# Longy - Got one! (Sat)



## MrX (Feb 7, 2008)

I have been driven to distraction sitting at my desk reading those spectacular school-day reports from the Sydney's Plastic Navy over the past couple of weeks - unable to get out to have a crack at those brutal kingfish. Damn those Friday night X-Mas parties!

Left night's party relatively early, and the 5am alarm somehow pierced through my head this morning. Eventually got out of bed, skulled a few schooners of water, brushed my tongue, and bolted down to Longy calculating how long it takes for the kidneys to filter beer out of blood to get under .05.

Set out with a couple of stragglers at about 6.30 am, and the reef looked like a scene from Pirates of the Carribean. A flotilla of plastic pirate ships as far the eye could see, each captained by motley crew of one. I swear I saw Johhny's eye pop out at some stage.

Found out that my idea of "sparrows'" is the armada's "gentlemen's", and everyone I spoke had already landed a handful of rat's, with Murd's croc-scarred green canoe weighed down by a big fat keeper. Still, I thought I was in with a chance.

The technical kingfishing advice was flowing - when the school comes through, HANG ON!!!!

Karnage was my first teacher - this is how you do it! After a couple of minutes of primeval grunting he pulls an enormous blue/yellow/silver beast from the depths, grabs the leader, then does a round of wrestling with it in his lap, Hulk Hogan style. I'm thinking: do I really want one of those brutes thrashing between my legs, with spikes & hooks flailing everywhere? Then he tells me it's only a little rat. If that's just a rat, what do you with the meter plus hoodlums?

Then I'm on, zzzzzzzzzzzz first king yippee!!!! Marty shouts some encouragement, the bang bang ping!!! Patience, grasshopper. Re-rig.

On again, a spectacular battle, shouts of advice - get him off the bottom &#8230;. keep that tip up&#8230;pump that rod&#8230;.you've got him now&#8230;grab its tail &#8230; no, use the net&#8230; don't fall in (yeah...funny one..)&#8230;... Whoohooo first king from the yak - wasn't even that hard!! Hang on - this kingy isn't a stunning blue & yellow specimen. It's just plain old silver. It's a fugging trevally!! I wanted to slit it's fugging throat. So I did. It went close to 50, so at least I have a feed. Back to hunting numero uno kingy.

Murd gives some sage advice: don't go after kings with two rods out - double hook-ups can be trouble. Thinking: WTF would Murd know - he's obviously just a big girls blouse. Anyway, what chance of a kingy virgin like me getting a double king hook-up?

Then bang!!! ZZZZZ Yak's going sideways. I'm on! And this ain't no trevor! Try to lock up drag, but to no effect. Pumping &#8230;winding....pumping &#8230;. waiting for the usual ping &#8230;. then ZZZZZ&#8230;.. WTF??? The other rod's peeling line as well !!. I'm surrounded, get me out here! Get the first one in, the advice: chuck it in the drive well, and stop the other one! Faaark!!! This is getting way too hard. Oh good - the second hook is caught on something in the yak, that should hold that kingy down for bit, so I can fight the other one. Pump..wind&#8230;pump&#8230;wind&#8230;.ping! Oh, that's a relief. Now what's causing that pain in my calf? It's a 5-O tethered to a cranky rat, and no, that's not the trevor's blood. Who cares? First king from the yak! How good is this!!!

Thanks for the tips, fellas.

Have to do it again tomorrow.


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## MrX (Feb 7, 2008)

In the excitement, I forgot to take a photo of my first king. Marty, can you help me out?

Here is a photo of the trev (which at least was legal):










Yes, I know, it's a bit hard to see. Turned my back for just a second at the ramp, and this old guy comes up to me and says: "I think that pelican took your fish...." I ran, but the sand was soft, and....


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## JT (May 25, 2006)

Sweet report Man. Don't they go?!?! Congratulations on your first Kingy. Unfortunately you will never really be satisfied catching anything else from now on :? From now "you got the fever"! :twisted:

A 50 cm Trev is nothing to sneeze at either.

JT


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## zipper (Feb 27, 2008)

MrX said:


> In the excitement, I forgot to take a photo of my first king. Marty, can you help me out?
> 
> Here is a photo of the trev (which at least was legal):
> 
> ...


hahahahahaha :lol: that is an absolute classic


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## andyfoley (Jul 12, 2008)

congrats man i got my first today aswell and wow bring on more of them


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## Imaddictedtofishing (Nov 28, 2007)

It was a great morning to be out. First time off longy, first time offshore and first kingie. Caught my first one on a 60g jig which i jigged through the school. And the 2nd was caught drifting a mojo on a 3/4 jig head.
God they pull!


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

MrX, you do not disappoint. You finally get your first legal king and you get the hook into your calf. 
Got to love your reports.


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## polylureosis (Jul 24, 2006)

Persistence pays off. (i think :? )


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## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

Watch them pelicans Tom. Nice work everybody.

Did you see the 5' stingrays hanging around near the ramp? Probably best not to swim with them ;-) .


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## johnny (Aug 12, 2007)

Well done Tom..with one eye I saw yee catch a double hook up..aharrr


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## johnny (Aug 12, 2007)

I got busted up 6 times min....on 50lb leader-20lb main... locked up....got a humoungous flowerpot to boot-looked like ray barrett but uglier-maybe gordon ramsayish!...I surrendered at 11am when I looked up and nobody was around!...sunburnt legs now!


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## MrX (Feb 7, 2008)

Well done Matt - I saw the tandem into some fish. Must have been you.

Johnny,
"I looked up and nobody was around!"
Karnage led Murd & I across the Tasman chasing birds. They were feasting just off Auckland on&#8230;..a berley trail. We left Murd paddling in our wake - he reckons he could have kept up if wanted, but he hooked up another king.

SBD, 
No idea what that greedy pelican was thinking - hope trevor punctured his pouch thing, and he chokes on it. 
Still can't figure out how you, Karnage, Poly & Avayak can stop hoodlums in 15m, given the power of those "little" rats. Astonishing!


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## karnage (Jan 18, 2006)

congrats to marty and mrx for nailing thier first kings 8) 
great morning out with an abundance of rats. where else would ya wanna be?
good 2 meet johnny and hear his term for the westlink motorway system i use. "oh you come down the supersonic freeway!"
ended up with 8-10 rats aprox 55-62cm. rick dundee(murd) probaly got more and a keeper at 67cm.
got 2 on the surface which is always a hoot. one double hook up which nearly saw me in with harold. :shock: got both in eventually.
to focused on fishing to get many snaps with the camera but i did get a shot of marty with his first rat. also a small vid of me releasing a rat but couldnt be bothered uploading to youtube as its not that exciting really.
anyway here is marty pumped on his first grade debut.


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## Marty75 (Oct 23, 2007)

What a great morning to be fishing off Longy yesterday!

Launched just after Karnage and Johnny and just enjoyed the sunrise from my yak in the beautiful conditions. Saw a pod of dolphins gliding gracefully through the water but just missed out on getting a photo.










Caught up to the guys just after Karnage (I think) had caught and release his first rat. I threw in my soft plastic and after letting it sink about 10 metres and a couple of cranks of the reel I was onto my first king of the morning. Prior to this I'd only ever hooked up to 2 kings (at least I think they were) with 2 bust offs during my first year of kayak fishing (predominantly estuary-based). The drag screamed and the rod tip disappeared under the surface of the water. After about a minute of the hardest successful fight out of the kayak I had landed my first ever king - yeah baby! Only around 60cm but i didn't care, the kingie cherry had been popped! A quick photo and then released.

I got off the water at around 11:30 but my tally for the morning was 6 kings landed with 2 bust offs. I fished with 3 different outfits just to see what each could handle and either soft plastics or squid strips. Started off fishing with my 7-12kg graphite Okuma Trinus rod matched with my Daiwa Advantage 3500 reel and 15 lb braid, 20lb leader. Then switched to my lighter Shakespeare Graphlite 3-6kg composite rod and 2500 Advantage reel with 8lb braid and 14lb leader (did the job surprisingly well) and then onto my heavier 10-15kg silstar Crystal Blue with 4500 Baitrunner reel and 30lb braid, 40lb leader.

What I discovered with my first taste of kingie fishing is that it didn't matter if I was hooked up on my smallest outfit or my biggest outfit, the end result was the same sound of screaming drags and trying to keep the rod tip out of the water - addictive stuff! A welcome surprise was discovering the stamina of these fish. Whereas most of the estuary species I've caught have a strong 1st maybe 2nd run, these kingies have so much power for their size and make strong deep runs well into the fight - unreal :twisted:

Whether it's just catching rat kings or even getting busted off after an awesome fight, it's great fun.

Can't wait to tangle with some bigger ones now.

Bring it on!

Marty


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## Kez (Nov 5, 2008)

Congratulations! Awesome report/pics and read! I know how you feel when you catch that first kingy!  kingy virginity gone!


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## Pete B (Dec 4, 2006)

Congtrats Mr X I had a feeling it was your lucky day... You didn't disappoint am still laughing at the pelican at the ramp!! ... :lol: :lol: what a great shot!


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## MrX (Feb 7, 2008)

Congrats Marty, on your 1st, 2nd etc. I ran into your mate that you sold the Viking to this morning. Hope went as well as you did yesterday. Great sunrise shot.

Kez - that's a cool avatar.


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## MangoX (Feb 18, 2006)

Well done to all.

Looks like a fishy weekend all round the country !

I love summer


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