First Landbased Kingfish! (27-Mar-2011)

This is what everyone who fishes strives for, to tackle the elusive kingfish. They make an appearance in many stories of “the one that got away” due to their fierce nature, their ability to straighten hooks and tendency to bust your lines on the reef. Throw in with that, the challenge of fishing from land, and we have the ultimate fishing achievement. This specimen was hooked by my dad. A live bait was put out and after only a few minute wait, the rod went off! We fortunately had enough drag backed off for it not to take the rod in. Some twenty minutes later, with a mixture of adjusting drag, keeping an eye on the line left on the reel and avoiding anchors, we land our first legal kingfish! Towards the end of the day, my brother was able to snare a pike by winding his live bait in slowly.