Geoff Thomas: Sport of kings has lure of the wild

Mark Armistead has had kingfish to 40 kilo on stick baits. Photo / Geoff Thomas

Three rods were bending as kingfish tore line from the reels, and three anglers jostled in the 7m runabout. Skipper Mark Armistead settled back in his seat. "You like this stick baiting?" he asked with a grin.

Like it? "This is insane," said Steve Devine.

This was stick baiting at its crazy best. The new religion for those anglers who love tangling with kings.

Armistead operates Extreme Sportfishing Charters out of Tauranga and we were fishing the Penguin Shoals, about 35km offshore.

"When you are jigging you have two or three lines going straight down under the boat and as you drift along you cover a narrow column of water," explained Armistead. "With stick baits you are casting out all around the boat and covering a circle maybe 140m across so you cover much more water.

"What I love is that the fishing is so visual. It's like throwing poppers at giant trevally in the tropics. It's all on the surface and you see packs of kings climbing over themselves to get your lure."

He loves introducing newcomers to stick baiting. "Once they get into it they go insane. They can't stop fishing."

The method of fishing was developed by Japanese sport fishers. "They are very good fishers and they have the patience to work it out. Some of the top guys will make hundreds of lures and test them until they get it right."

Like all fishing, finding the quarry is the first step, and kingfish are harder to pin down than snapper, for example. But they exhibit preferences which make the task easier, and the main ingredient is structure.

It can be a channel marker or an exposed reef or island or a rocky point jutting out from the mainland where currents flow past, or a sunken reef or pinnacle. Occasionally they will be found smashing up the surface as they hunt squid or bait fish, and most work-ups will have a few of the yellow-green shapes shadowing the nucleus.

If there are no birds around and no concentrated sign on the sounder, you simply troll the lures until you strike fish. Then you can stop and cast.

Unlike traditional lures, stick baits slide through the water. They don't create a bubble trail, and they move erratically. They vary in size, weight, shape and colour. Some sink and some float, but the floating models seem to be the most popular.

"The best lures come from France and Japan, where there are small manufacturers making only a few at a time. They can cost $200 each, so you are pretty careful where you use them," said Armistead.

The action when fishing these lures is easy. It is not as tiring as working poppers or deep jigging. You simply cast out, take up the slack, then sweep the rod to one side working it through 90 degrees. It is a smooth action, and speed is not a factor. Then you return the rod to its original position, winding up the slack as you go, and the lure stops and sits in the water with its nose pointing out. When the sweep is repeated the lure dives down and swims through the water.

Like all lure fishing, keeping in contact with the lure is important and line control comes into play. It is a question of keeping a straight line between the rod and the lure.

Armistead recommends squeezing the barbs down on the hooks with a pair of pliers. "This makes releasing fish much easier, and it is safer when you have hooks flailing around. If you keep a tight line on a hooked fish it won't get off."

Rods designed for giant trevally fishing are ideal for stick-baiting for kings. They are 2.1m-2.4m long with enough tip action for easy casting and plenty of backbone to put pressure on strong fish. Quality spin reels for distance casting are important and Stellas and Saltigas are popular with the serious lure fishers. The new Quantum Boca 80 is a solid, one-piece reel with a drag which can handle the pressure needed to stop big kings. Other brands such as Okuma have similar quality spin reels.

The line used is usually 37kg braid, and a soft braid is recommended for casting. A leader of 45kg soft monofilament is fine and should be long enough to have a turn on the reel when casting.

The system sure works and after six hours of fishing three weary anglers had caught and released 30 kingfish. "That was a pretty average day," said Armistead. "We have had 100-fish days!"

mark@extremesportfishing.co.nz or 027 5031115.