GTs vs Kings - tactics

[Andrew Poulos]

Hi all,

So far I havent had the chance to tangle with big GTs and around Sydney, I mainly chase kingfish off the rocks using slow spun gars and lots of lures(poppers/stickbaits and divers)

What Im interested to hear is from others that have caught both species, how do you find the nature and temperment of both fish.

Kings are particulary dirty fighters when hooked and will aim for the nearest rock/reef obstacle around. Are GTs the same ?
Kings are also very curious and at times very hard to get them gee'd up to hit lures.....have people expereienced the same with GTs....

Andrew

[MikeOsborn]

I havent caught too many GT's but have got a ton of kings this year to 60lb,

Tactics on the kingis are simple: dont give them an inch, if you are still connected after the 2nd run then you have a pretty good chance of getting it to the boat. Saying that the fight is never over till either the gaff is sunk in or the fish is released

Hopefully by the end of the year I will have a better idea on GT's but the ones that I have got have either been action packed fights where I have been dusted a few times or the smaller ones which seem to be pretty quiet battles.

[Andrew Poulos]

Being landbased, I follow the strategy of stop em or pop em....letting em run is a disaster. Ive been reefed plenty of times livebaiting when the rod has gone off and I have been on the other side of the rocks.

I find they will just swim up to a lure to have a look and then just turn away casually. Frustrating when you can see it all happening a few metres away.

[Brandon Khoo]

I have a reasonable level of experience with both fish.

The fish have a similar approach when hooked and that is that they charge for cover. I don't like using the term "fighting dirty" as they fish is potentially fighting for its life but there is no doubt that if you let them run, you're a goner 95% of the time.

Like kings, you have periods when GTs are following lures and not striking aggressively. It is very frustrating at those times.

In terms of fighting ability, what makes a GT such a tough proposition is that apart from their tendency to seek cover and that they are extremely resilient fighters, they are extremely tough in any form of current because as soon as they turn side on to you, it's like (as George describes), trying to pull a rubbish bin lid towards you in the water - expcet its bigger and its fighting. It is extremely difficult to get the fish towards the boat when they do this.

I find the kings among the toughest fighting fish I have encountered. They are nowhere near as fast as doggies but have more resilience. As to whether they are tougher than GTs, pretty hard to say. I haven't found anything tougher to fish for than big GTs in strong current but saying that, jigging for big kings with a reefy bottom is death!

[Andrew Poulos]

Do you find that certain lure types and speed are similar or different in the reaction they get ? ie...high speed poppers vs blooping.

Jigging is something I would love to get into , but boat access is limited. Hopefully next year I will get myself a runabout to do more of this locally as well.

[Duncan O'Connell]

With lures on GT's and Kings, I have found the kings to be far pickier as to what they want on a given day. GT's can have preferences for certain lures but I think the retrieve has more to do with it. Kingfish can drive you mad being suicidal one moment and have total lockjaw the next. Kings will swim past a live bait to eat the balloon up the line or chase lures like a bunch of kids playing games but never actually eat the thing.
Having chased both, I would say that they fight equally hard but the GT is not quite as single minded at wrapping you around a chunk of rock. I'm sure that is cold comfort for all the guys who just went to Shoalwater though!
Most of the kings I have landed off the rocks were done with a mixture of fighting techniques. Usually it is get the hookup, then back the drag right off to get it to swim as far out from the rocks as possible, then up the drag and give the fish a short stroking routine to panic it and make it burn up as much energy as possible before bringing it back in close. Once the fish comes back in close, if it is still swimming deep, I back the drag off again to send it out wide and repeat the process to tire it out some more before trying to land the fish. This worked for me when I was living on Lord Howe Island, where there is good clean water out wide of the ledge and all the evil stuff is all in close (coral and sharp volcanic rock). Going hard on them from the word go just made them angry: the harder you went the faster they busted you off. This is also in the days before Saltigas, PE line and popping rods, so maybe the approach I would use on GT's would work there too. On GT's it is more a case of put as much pressure on the fish as you physically can. They burn out pretty fast under heavy pressure so I figure the harder I go the quicker the fish comes in and the sooner it can be released. I do have the benefit of a boat though which makes a big difference with tactics, angles and so on. I think you just have to play the fish according to the lay of the land, what works in one area is not always going to work in another.

Duncan

[Tony Jreige]

very informative Duncan..
Thanks for the tips