Late spring is a top time to get on the water to hunt kingfish!
Over spring the large baitfish schools of pilchards, mackerel and anchovies have arrived in force off the coast and the predators are out in abundance looking to feast on this natural bounty.
Kingfish are always close by and for anglers who want to catch their first kingfish or just enjoy being connected to a hard pulling kingie, then springtime is an exciting time to target kingies. I often get a lot of mates complaining they never catch kingfish and when I ask them how they fish, it is obvious because they spend more time catching snapper.
Kingfish will of course appear on occasions when snapper fishing, but if you want to hook and land more kingies then you need to head out and hunt them. Don’t give up and go snapper fishing, have a plan for the day, and spend the hours looking for and targeting kingies.
When I head out on the water looking to tangle with kingfish, I have three must have fishing combos at my disposal; an overhead jigging combo, a livebaiting set and a topwater spin combo for casting lures.
These three reel/rod combos are all spooled with 30 – 50lb braid and tied with mono leaders between 40lb – 80lb, depending on which combo and method I am fishing with. This way I have an arsenal ready to deploy when needed as you must have different options when taking on kingfish, as they can be fussy and turn up in unexpected places.
Let’s look at the options mentioned above and how to best fish them.
Live Baiting
Using live baits is one the best methods for targeting bigger predators like kingfish. Nothing appeals more to a large kingie than a struggling baitfish on the end of the line that can’t easily get away.
When I head out with a plan to target kingfish on livebaits, I look to use them by either drifting livies around baitfish schools or over deeper reefs, and slow trolling them in the shallows is effective too.
You will need a decent livebait tank that will keep your baitfish alive over the day and if you don’t have one on the boat, there are plenty of options such as a portable tank that can be used in the boat with a pump/battery setup.
Of course, you need to spend the time early catching a supply of fresh livebaits and mackerel or kahawai are your best options as they are hardier fish that can survive longer with a hook and line attached.
Make sure you take sabikis, small jigs and softbaits to use and catch your livies first. Often, I cast smaller softbaits (5” or under) around the rocks in shallow or near schooling kahawai to hook them for livies as the lure is always in the mouth, so they are in best condition to use.
If you come across a workup with diving birds and gannets, deploy the livebait with the hook through the back or the nose and slow troll it around the action. You can leave it in the rod holder with the drag set light with clicker button on and jig using your other combo at the same time.
Jigging Combo
A good mid-jigging combo is usually an overhead reel on a shorter jig rod and spooled with 30-50lb braid and 40-80lb leader. When I fish in the Hauraki Gulf over the sand and under workups in spring, I use a 30-40lb combo which is fine with less chance of foul bust offs, and it is fun to tangle with 10-15kg kings.
If you are jigging over reefs or spots where larger 20kg+ kings are frequently hooked, then going up to 50lb+ combos and using 80-120lb leader is a wise move.
When jigging around workups selecting fast dropping jigs (knife jigs) is a good option on kings and just work them from the top to about 15-20m below the surface, you don’t need to send the jig to the bottom if you are fishing in 40m+ of water.
Make sure you take a range of 90 – 300gm jigs to suit with boat’s drifting speed and you will be surprised how often the smaller 90-150gm jigs will get hit by kingies as this is what the baitfish like anchovies and pilchards look like. I like to use silver, blue, and green colours too over spring that resemble the baitfish.
Topwater Option
The last fishing combo I take for targeting kings is a topwater option which requires a 10000 to 14000 sized spin reel spooled with 24kg+ braid on a longer (10ft+) rod to cast stickbaits or poppers. Often over spring the kings are up on the surface smashing the schooling baitfish which dolphins or kahawai have helped to drive up.
Casting a stickbait around this surface action is another good tactic to hook a fired up kingie feeding amongst the chaos of the workup. I have also trolled stickbaits around the diving birds and this has produced kingfish and you don’t need to cast a hundred times in the hot sun!
There are many types and sizes of stickbaits on the market, I have been using the sinking Rapala X-Rap casting lures, and they have a great action and colours which again resemble the baitfish found over springtime.
When you get a nice kingie in the boat, make sure you have a long fish bag to keep it in with plenty of salt ice packed around your prized catch, after you have bled the fish.
My final tip is after landing a kingfish, I always check the leader for any fraying or knicks and the knots to the hook and leader to the mainline. If in any doubt it is best to retie a fresh hook and/or leader after a battle on these strong fish, as you want peace of mind when the next big green and gold torpedo turns up.
