How to Catch Giant Kingfish

By Joshua Davey

After a long, cold and wet winter which resulted in minimal fishing opportunities for myself I was chomping at the bit to get amongst my favourite form of fishing for the 2022 season. The spark of warmer weather sent me into overdrive, preparing gear, respooling reels and testing knots in preparation of going toe to toe with what is arguably the toughest fighting shallow water sports fish our wonderful country has to offer, the mighty Yellowtail Kingfish.

Although I had only managed to fit in a handful of trips, I had a bumper season of upgrading PBs and big numbers of good fish. Success which I have put down to the refinement and quality of the tackle I used this year. In this blog, I will cover the two main combos I choose when chasing these large, hard fighting kingfish in close quarters structure along with a few tips I have learned which can boost your chances of landing these fish.

I typically focus on either jigging or live-baiting when chasing these fish, considering that where I chase them they are either hard on the bottom or tight to structure. I try to keep my rods nice and short for both of these techniques, which keeps leverage on my side. 

Jigging

My jigging outfit consists of a Spartan S55 PE 4/6 spin rod, paired with a Certate SW 10,000P which is spooled with 65lb J-Braid Grand Multi and a length of Saltiga FC X-Link in 100lb. This combo is an absolute pleasure to jig with, it is light in the hand, easy on the angler, yet astonishingly powerful. Angler fatigue is priority #1 when selecting a jigging rod in my opinion. The parabolic action of the Spartan S55, matched with the low speed (P) model Certate SW makes high speed jigging effortless all day, even on multi-day trips.

This rod may be slightly lighter than what many people would choose when looking for a rod for big kingfish, but this combo not only caught me the majority of my fish for the season, it also caught the biggest at 162cm, with relative ease I might add!

The rod is quite a lot easier on the angler than a heavier or longer rod which I find to be a huge advantage, this has allowed me to go harder, for longer. Yet the rod acts as a large shock absorber when under load, absorbing their violent headshakes and split second direction changes which overall reduces the strain on not only the angler but also your terminal tackle and knots. I more often than not find myself reaching for this outfit before anything else, purely because it is such a joy to fish with.

Live Baiting

For live-baiting I have a preference for the Demon Blood S56 PE 6/8 spin rod, paired with a Saltiga 14,000P spooled with 118lb Saltiga 12 PE and again topped with a length of Saltiga FC X-Link in 100lb. This rod is stiffer, very slightly longer and a little faster actioned than my jigging combo. This is a very heavy “get over here” combo, which allows me to put as much hurt on these fish as possible (well as much hurt as you can put on a big kingfish anyway!). The other reason I opted for a combo like this for live-baiting is because often this rod is either spending most of the time in the rod holder or tucked under my arm, rather than casting and working heavy jigs all day. The faster tip also provides plenty of sensitivity to feel your live-baits movements, which allowed me to more often than not prepare for a hook-up seconds before it actually happened, which is an enormous advantage when fishing tight to structure.

Regardless of how heavy or how light you choose to fish for Kingfish, rod selection and fighting technique are everything when it comes to reducing angler fatigue and landing success. Use a straight arm, straight back and use the power in your legs to pump the rod. One big thing I have discovered, particularly when using slightly lighter jigging gear is to go hard early, drive off the fish and try to turn their heads. This is before quickly racing to the structure to try and cut them off. More often than not, these fish will pull the opposite direction to where they are being fought from. A daunting idea, but something I have had great success with which leads to far less Kingfish swimming around with extra jewellery! If you want the best chances of landing that Kingfish of a lifetime, take a look at these outfits at your local tackle store and put them to the test yourself, I’m sure you will be as happy with them as I am!