Cam Fishing -Lord Howe Island

by Olly Chardon

Part 2 Tackle

When it comes to targeting these big tough fish, rod and reel selection has to be top shelf stuff and in perfect working order to stand a chance of battling with some of the brutes you are likely to encounter.

The fishing is brutal and drag settings are set in the stratosphere so your equipment cannot show any signs of weakness. For this trip I used a Shimano T-Curve Spin Jig 400 (37kg) with a Shimano Stella 20000 and 80lb braid and 250lb wind-on leader. This may sound like overkill but as I later found out I was probably under gunned! With hooks baited with part squid part pilchard we started with our first few drifts in 70-80 meters. The instructions were basic: drop the bait to the bottom, wind up 10-12 turns of the handle and hold on. In a matter of seconds the rod buckled and the first Kingie was on the hook. Only a juvenile at 6-7kg but a promising start nevertheless. The next dozen drops produced more Kingfish of similar sizes, plus Rosy Jobfish, huge Jackass Morwong and oversized Silver Trevally. With every drop producing fish the activity soon attracted the attention of the local population of Galapagos Whaler sharks soon arrived to spoil the fun. I was informed that these sharks can be a menace at these depths but going deeper would help eliminate that problem. We therefore left this spot and travelled a couple of kilometers away into depths of 120-150 meters. Having had a gentle warm up, Jack suggested that drags be tightened up drastically as we were now in big fish territory. The scales came out and the drags were set at 17kg. We worked out that with the amount of line off the reel when we had dropped the baits to the bottom our drags would actually be set at around 23-25kg if (and preferably when) we hooked up. The method was to be the same as our first drifts with a greater emphasis on 'hold on'.

As expected the first hit was violent and I was forced to lean right back to take the pressure. To my amazement line started coming off my reel at a steady pace and within a few seconds I had been reefed! With over 20kg of drag! rather downcast but shaking with anticipation I re-rigged and lowered my next bait. Before I had time to wind up my line back up to the desired depth I was hit again. This time the rod buckled, I leaned back but no line left the reel and I pumped and wound for a couple of minutes until a handsome Kingfish of about 12kg came to the boat - beaten but fighting all the way. Next drop same result and another Kingfish of about 13kg was hoisted aboard. Thinking that I had the better of these fish I lowered the next bait rather casually only to have it grabbed near the bottom. Having been caught unaware and with the bail arm still open and impossible to close the result was inevitable - reefing number 2.

The next three drops produced Kingfish to 15kg, none of which were able to take even one millimeter of line - such was my drag setting. The next hour or so produced a mixed bag of fish of similar size and species to our 80m drifts but with all the Kingfish between 10-15kg. As the Kingfish were now frequently being beaten to the bait by other less 'desirable' species we motored off several hundred meters and started a new set of drifts - still in the 120-150m range. This is when I found out that even some of the most advanced gear is not always enough! Drop after drop my baits were getting nailed - hard. Fish after fish were making a mockery of my heavy drag setting. Line peeling off the reel as I am pulling as hard as I dare until that awful conclusion when taut line meets jagged reef! I could possibly have tightened my drag up a little more (to 30kg or so) but quite frankly I did not have the guts (nor probably the strength) to do so. There is a risk/reward equation to consider and if something had broken (line, rod or reel) I would have been left unable to fish with my preferred gear. Amongst those numerous reefings' at our last drift spot I did manage to land one fish which managed to take only a couple of meters of line during the fight - a healthy Amberjack. This fine sportfish is nowhere near as common as the Kingfish in Lord Howe but I am told that when you catch one it's normally a decent one - case in point! Upon asking Jack what was giving me such a hard time down there if Kingfish up to 15kg couldn't take any line and if such a fine Amberjack could only take a couple of meters his answer was one to whet my appetite: "Kingfish and Amberjacks much - MUCH - bigger than the ones I had managed to land"!

As we motored back to the island and cramps were starting to set into my arms and hands I wondered how I was going to land some of these monsters the next time I go to Lord Howe (and there will be a next time). Could I physically handle the punishment if I stepped up to 60kg? Maybe go easier on the fish in the hope that I 'coax' one away from the reef? I have yet to answer those questions but what I do know is that I'll spend a day fishing the various rocks (either boat based or land based) as there is no shortage of large Kingies waiting to inhale poppers or flies and also plenty of Yellowfin Tuna cruising around the rock ledges - all within easy casting distance from land!