"

Attention turns to kingfish
  |  First Published: April 2016



The fishing news around town is all about one species: yellowtail kingfish.

Schools of kingies have been scattered along the coastline for a few months now, and when one school decided to hold up on the Bumbry Reef for a few weeks, the angling community went into a spin. The Bumbry Reef is located only a few hundred metres from the local boat harbour and is accessible to small tinnies or even kayaks.

Kingfish from 60cm-1m have been landed using a variety of methods from casting or trolling lures to fishing live baits of mackerel or squid. If the fish are seen actively feeding on the surface, then lures are the go, but if you can’t find any noticeable signs of yellowtail kingfish, then live bait has been working best.

One helpful tip is to fish your live baits at different depths. Put one under a balloon or large float, another free swimming and one down deep, just off the bottom. If you do happen to hook a fish, make sure your fishing partners are at the ready, as more kingies will surely be following the hooked fish. If this is the case, leave the hooked fish in the water until another is hooked up and try to keep repeating that process.

Reports are coming in that the southern bluefin tuna are in good numbers just down the coast at Portland, so it shouldn’t be long before they are back in this area too. Last year was a bumper season and all signs are pointing towards another great season.

There are plenty of bait schools along the coastline and I’m sure it is only a matter of time before everyone’s attention switches from yellowtails to blue fins!

King George whiting are still around in good numbers on the inshore reefs with pipis accounting for most fish.

Australian salmon schools have been thick from Wild Dog Beach to Skenes Creek. Flathead are still being taken in large numbers from 35m of water and the squid fishing in the harbour has been excellent in recent weeks.

On the freshwater scene, we are still waiting for some decent rain to flush the systems out and fire up the trout. Once the water starts to rise, I will be targeting the trout on soft plastics and small hardbodies. The Barham, Aire, Ford and Kennett rivers as well as Smythes Creek and are all worth a flick and hold large populations of brown trout.

Reads: 2358

Matched Content ... powered by Google




Latest Articles




Fishing Monthly Magazines On Instagram

Digital Editions

Read Digital Editions

Current Magazine - Editorial Content

Western Australia Fishing Monthly
Victoria Fishing Monthly
Queensland Fishing Monthly