# The Great SA Kingfish Hunt



## Crazy_Horse (Nov 3, 2006)

For anyone who isn't familiar with Rapid Bay in SA, it was probably considered one of the best land based fishing options in the state going back about 10 years with a jetty extending something like 700m (can't recall exact length) into very deep water. Rapid Bay is about 80km south of Adelaide at the bottom of the Fleurieu Peninsula with not much separating it and Kangaroo Island besides a pile of water, very strong currents (kayakers have gone missing in the area before), and some bloody big sharks. However, about 5 years ago the jetty was deemed unsafe for the public and was closed and since then has only had a fraction of the fishing pressure that it once did.

One species that could often be seen and hooked but seldom landed was kingfish. And we aint talking the run of the mill "rat" variety. The average size captured from the jetty would be in the realm of 30lb, with 50lb+ captures not uncommon. Now.... what fun being hooked up to one of those in a kayak!!!

Waterboy, L3GACY and I decided that it was time to see if the kingfish were still about and after a lot of planning, today was the big day. The other guys went down to Rapid Bay last night and laid out some berley from the end of the jetty via kayak, nailed a couple of small snook, and unsuccessfully tried for sharks off the beach. I crawled out of bed bloody early this morning and hit the road just after 3am to meet them before dawn to be in the action at prime time. All went to plan and shortly before sunrise we found ourselves making the paddle out to the end of the jetty to see what we could manage.

After springing some surface burley to get the whole food chain thing happening, we quickly brought a nice school of slimey mackeral and herring to the area. After tying off on the jetty pylons to flow in the strong current, Waterboy and I live baited a slimey (I balooned on the surface and Waterboy let his roam), while L3GACY went with a dead squid. We got stuck into plenty of slimeys for reserves but the big rods were quiet. We tried bloody hard and covered all possible bases.

After giving this a go for several hours with no action on the kingfish, despite perfect conditions, a different mode of attack was called for. We left the jetty and drifted south with the current to see whether we might stumble into something. About a km from the jetty, I broke off from the other guys and realised that we were drifting bloody fast away from Rapid Bay and despite paddling as hard as I could into the current I could make only a little headway (bloody tempo I hear you say!). Turning around to warn the other guys, they were already out of shouting range and disappearing quickly. Rather than chase them down, I took the soft option (or maybe smart option??) of heading back solo while I could with a warning bell sounding in the back of my mind about how I am still recovering from my operation of a couple of weeks ago and am not back to full strength or fitness. Well, I made it back and tied back to the jetty eventually, and a while later on the horizon I could make out a couple of kayaks that took an eternity to finally return. In the words of Waterboy "I've never felt so f%#@ed after a paddle!" They had no luck either and decided to return when they saw a full grown seal floating dead in the water with a massive bite taken out of it.

We gave up after that as we baked in the sun. We caught a couple of squid and reef fish during the day, but nothing particularly exciting. The highlight after that was the nice cold Coopers on the beach.

Anyway, the hunt for the big SA kingies is still on and if we don't crack one in the meantime, I reckon a Pt Augusta (top of the gulf, three hours from Adelaide) assault in earnest around the beginning of August will definitely occur. We will win!!!!!! Stay tuned!!!!

Cheers
Adam


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

The wind and the current outside of the bay were terrible. It was a LOT worse out deep (60ft i think) than it was in where crazy_horse chickened out (with bloody good reason by the way). The best speed we could manage at one stage was around 0.8 miles an hour and if we stopped for a rest, even if only for a few seconds, we would be losing ground fast. Certainly a very dangerous place if you leave the bay, conditions were good today, if they were bad i think we would have been in a lot of strife. Sussed things out down there now, certainly a worthwhile trip. The half eaten seal didnt exactly make me feel safe out there though.


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## Gator (May 10, 2006)

Sounds as if you guys had a real time of it. Too Bad that the target fish did not cooperate. I must say that your description of the conditions make this Ole Codger somewhat glad he did not go as it might have been a bit too much for me. Hopefully Pt Aguta will provide ez'r access and less current


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## xerubus (May 17, 2007)

you guys definitely have some kahoonas! the big toothy critters in that area would be enough to keep my feet on the ground.

I will be taking the family down to Cowell within the next six months as we missed out on the Christmas trip... will let you know when it's happening.


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## paffoh (Aug 24, 2006)

Nice report, shame about the lack of fish ( And photos too  ),

Actually nevermind, a photo of a half eaten seal would put me off big time, forever even...


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

I'm sure you guys will suss out the area and get the hoods on the chew. Imagine how far you'll be dragged with that current :shock: :shock:


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

I doubt they would as they would be pulling away from the structure but if they did we'll probably be paying Kangaroo Island a visit .


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## Buff (Dec 31, 2005)

Good to hear you guys gave it a good solid crack  
Sounds like the currents are a bit of a worry, but then again there are some big bream on KI :lol: :lol: :lol:

Glad to hear you made it back in one piece


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## water_baby (Oct 26, 2005)

Well, finally have spare time to post up, and following from crazy and legacy will be easy - they pretty well summed it up.

Personally, I managed a couple of firsts, as well as a couple of PB's out of the weekend, so im happy enough with the result. No fish/sharks was a bummer, but that goes with the territory. Only chasing a very specific couple of species has obvious drawbacks if they're not around, but it was fun nonetheless.

As i mentioned, i managed a couple of firsts. One was paddling at night. Scariest thing ive done in many years, i have to admit. Especially as i was taking a shark bait out for legacy (whole snook, rigged on 300lb wire and 2 x 12/0 hooks). In retrospect, i dont really know why i was so edgy, cos i wasnt leaving a trail behind me. I think i managed 50 or 60 metres before my brain said "i think thats far enough, dont you body?". I pepped myself up, and said back to my brain "a couple more paddle strokes wont hurt" and i did, then i threw the bait in and paddled back to the beach.

This is where the second of my firsts came - night time beach landing. Rapid Bay beach is fairly steep, so the difference in water level is larger than normal when each little wave pushed up the shore, making it a little hairy, but just needed to ride the half footers in and keep balanced. I should note here that like some other AKFFers my confidence at landings has taken a total pounding (literally) over winter, to the point where i nearly dread landings. But the night time one went well, and i was back on the beach with a snag in bread and a Coopers Pale in no time. Finished sharking off the beach for nil result around midnight, and was up at 4:30 to head out the next morning.

As for the PB's, they were easy enough, but scarier than normal. First, i managed a new PB depth of 68 feet. This is pretty good for an SA bloke, as the average depth lately has been 6-12 feet at seacliff, maybe 10 feet around Garden Island, and 25 or so feet in Port Adelaide itself. It takes a long paddle out into the Gulf St Vincent to reach even 30-40 feet, so nearly 70 feet is amazing for me, and many other SA lads in kayaks i should imagine. This is also pretty good as i have a fear of deep water. Scares the bejeezus out of me actually. I have an active imagination, but im controlling it better now, and the confidence of paddling with a couple of mates detracts from the fear immensely. Except when the guy you are drifting with towards Kangaroo Island at a very steady rate says "you know, if one of us has an accident, we are both screwed". That didnt fill me with confidence, but the adrenalin rush from it helped a lot. Thanks Legacy!

My other PB was the paddle against the current. Hardest slog ive ever done in my life, and the soreness in my lats, traps and delts is testament to the fact!! We drifted with the current, and with an estimated 5-8 knot breeze behind us, for about 2.5 miles at roughly 2.3 mph (sorry, imperial GPS!) We turned around, and by the time we headed back we were doing 0.8 mph into the breeze and against the current. Now, this make for very, very slow paddling speed. We decided to hug the headlands, which is where we saw the dead seal. I thought it was a rock at first, as it wasnt moving. I thought to myself that it may have been a seal, as there is a colony nearby, but it wasnt moving. As we approached, i could make out the texture of fur, and my fears were confirmed. Seals are a bad sign for me, and this is the second dead one ive seen in the last 6 months. This one especially so as it looked as if it had been bitten behind the neck, from shoulder to shoulder, with bits of fat floating in the current. In hindsight (only thought about it properly just then), it may have been hit by a boat propellor, but it looked enough like a bite to me to signal a hasty exit. Either way, it was a floating berley bomb of massive proportions!!Had i been in a boat, it would have been ok, but the berley trail from this thing would have been phenomenal. So we sped up a fair bit and headed home to the relative safety of the bay. Along the way, we did find an exceptional looking bar reef around one of the headlands, but the current an chop/swell told us to leave it for another day.

Got back to the bay, clipped back on to my anchor (i rigged a throwaway anchor which i left near the jetty on a buoy) and put my feet up and relaxed for 10 minutes. We then decided to head closer to shore to see if we could tempt any squid/whiting, but there were only some squid around.

All in all, an excellent learning experience, and should give us enough info to return victorious next time. Thanks for the outing fellas, a pleasure as always


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

great story guys, pity about the lack of fish though.

I remember fishing Rapid Bay before moving to qld 
and can say that i have seen the kings first hand. A lot of guys used to baloon livies off the end but i have been fishing there some days and seen em swiming on the surface....bloody unreal.

its a great fishery down there and heaps of species were caught but the thing which used to attract us there was the large silver trevally which used to hang under the jetty. i personally never landed any big ones but have seen them caught to a few kilos and they give a hell of a fight. going back 10 years or so they recieved a lot of fishing pressure but i would imagine that since the closure they would be a great target on the yak. The main area we used to get them was by climbing under the T junction at the end and dropping down amongst the pilons. Cray tail was the best bait but i reckon now days some form of placcy would do the trick.

Would love to see some future reports of this area, keep it up boys..


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## Crazy_Horse (Nov 3, 2006)

Water_baby... Water_baby... Water_baby... Water_baby...

Keep calling you Waterboy for some reason... I'll work on it. Sorry mate.


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

water_baby said:


> Except when the guy you are drifting with towards Kangaroo Island at a very steady rate says "you know, if one of us has an accident, we are both screwed". That didnt fill me with confidence


Thats just payback for alerting me to the fact that there was a half eaten seal in the water with us. After the rapid trip i'm a lot more confident and have a few spots i'd like to try out launching from seacliff and brighton, whiting, snapper and sharks would be the main targets depending on where you are. One spot is quite close. Also Kirk was right there's a reef at carrickalinga. Can you tell i'm having fun punching a lot of spots into google earth?


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## Y-Knot (Sep 26, 2006)

great report guys, sure not much in the way of fish BUT i was edge of seat reading about the strong currents, water depths at 68ft, (possible) 1/2 chewed seals and the potential of hooking up a BIG kingfish.loved it and looking forward to future hunts 8)


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## fishnfreak (Jun 22, 2007)

when is the augusta trip, then we just need quick release anchors, drift anchors for the fight, burley, and lots of time drinks and sunblock!
also at least in the pt augusta channel, we are still nearish to land!


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

fishnfreak said:


> when is the augusta trip, then we just need quick release anchors, drift anchors for the fight, burley, and lots of time drinks and sunblock!
> also at least in the pt augusta channel, we are still nearish to land!


Best time for Augusta is the middle of winter i think. Will be a very relaxing trip.... right up until we hook up.


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## water_baby (Oct 26, 2005)

im headin up there later this month to scope it out for bait grounds and launching spots, and maybe drift a livey around, just in case!! i know there are significant sea grass beds near the hot water outlet, and there are supposedly plenty of *****'s up there, so should be easy enough to make good bait. then its just patience i think. and beers..

got the throwaway anchor done, and works quite well, just got to make a drift chute out of a green Coles bag and im ready for a fifty pound "homeguard" kingy to punish a hapless squidly..

cant wait to get towed.. yeehaaa :shock: 8) :lol:


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## Swamp (Nov 20, 2007)

You guys are crazy. As already mentioned if you can hardly paddle in the current a big king would tow you to KI. I got my first kingy in November (land based) at browns beach, yorke peninsula at 74cm and about 6kg it went hard! a big one would be another thing altogether!

The shark bait dropping is a real adrenaline rush i dropped a few off tennyson last year. 

I am in WA for summer without my condor  the swan river would be kayak fishing paradise 

Cheers
Swamp


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

Realistically the worst case scenario is being towed out of the bay then getting caught in the current, if that happens i'll just hug the coast and follow it to cape jervois and hope someone is willing to pick me up for a share of the spoils :lol:.


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## fishnfreak (Jun 22, 2007)

A mate at Gawler Fishing and Outdoors, who is a bit of a gun Fisho, goes up there a bit, last time he went there he showed me the fish he caught which were in a 6ft long chest freezer, nice big fish, he said we are more likely to have success there, and conditions should be nicer to us!


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

fishnfreak said:


> A mate at Gawler Fishing and Outdoors, who is a bit of a gun Fisho, goes up there a bit, last time he went there he showed me the fish he caught which were in a 6ft long chest freezer, nice big fish, he said we are more likely to have success there, and conditions should be nicer to us!


Where abouts is this?


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## fishnfreak (Jun 22, 2007)

at Pt Augusta, i can get some spots too, but I reckon he said its all good if you introduce burley in order to get baitfish(gars, slimeys, ST) hanin around at the back of the boat


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## water_baby (Oct 26, 2005)

fishnfreak said:


> at Pt Augusta, i can get some spots too, but I reckon he said its all good if you introduce burley in order to get baitfish(gars, slimeys, ST) hanin around at the back of the boat


yeah thats my aim. same method as Rapid Bay - get out late the night before, tie off a berley bag to a marker, then get out early th next morning with a new berley bag and poach the baitfish from the original bag. anchor up in the channel out the front of the hot water outlet and hold on for dear life. 6 foot kingy is what im talking about!! wooohooo!!


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

water_baby said:


> fishnfreak said:
> 
> 
> > at Pt Augusta, i can get some spots too, but I reckon he said its all good if you introduce burley in order to get baitfish(gars, slimeys, ST) hanin around at the back of the boat
> ...


Water_Baby 3 weeks later:

"Well i got out ok, i set up the berley trail fine but i still couldnt get a damn kingy"

 sorry mate, i have total faith in you... honest . Personally i'm gonna wait until winter.


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## water_baby (Oct 26, 2005)

L3GACY said:


> water_baby said:
> 
> 
> > fishnfreak said:
> ...


ha ha ha. very funny  yeah, i know the odds are less than winning lotto, but i want to go for a drive! and i like a gamble every now and then.

hopefully i will be making people smile out the other side of their faces, muttering under their breath "i wish i had gone with him, then i, too, would be a god amongst mortals" but hey, its a dream i have been working on.

6 foot kingy whisperer, thats what they call me :shock: i think i would sh1t myself to be honest, thats how big i am - nearly half as long as my yak 8) but it would be an awesome 1 minute tow before it ran me around something...


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

Haha, we can all dream mate. I'd love to get a big mako from the yak off the south of KI... and live to tell the tale :wink:.
I guess your dream is at least semi realistic water_baby .


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## water_baby (Oct 26, 2005)

L3GACY said:


> Haha, we can all dream mate. I'd love to get a big mako from the yak off the south of KI... and live to tell the tale :wink:.
> I guess your dream is at least semi realistic water_baby .


you should pm scott, the forum administrator, about yak caught sharks mate. he is very well accomplished, i saw a picture of one of his baits a long time ago - a whole atlantic salmon.. he would be able to give pointers on how to stay alive!! shouldnt be that bad, as long as it doesnt breach and land on you :shock:


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## fishnfreak (Jun 22, 2007)

i reckon id be going to use the "softly, softly" approach described in Modern Fishing and Fishing World magazines were instead of putting as much hurt on the fish as possible, go it softly with a light drag and they tend to stay away from the bottom.

Then again, its all good and well in theory. on the water may be a different story


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## water_baby (Oct 26, 2005)

Hmm, softly softly might be alright if i were in a stinkboat that could actively chase it and make up the slack, but even if i use 1 or 2 kg's of drag, im gonna get towed around pretty well. i get a little tow from snook on 6lb bream gear. cant imagine what 50lb braid will do. i have seen examples where free spooling a reel has turned the kingy from strusture before. but like i said, that was in a boat.

first one, im gonna essentially lock up the drag pretty tight so there isnt too much line between me and the fish, and get towed around the structure, hopefully avoiding it all!worst comes to worst, ill lose 30-50 yards of braid.

if that fails, ill reduce drag pressure. i just dont want to be caught out with 150 yards of braid that i cant get back from a little torpedo wrapping me around everything it can find!! although that would be funny too :lol: :lol: and the looks from the stinkboaters as i tangle (or cut through) their lines would be priceless. ill give them a toot from my airhorn to tell them to *"get out of my way - sleigh ride coming through!!"*

either way, BIG, STEEP learning curve..


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## waldo (Aug 19, 2007)

good on you for giving it a bash guys, at least there was plenty of beer around !!!


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

Where's your report Waldo? :lol:


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