Episode 528: Pittwater Kingfish With Shroom And Peter Le Blang

Peter’s Pittwater Kingfish Tips

• Using a downrigger to troll baits or big bibbed lures such as Mann’s or Rapala hard bodies is very successful if you set the downrigger bomb around 2m from the bottom and keep the lure down deep. You’ll pick up a range of species such as flathead, jewfish and snapper, but if you bring it up higher in the water column, you’ll start picking up Pittwater kingfish.
• In Pittwater and Broken Bay, the current isn’t super strong, so lure diving depth is the main consideration. Once you head into the are around the mouth of the Hawkesbury or Cowan Creek the current can be very strong and it becomes important to find lures that swim properly in the flow. Swim your lure next to the boat to make sure it’s working properly.
• It’s important when you get your lure boat side to drag the lure in a figure eight pattern alongside the boat for a few seconds to keep the lure in the water a little longer. Often kingfish will follow the lure to the boat and smash it during the figure eight. Be careful of tip wrap, which can break rods when kingfish hits.
• During the cooler months many kingfish tend to leave Pittwater and head offshore to depths of around 100m to spawn. But not all kingfish spawn every year and there are still plenty of fish that stay in the rivers. Usually, they head for deeper areas and can be found around “The Supermarket”, “Aisle Ten” or the ballast grounds at Pittwater in depths of 50-60 feet.
• Due to the colder water, the fish in these areas tend to slow down and feed less often. The key is to get the lures down close to the fish and keeping them there long enough to entice a strike. Peter uses scents on his lures, applying glow bait, fluoro and lumo paints in green and pink colours.
• Often when fishing in Pittwater, you’ll drift over a school of kingfish making casts for an hour and get no interest. Suddenly, a fish will strike and after that the school will light up.
• Rattling lures that make plenty of sound seem to work well on kingfish. Peter even used to spray water over the side of the boat to imitate bait thrashing the surface and attract kingfish.
• Hardyhead, whitebait and other small baitfish are the most common bait species in Pittwater, but squid are the preferred food item of Pittwater kingfish in summer and cuttlefish in winter. However, lure size doesn’t necessarily have to be small enough to match the bait though.
• Kingfish can be caught at any time, so don’t wait for “perfect conditions”, get out there whenever you can. Peter finds that the early part of the day is often the best because the boat traffic is lighter.

Peter’s Pittwater Kingfish Tackle

• Heavy gear is needed because most of the fishing in Pittwater is tight amongst moorings. Peter likes Shimano Saragosa reels in 6-8000 size for trolling or 5000 size for casting, loaded with 40-50lb braid and 60-80lb leader because this level of gear allows the angler to put pressure on fish and hopefully keep them out of structure. A 10kg rod is a good line weight.

Peter’s Lures For Pittwater Kingfish

• A 6-10” cup-faced popper that bloops and makes a lot splash and noise as it’s worked is good in any brand, as long as the angler knows how to work it. The more noise you make with the lure the better for kingfish (but not noise in the boat).
• A 120g Asari micro-jig in white with red eyes is great on jewfish as well as kingfish. Most people fish it on the flutter, but Peter likes to get it down to depth and then give the lure a “thud” by giving it a little slack and then vigorously jerking the rod tip up.
• Rapala XRap hard bodies from 8-12 cm in length are good for all kinds of pelagics. Working the rod tip to give tight, violent vibrations works better than simply retrieving the lure at a constant speed.
• Lures that imitate squid can work well in summer, especially if they are noisy, rattling lures.