Yellow tail Kingfish.

[yorky07]

I Was talking to a guy who fish’s Nambucca heads. I asked him if he caught Kings in the area, he says No I would need to go off shore to catch them?? In NZ Kingfish are everywhere, in the surf in the Harbours in the river mouths. I know they catch rat Kings in Sydney harbour so why in Northern NSW do yo need to go off shore for Kings ??? I live at Coffs harbour, and I know there is a ton of bait fish in the harbour so why no Kings ???

[dan23]

They can be caught off the rocks it's just not an easy thing to do. They tend to be a bit fussier than the more common rock species and mostly prefer soft plastics over slugs etc. My recommendation is to get yourself a mask and snorkel and go and explore some spots on a calm day. That's what I did and I found out what was around and where they were holding and it gives you a much better idea of how to work your lure. Generally with the kingfish they'll only come close in if there's a lot of bait holding in that area. The problem with the NSW north coast is there aren't a lot of deep water rock fishing spots between tweed and ballina that hold fish all the time so if there's no bait around the fish move out to the reefs in deeper water.

[dags910]

spring and summer kingies are commonly caught in the Nambucca river up to 8kg, they are very cagey and easily spooked