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Bluewater Magazine Article - Page 3 of 4

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!