Huge kingfish from South Australia recaptured in Sydney
This tagged 22.5kg kingfish swam 1320km from Coffin Bay, SA, to SydneyThanks to the NSW Game Fish Tagging Program, there have been some incredible recaptures of highly migratory kingfish in recent years. Now another jaw-dropping tagged kingy recapture has been added to the repository.
On October 10, 2017, keen spearfisher Russel Pollard recaptured a tagged yellowtail kingfish off Sydney. The brute, said to be the biggest kingy in the school, weighed in at 22.5kg.
The king was found to have been originally tagged at Coffin Bay, SA, in October 2015. The fish spent more than two years at liberty and covered 713 nautical miles (1320km) in a straight-line distance from where it was released.
The big king had grown from 116cm fork length to 123cm fork length. But the long-distance kingfish movement from SA to NSW isn’t a first. Three other SA kingfish have been recaptured in NSW.
Of the four tagged SA kings recaught in NSW in total, three were taken by spear fisherman and two of those were in the exact same location off Sydney.
A yellowtail kingfish (Seriola Lalalndi) caught and tagged from the shore at Port Augusta, South Australia, on September 6, 2014 by Anthony Everett, was recaptured off Bluefish Point, Sydney, in December 2016.
During the 810 days at liberty, that kingfish had swum at least 680 nautical miles (1265 km) through Victoria around the south and east coast of Australia. The fish had grown from 118cm to 130cm fork length.
The big king measured in at 141cm total length and also weighed 22.5kg when Joel Menzies speared the 'brute' whilst fishing with a friend off Manly.
Joel spotted the big king cruising around, while his dive buddy was wrangling an 18kg fish in a school of approximately 10 fish.
Of the 36,186 kingfish tagged under the NSW DPI Game Fish Tagging Program since 1973, more than 2370 have been recaptured.
You can read about more Crazy Kingfish Recaptures in this article and in this revealing
Revealing Kingfish Science
story.
All of which underscores the value of the NSW DPI Game Fishing Tagging Program.
This article was compiled with assistance from content from the NSW DPI tagging newsletter Tag Times and the NSW Fisheries website.
More on the NSW DPI Tagging Program at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/resources/fish-tagging/game-fish-tagging.
If you do happen to catch a tagged fish be sure to report it either over the phone on (02) 44247423 or online by using this Online Recapture Form.
Photo Credits: Via NSW DPI Fisheries.
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