up with you soon


To be honest I haven't dived out of my yak yet but that is the plan. I am getting married next year and will live up the sunny coast and most of the reefs are only a k of shore but they are ages from a boat ramp. So the old man's tinnie is no longer good. And I need to buy a house before I am able to buy a 40k boat. So yeah the kayak is it plus the best boat you can use is someone elses. Kayak's apeal to me becaue i can get fit, access sweet reefs that most people pass by cause they "go out wide", I get fit, it cost nothing to maintain. BOAT... Bring On Another Thousand. I want to be independant and be able to go for a spear at the local reefs when ever can so a kayak is the safest cheapest way I can do it. Spearfisherman First then Kayaker/

When I say I am going for a dive I am always meaning spearing fishing. Most of the day I am freediving as I only take maybey 5 shots in a day, hence I dive. But the reason for diving is spearfishing hmm complicated but diving/spearfishing are interchangeable words for me

Yeah the reef is outstanding IMHO it is the best reef structure on the coast. Fido's holds more fish but that is because there is less concerntrated fishing pressure IMHO. I always see more fish at Fido's but it has to be a glass off to get there. But kingy is beatiful I have been spearing it for three years now and I am still not bored with it. I have never dived cook as you can't fish there because it is the SCUBA divers exclusive playground :evil: sorry a little touchy about marine parks that just seem like they are there just so the bubblies can have a place all to them selves.... Ahhhhh yeah this place has some rare marine habitat and there are only 400 grey nurse left of the east coast of australia..... please give me a break you don't see grey nurses anymore bubblies because you scare the Fark out of them..Sorry I am going to stop rambling now. You will get to know that I ramble on and on....one of the advantages/disadvantages of being able to type fast.

Sorry to be off topic this is suppose to be about Fishing BTW I am still have green eyes because of your snapper

Cheers

Jesse

PS this is what happens when I am studying ... I become a forum junkie and spend heaps of time procrastinating.... anyways I am going to bed now.


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

hey Jesse-ape,

what fish have you actually seen on Kingslciffe in good numbers, and how deep is the reef??

cheers mate


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## Jesse_Ape (Oct 17, 2006)

Hi Fishing Man, 
Sorry to Quote my self but you know
Depths vary from 50cm ontop of a breaking bommie to 25m 
As for what fish is there it does depend on the day but there are always huge amount of blue grouper whcih you guys can take on a line only.

Cheers



Jesse_Ape said:


> The Reef at kingscliff is truely beautiful and is a sight to behold on a clear day. It is an amazing reef. One of the best I have seen so close to shore. I have seen the wreaks they are over rated as there is not much left of them now but they sometimes hold a fair bit of bait . Which in turn holds big fish , jack hang round 'em in summer too. There is a really nice cave at kingscliff that sometimes holds monster jew and Jacks but it's only good if you spear plus it holds a big black cod. There are some really good cray holes too but I will never tell where they are
> 
> The snapper are sneaky little ninja fish. They are one off, if not the hardest fish to shoot on the east coast of Australia. I have seen them off mortern but they leave the area REALLY quickly. I have heard of a few guys spearing them off kingscliff but only in 20m of water. You really need to be quite round snapper... jumping of a boat doesn't do anything for your odds .
> 
> ...


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

thats unreal,

cant wait to get out there hey


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## Jesse_Ape (Oct 17, 2006)

Yeah there is heaps there but I spend about 6 hours in the water everytime I am there and cover a lot of turf so the chances of catching largley depend on the amount of effort you put in. Having said that someday you get get plain ol lucky.

I haven't seen all those fish on one dive however. I have been diving there 3 years. What I see largley depends on the season. When the weahter is warmer you get better stuff. Decmeber to june is the best time in the year to see good stuff. I think March has been the most productive month in the year. But without a doubt i will always see Blue groper everywhere(they frustrate me cause i can't spear them in NSW), Luderic, bream, mowies, goaties and useually a few parrot but they are ninja's so there is always a feed there if i want it. I try not to take anything under 50cm cause i hate filleting small fish but if my freezer is empty I can't be fussy

At kingscliff I have seen ..... Kingfish, Cobia, Jew , Jacks, HUGE Bream (i got a small one at 42cm once), blue bar parrot, Blue Grouper in plauge proportions (all the time, can't take on spear), goaties, fingermark, tuskies, big black cod (can't take) talior, tarwhine, luderic plus alot of other fish not worth mentioning. ie wobbie, lepard sharks, drummer etc


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

ive speared around the currumbin creek mouth a few times and might look to have a dive on the kingscliff reef over summer. My only problem is that I dont think i can dive real deep hey (Cant hold breath real long). do you find a lot of fish down to around 5m?. and have you seen many sharks in the area?


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## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

Jesse, so you only free dive do you? I used to game fish with a few guys that were keen free divers/spear fishos. They use to get some amazing fish. While ethically i don't agree with it myself I couldn't help but respect these guys as they were very discriminative about what they took. They did a diving trip off Cato reef and one of them speared a dogtooth tuna a touch over 40kg. You have to respect something like that. My biggest problem with spearing is the fish do not have the right of refusal. Mind you though I have a weird set of personal fishing ethics and as long as what individuals do is legal and sustainable don't have a problem with it.

Catch ya Scott


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## Jesse_Ape (Oct 17, 2006)

Hi Scott,
I only ever spear by freediving. I have never used SCUBA in my life. Spearing on scuba in unethical in my opinon because there is no sport in it. Hence you not being allowed by law to do it in most of Austalia (in WA you can)

I am very selective in what I catch . I catch and release a thousand fish a day by simply not pulling the trigger.

As for ethics: to each their own. IMHO Spearfishing is the most ecologically sustainable way to catch fish. There is no by catch, there is no harming of undersize fish, only one fish dies for dinner in stead of another 5 to catch that one (ie bait), no leaving line at the bottom of the ocean and you are very selective in what you catch. I am not having a go at you guys who use lines, it's the Longliners and trawlers that I have a problem with :evil: cause they rape the ocean.

Mind you spearing sucks because you have to have good water visability, you have to work extremly hard for you fish, spearfishing gear is expensive; I have about 5 grand worth of stuff. But it is hell fun so i guess it pays off.

Cheers

Jesse


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Jesse, Mr. Ape,
I'm not having a go at you guys that spear, but I want to address some points since you brought them up.

"There is no by catch."
You must be very good. Fish ripping off of spears is fairly common.

"There is no harming undersize fish."
Well what do you think if I took the the line that spearos target the biggest and the best they can find, where catching a trophy on r n r is much more rare --and one _still_ has the option of release after catching it. Also under this statement, what did you do to learn to spear? The local kids that are learning to spear a) are [very] generally ignorant to regs and b) shoot everything with fins whether they want the fish or not, in the name of practice.

In my local area I see spearos as direct competition, because I can fish and angle a reef for months looking for grumpy, down there, and one spearo can dive down and kill the king of the reef in one 30-90sec dive.

On the other hand, I respect and appreciate free-divers, being that I have done it and enjoy it. Again, I'm not targeting you specifically, you just are here and brought it up.

Troy


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## Jesse_Ape (Oct 17, 2006)

Hi Zed,

Firstly I get the Ape part of my name cause I am as hairy as an ape; I been the hairest guy I know for scince I was 14 (full hest hair at 15  Austin powers eat your heart out  )Anyways that aside. I am not Jesse_Ape because I am primative and rage ful.... Anyways Back on topic



Zed said:


> Jesse, Mr. Ape,
> "There is no by catch."
> You must be very good. Fish ripping off of spears is fairly common.


By catch ei trawlers, long liners, using bait etc. Stuff that's caught as a product or means to getting the desired outcome. For a bait fisho using 10 pillies, 1 bag of prawns to catch one fish, being a little kid up north and catching a 2 dozen herring in order fish for bigger fish. For a spearo 1 shot = 2 nice fillets hence no by catch.

As a somewhat seasoned spearo I take pride in how I shoot a fish, If I shoot a good fish, unless I have shot it well it will leave a bitter taste in my mouth. Plus unless you shoot a fish well you damage the fillet. I shot a 4kg parrot the other day and it wasn't as satisfying because it wasn't the best shot; it had no chance of ripping off but it wasn't what I was aming for. Still tasted good that night and sever nights after. Kinda like if you took a fish in bit compared to a SP.

I don't take percentage shots (one that are a bit iffy) as what is the point? I would rather wait and shoot the fish in the head. Like you pointed out what is the point in a fish ripping out. It's not hard to be accurate with a gun, you just have to set the thing up right. Me and my brother test our guns in a mates pool with a milk bottle.



Zed said:


> "There is no harming undersize fish."
> Well what do you think if I took the the line that spearos target the biggest and the best they can find, where catching a trophy on r n r is much more rare --and one _still_ has the option of release after catching it.


To be honest I target what suits my belly, I don't go out targeting a trophy fish, I target dinner. If releasing fish is your cup of tea thats cool. I release fish by simply not pulling the trigger... Hmm not big enough, not tasty enough, can't shoot that one. Beside what is a trophy fish... for me it's one that tastes good. And I admitt I have got far more trophy fish spearing; But i have invested more time, money and effort into spearing.



Zed said:


> Also under this statement, what did you do to learn to spear? The local kids that are learning to spear a) are [very] generally ignorant to regs and b) shoot everything with fins whether they want the fish or not, in the name of practice.


I have to admit most people are a bit gun ho when learning to spearfish unless taught. The kids that run around shooting anything that moves does tend to give spearing a bad name. But those are the guys swimming round in their boardies with the fluro fins, handspears and soon learn that it takes a lot of practice to shoot a good fish. My fins alone cost $530 hmmm how things progress when you do it properly.



Zed said:


> In my local area I see spearos as direct competition, because I can fish and angle a reef for months looking for grumpy, down there, and one spearo can dive down and kill the king of the reef in one 30-90sec dive.


That's the beauty of spearfishing the fish doesn't have to be hungy in order to catch it. Who is the king of the king of the reef for you?



Zed said:


> On the other hand, I respect and appreciate free-divers, being that I have done it and enjoy it. Again, I'm not targeting you specifically, you just are here and brought it up.


Thanks, I respect anyone who respects the ocean and all that enjoy it.

To be honest I didn't start spearing because it's arguably better for the environment or by-catch or whatever. I did it because I loved snorkerling, swimming, exploring, adventure and fishing. Spearing does all this in one sport... sic hey.

Once again I am not trying to 'convert' you but rather just lift the sport up a bit. Most people think that we are cowboys and do it just to shoot stuff (sorry cowboys)

Cheers

Jesse.....Once again up late studying  hey you need a break every hour or your brain frys


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