b'KAYAK FISHINGWriter Blair Whiting loves to target kingfish from his kayak in the Hawkes Bay.My personal preference is a reel without of nowhere. Stability is the goal ratherlot of tip wraps if my jigging is too fast, so a T-bar handle, I find it by far the mostthan skull dragging the fish out. it pays to slow down while seated and get comfortable grip design. When I amMy reel is loaded up with 50lb braid,the jig consistently up without a problem. under a lot of load, the last thing I wanta good weight to handle most fish I amI typically use 200gm jigs matched with to be fighting is my reel. High end draglikely to hook. The most important partan 8/0 assist rig in the shallow water I shouldnt be a requirement on the reel asof the rig is the FG knot which goes fromfish. My top colours are pink, orange, turning it up too high creates a balancemy braid to my 5m 100lb fluorocarbonand purple but kingfish will hit almost problem on the kayak, thankfully whenwind-on leader. Its important to get aanything when in the right mood.boat fishing the drag can be used to itsnice smooth finish to the knot in order to full potential. Many of the fish I hookget it flowing through the guides. AfterLIVE BAITINGwhen in the yak are over heavy foul inthe knot is complete, I burn the fluoro tagCatching a few mackerel and towing shallow water and they head straightend down with a lighter so that it is nicethem behind the kayak is a great way to to the reef, so this is quite a problem toand smooth. A sharp tag end will ruin thetarget the larger fish of the reef, but also solve. Do I go hard early and try to stopceramics on the top eye of the rod, whichhard to keep the spare baits alive and it? Or light and apply pressure when Ican seriously damage the line when itscuts my paddle speed down by a third. am clear of the reef? The answer reallymoving at high speed. With the main partI catch my baits early in the morning depends on the fish.of the rig all done, I can now decide whatbefore depositing them into a plastic method I want to use. sniffer pot which I tow behind the kayak. REEL DRAG This isnt an ideal solution, but it gets the I try to set my drag to around 8kgMECHANICAL JIGGINGjob done. In order to get the bait down I maximum and then thumb the line in aThis is my favourite method but also thethread on a 4oz ball sinker to my leader, dire situation where the fish has reallytoughest to employ on a kayak. A lot ofmy main trace is tied on with a swivel. made a beeline for the rocks. This allowsstrain goes onto my arms and its alsoI normally use 100130lb line for the me to keep good kayak balance and notharder to keep the technique correcttrace since this takes a big beating on be caught off-guard by a sudden lungewhile in a seated position. I tend to get athe reef. An 8/0 KLT circle hook is then 56FISHING IN GODZONE MAR/APR 2022'