Hi guys
heres a few answers to a couple of the questions.
A lot of this type of fishing is still in its infancy so we are really learning a lot as we go. This is not really a new thing for kingfish but what is new is some of the techniques and lures available to us here in NZ. A few visits form guys like Konishi and Mogi to solely chase kings on surface lures has opened a lot of eyes about how to fish the lures to help catch lots of fish and also some really big fish.
We seem to get a couple of different runs of fish anytime from August through to December we get a run of pre spawn fish that co incides with masses of mackerel and squid. The last few years we have nailed loads of fish on jigs at this time but this year the surface action at that time was nothing short of insane.
From December onwards the fish move in closer and start to inhabit the shallow reef areas, this is when things get interesting. huge kings smashing surface lures in 5 to 10 metres of water is pretty insane stuff. The fish will stay on these shallow reefs and also in the inshore harbours until around April. They then move a bit deeper and become more of a jigging proposition, i am sure there will be opportunities for huge fish through June and July but this is something we still need to pursue a bit harder.
As for gear i am sorry your PE 4 outfit may be a little undergunned. It will do OK for the August to December run of fish as they are often in open water but up in the shallow stuff you want to be armed with something a bit bigger.
I find anything from PE6 to PE 10 will do the job but PE 8is really the best way to go.
Hope this helps a bit, feel free to ask more questions, thsi is a type of fishing i am extremely passionate about so i am keen to see others getting interested.