The boatsales guide to catching yellowtail kingfish

Kingfish are largely a reef fish thriving in waters up to 300m deep. In Victoria, they have have been caught along the entire coastline stretching from Mallacoota in the state’s east down to Portland in the west, and in a sign the fish stock is recovering, they’re starting to become a by-catch for fishers targeting bluefin tuna.

In fact, last year kingfish were caught off Lorne, just more than an hour west of Melbourne, for the first time in the Lorne Aquatic and Angling Club’s almost 60-year history – the club had to quickly change the rules of its annual fishing competition to score them. The latest catch we’ve heard of was off Seal Rock, Phillip Island.

The fish tend to migrate north from southern waters. How far? A kingfish tagged in South Australia made its way almost 1300km to the waters off Sydney before it was re-caught.

...You need to think like a fish. As well as helping scientists keen to discover how kingfish move around, tagging studies also help anglers looking for the best time and place to target kingfish.

One NSW-based study found tagged kingfish tended to be highly resident, spending most of their time within 20km of their tagging location.

They were also found to be most abundant in 22°C waters, but can be found between 16 and 26°C. That said, fish were also found wintering in Sydney Harbour and in waters as cool as 12°C, suggesting any fisher further south willing to wait for the right mid-winter conditions could get lucky.

Yellowtail kingfish go where the food is, and sometimes we all need a little manmade assistance to stack the odds in our favour.

The way to do this is via artificial reefs and fish aggregation devices that attract the smaller fish that the larger pelagic species dine on.

These devices will often sit a comfortable distance offshore, making them easy for anglers to access.

An artificial reef off Victoria’s Torquay is made up of 25 20-tonne concrete “boxes” scattered in small groups to create the right environment for baitfish.

These artificial reefs are also fitted with fish aggregation devices – simply speaking, they’re large buoys that lure schools of baitfish to swarm around them. It’s an old trick that has been used by commercial fishing businesses for a number of years, as fish seem to be attracted by objects floating in the water.

Unless they’re feeding, yellowtail kingfish will sit in a zone anywhere between 50m to 150m away from the FAD.

Preparation is the key to landing a fish. It’s why skills such as snelling a hook, properly maintaining lures and even finding the right bait count when it comes to the crunch.

Choices range between soft plastics and poppers across the top of the water to fishing deep using downriggers and drop shots.