KINGS FOR A NIGHT Our
anchorage for the night was a neat little bay tucked
away on the northern side of Greenly Island. Battered
into submission by the relentless southern ocean
swells, rugged, inhospitable Greenly Island is home
to nothing more than a handful of fur seals. With
a flat seabed it was hardly kingie country. However,
as I discovered, it was certainly big king country
when we nailed that 31kg beast described earlier.
With Geoff's big king on the deck everybody started
fishing with renewed interest, and before the sun
illuminated the land we boosted our tally with two
more smaller kings - 15 and 8kg - before the smell
of bacon and eggs lured us all into the cabin. After
breakfast we went exploring with the tuna lures
in tow. It was late April and the first schools
of SBT that had made it past all the longlines and
nets were starting to migrate through the area.
Hopes were high that we might encounter a few fish.
Working around the southern side of the island we
bumped into a few SBTs, which were all around the
15kg mark. Interestingly, nearly all the tuna encountered
on the charter were in the 15-20kg range. But each
year they are steadily increasing in size and there
is hope that the big SBTs, annihilated by professional
fishermen years ago, may again return.
ROCKY ROADS
Our next stop was Rocky Islet some 12 miles south.
A very fishy chunk of granite, Rocky rises up out
of almost 100m of water and is surrounded by lumps
of reef. In the past it has always been a reliable
spot to jig for samsons, however we found the fish
far from co-operative. Despite working over the
grounds thoroughly we headed home empty handed.
Again that night we prepared to do battle with the
mighty kings of Greenly. Like the previous night,
the action didn't occur till the wee hours of the
morning. At 4.10am everyone had fallen asleep except
for Steve, who was rewarded with a big king that
absolutely screamed off more than 100m before he
pulled up. With no reef to bury you in, these South
Aussie kings fight quite strangely. In fact they
battle more like a tuna, preferring to make long
runs then slogging it out down deep. It is almost
as if they seem confused and don't know what to
do, which can be used to the angler's advantage,
knocking them over in a short time. Steve was all
over his early-morning king and had it to the boat
in no time, an impressive effort considering it
pulled the scales down to 26kg.
With the action now hotting up, everyone awoke quickly
and set baits with renewed spirits. Roger was rewarded
an hour later with another king that took a liking
to a squid head suspended just off the bottom. Having
never caught such a big fish, he was pretty excited
as the king howled off into the darkness - but Steve
coached him through the fight and 10 minutes later
28 kilos of monster king came aboard. There is certainly
no lack of quality in the South Oz kings!
Our
anchorage for the night was a neat little bay tucked
away on the northern side of Greenly Island. Battered
into submission by the relentless southern ocean
swells, rugged, inhospitable Greenly Island is home
to nothing more than a handful of fur seals. With
a flat seabed it was hardly kingie country. However,
as I discovered, it was certainly big king country
when we nailed that 31kg beast described earlier.
