Three Kings Jigging Mission May 2010 With Enchanter
Hi Guys
After the long wait May rolled around after waiting so long to go to the Three Kings, after reading reports and so on about the fishing there it seemed like it was never going to happen. I was trying to organize a trip there but finding it hard to get a crew together I soon found YeeHaa Fishing Tackle in New Zealand on the fishing.net.nz website looking for a couple of guys to join them so it worked out perfect for me.
We got very lucky with the weather for the trip as the trip before and after us got canceled due to big seas, this is not a trip you would want to do in big seas believe me.
We meet Lance the skipper of Enchanter and boarded the boat on the Friday night were we would stay in port at Monganui Harbour for the night, after a quick trip down to the local pub for a couple of beers and tea we were soon back on the boat where live bait was caught to take with us, apart from Colston who thought it would be a good idea to have a few more at the pub the night before and rock back up to the boat at 2.30am in the morning, well he paided the price for that.
The team for the trip from left to right, Colston, Brian, JP co owner of YeeHaa Fishing Tackle in Auckland, Lance the skipper of Enchanter Charters, Simon and myself with Steve the decky behind the camera.
This was home for our seven day fishing adventure at the Three Kings, Enchanter Charters would have to be one the the best live aboard charters in New Zealand with a skipper that puts you on the fish every time and the best deckhand you will every find where nothing is a problem, Enchanter Charters can be contact at the following website to arrange the trip of a life time http://www.fishntrips.co.nz/index.html
We had far to much gear between us as you can see, for some reason we thought we better take 3-6 combos each just in case, believe me after this trip the Three Kings is no place for tackle under PE6 so leave it at home unless you are prepared to leave heaps of jigs there.
Now I have far to many photos so I will just list a few on here, for a start I will get our best fish for the trip out the way as we all got our PBs on this trip.
I got very lucky, all the boys had a kingie of 30kg or bigger apart from me I was stuck back on about 25kg or so, when fishing out on the Middlesex Bank I hooked a freight train, at first I thought it was a bass as a couple had just been pulled over but when the colour of a kingie was seen after a long battle I new this was my big boy, I was unsure of the size but I new it was well over the magic 30kg mark, the boys were talking 40kg so after a quick photo shoot, we didn't end up getting the best shots as I was a very tired after the fight and so was the fish so it was important to get him back asap, a couple of quick photos then onto the scales, they started bouncing between 38-45kg and ended up between 41-42kg, he was quickly returned to fight another day, I was a very happy fisherman so I went straight to the chiller and grabbed a beer.
Tackle used was a Jigging Master PE8 reel, Jigging Master 450B rod and a Jigging Master 500gram rocket jig.
JP from YeeHaa Fishing Tackle in New Zealand with one of his big kingie's at just over the 30kg mark, there were around a dozen caught on this trip that were 30kg or above it was unbelievable.
Brian with his huge 45kg bass caught out on the Middlesex Bank, the bass dont look like the sort of fish that would pull string but believe me these things pull like a kingie of the same size.
Colston is behind there somewhere, also with another huge 45kg bass from the Middlesex bank. Colston was a very lucky angler who won this trip at YeeHaa Fishing Tackle since he brought so much gear from them, this was a trip of a lifetime for him as he also landed 3-4 kingies between 30-34kg as well.
Simon pictured here with his big 30kg kingie for the trip, this was Simon's first serious time out jigging but he had the right equipment for the job using a Jigging Master PE6 reel, Jigstar rod and a broken arrow jig.
With our PBs out the way I will add a few more photos of some more great fish we got over the week, we landed so many kingie's it wasn't funny, if you are looking to catch kingie's by the dozens over 20kg this is the place to be the fishing is the best in the world.
We had a few bass and one kingie to take home so we had a fair bit of work ahead of us filleting those, a bit of team work and we had it done in no time.
Thanks for reading if anyone wants any info about a trip like this please just PM me im more than happy to help. A couple of things to keep in mind is that it took us 14 hours to get to the Three Kings Islands and 16 hours to get home so if you are no good at sea this is not a trip for you.
Cheers Coxy
chrisp
Posts: 1217
Date Joined: 24/05/08
Great stuff Coxy
Really hope to make it to the kings one day to get the arms stretched.Looks like you boys had plenty of it!
Rick
Posts: 1113
Date Joined: 22/12/06
Big Fish
Great read with some goods pics, conditions look pretty good,but like you say it not always like that.
What sort of depth was most of your jigging done ?
Some long arms at the end of the trip I bet..........
PGFC Member
Coxy
Posts: 114
Date Joined: 25/07/09
We were mainly fishing
in 80-110m of water on the King and Middlesex Banks, but when around the Princes Group is was only about 40m. We chucked some poppers and stick baits around the Princes Group but only had one follow.
Yeah our condition there were ok but the trip there and back wasn't nice, 14 hours one way and 16 hours the other in rough seas isn't fun, but if you arnt prepared for that the Three Kings isn't a place for you.
The arms were fine a few hand weights a few weeks and and no problems at all.
Cheers Coxy
Colin Hay
Posts: 10407
Date Joined: 23/10/07
Jenny Craig needs to get to work on those fish Coxy
That is some seriously solid fish. That sounds like a fishing dream trip.
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Rick
Posts: 1113
Date Joined: 22/12/06
shallow
Not as deep as thought you may have been, with some really solid Bass from those depths if only they were that shallow here. Great effort mate...
PGFC Member
Gully
Posts: 963
Date Joined: 04/10/05
Looks like Lucky Tim has
Looks like Lucky Tim has some competition - haha
Awesome stuff mate - top report and am well and truly jealous
Coxy
Posts: 114
Date Joined: 25/07/09
Looks like Lucky Tim was
Looks like Lucky Tim was on the wrong boat, I do recall us passing Pursuit on the way up and he was even thinking about turning around, Enchanter is by far the best all weather boat as it weighs another 10 ton on the others. The one thing I would say and no body does it apart from what we did and we are doing it again next year is go for 7 days, we had very bad weather for 3 days out of the 7 but lucky we traveled in those days. While we were there when racing Pursuit up there those guys were on a four day trip which doesn't make sense to me at all.
Lucky Tim
Posts: 2536
Date Joined: 28/11/07
yep it's sure a wicked place
yep it's sure a wicked place Coxy, I'll definitely be going back. I got back a few weeks ago (on Pursuit) and we kind of scored with the weather, the trip after ours was cancelled. We had glass outs for the trip out and home, with one foul day there where we fished the Princess Group and some pretty decent weather in between. You guys took the cake with size of fish but we had some pretty hot sessions on stickbaits and poppers to 30kg. I reckon the surface stuff is going to be equally as popular as the jigging soon, it's equal to GT fishing for excitiment and boy they fight well on top.
The biggest problem with fishing out there is getting a open booking, most rebook for the next year straight away and there aren't many free spots.
Top report.
Tim
ps. if you search "Three kings" you'll find my report on here.
Coxy
Posts: 114
Date Joined: 25/07/09
Wicked place alright im going twice next year
Wicked place alright im going twice next year haha, cant wait once in March for a 5 day trip and back again in May for 7 days, I saw your report bloody awesome what a place.
Would like to do more stickbaits and poppers around the Princes Group next year as we only done half a day there.
Yeah mate bookings are hard to come by alright, I wonder why that is haha the photos say it all.
Are you going next year mate ?
Cheers Coxy
Lucky Tim
Posts: 2536
Date Joined: 28/11/07
I'd like to go again next
I'd like to go again next year but doing Fiji in Jan so it might be pushing it to make another trip so soon after. I'll definitely be going in 2012 though, hopefully with a crew of West Assies in tow. Might consider doing a Ranfurly trip to fill the time inbetween though.
Coxy
Posts: 114
Date Joined: 25/07/09
Wouldn't mind going to
Wouldn't mind to the Banks myself, they get some good fish there by the sounds, sounds like a bit of a mission in and out 4 hours each way I think. To much to do and not enough time, must get over to WA to chase some Sambo's as well.
Lucky Tim
Posts: 2536
Date Joined: 28/11/07
yeah the boys were saying
yeah the boys were saying the Ranfurly is a great spot but if the weather turns, there's nowhere to go. Sounds like it's the spot for big fish though.
PilbaraBrad
Posts: 3628
Date Joined: 16/05/07
awesome report coxy nice
awesome report coxy
nice conditions too
DazSamFishing
Posts: 1518
Date Joined: 19/08/09
Sensational Coxy. Top fish
Sensational Coxy. Top fish there. Definitely a must do for any keen jigging angler.
DhuBoi
Posts: 896
Date Joined: 25/05/09
sounds like an awesome trip
sounds like an awesome trip amazing fish , what is done with all them fish lying on the deck surely there would be a couple hundred kilos of fillets there ??
living is fishing
Coxy
Posts: 114
Date Joined: 25/07/09
Na there wasn't that many
Na there wasn't that many fillets there, those bass look big and do have big fillets but we ended up with 20 kilos each between 5 of us, we done a very good job of filleting them and even the frames are giving to the locals so nothing goes to waste.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18032
Date Joined: 11/03/08
well done on your trip to
well done on your trip to the land of the long white cloud. looks like you had your work cut out for you with those monsters from the deep.certainly a trip to remember , until the next time.i would love to get out there and give it a go one day, it will happen but when is the next q. great read and some top pics to go with it
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
soupster51
Posts: 2724
Date Joined: 29/11/06
Quality
An absolute rippa trip by the look of it. Those Bass Groper go hard and taste every bit of a quality eating fish.
The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow.
Coxy
Posts: 114
Date Joined: 25/07/09
All I can say is it
All I can say is it is a must do boys so go out there and do it what a place it is like Jurassic Park out there, and leave anything under PE6 at home is all I can say.
Webby
Posts: 835
Date Joined: 24/09/08
mate, trip of a life time,
mate, trip of a life time, thankyou for the report and the great pics. you definatly got my casting arm itching. Congrats and well done.
I live with fear every day... sometimes she lets me go fishing.