Chasing monster kings in New Zealand

Started by redsetta, February 24, 2021, 09:25:48 PM

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redsetta

Haha, a king's a king regardless of the size - that's a great fish!  ;) ;D
Looks like a nice Alex Custom next to ya?
Cheers lads
Fortitudine vincimus - By endurance we conquer

steelfish

Quote from: redsetta on February 25, 2021, 10:47:07 PM
Haha, a king's a king regardless of the size - that's a great fish!  ;) ;D
Looks like a nice Alex Custom next to ya?
Cheers lads

yep thats my Superman rod I built few years ago, its great rod but I would like to try those new tech jigstar ninja rods one day on the "big" local YT
https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=27213.0


The Baja Guy

redsetta

Ah yes, love that rod - great work Alex.
Can't believe that was two years ago!
Time flies when you're... in a pandemic!  :'( :D
Fortitudine vincimus - By endurance we conquer

steelfish

Quote from: redsetta on March 04, 2021, 09:01:35 PM
Ah yes, love that rod - great work Alex.
Can't believe that was two years ago!
Time flies when you're... in a pandemic!  :'( :D

tell me about it, when I was posting the previous answer I was like " I built that rod last year" then I realized I have (everybody have) a year lost, like if everything was on "pause", but this is not the place to get deep into that,  back on the topic, from time to time I search for 3-kings videos on youtube, its amazing to see one of the at.com members actually fish there and caught some of those monsters, a bucket list trip for sure.
The Baja Guy

Smols

Hey Justin, That's an epic trip, for sure. I'm curious how you boat those big kings for release. Massive nets?

jzumi

Awesome report!

A silly question:  How exactly do you get those large kingies aboard for a picture before release?  I don't imagine you use a net or a gaff.

mo65

~YOU CAN TUNA GEETAR...BUT YOU CAN'T TUNA FEESH~


redsetta

Hi Smols/jzumi, apologies for the tardy reply.
Wherever you are on the boat (I was always on the foredeck), once you've got the beast under control, you had to work your way back to the cockpit.
The deckie would then grab the fish by the mouth (ie the lower jaw specifically, never the gill plate) and drag it up onto the rail, and rest it - centred - there to remove the jig.
Though they'll kick around a bit as they're being lifted, for some reason they quieten right down once resting on the rail.
If it's a 'personal best', the deckie will get you to hold the fish for a photo, before spearing him headfirst back into the ocean.
While it seems like there were lots of photos, easily 80%+ of the fish caught went back without a pic (or into the chiller if a wreck species).
The gaff only came out for the yellowfin and a net was only used to retrieve livies from the transom tanks.
Cheers, Justin
Fortitudine vincimus - By endurance we conquer