4WD Touring Australia – June 2018

066 | 4WDTouringAustralia

TOURING FISHO

MAINTENANCE, TACKLE,

TECHNIQUES,SPECIES

AND MORE FISHY GOODNESS.

RIGHT: Make no mistake, a decent sized kingie will get the biceps burning.

KING

SI ZE

The yellowtail kingsh, seriola lalandi, reigns supreme in the south.

They’re a top order predator throughout much of their range, and a

primary target for southern sportshermen.

They grow big, pull harder than they’ve any right to and are pretty

good on the plate, fullling the triplet criteria for a peoples’ favourite.

What puts the mighty kingsh in a class of its own is its propensity to

mix it up in shallow inshore waters.

Most heavy-duty pelagic gamesh of this calibre haunt the shadowy

offshore depths and it about with the currents. While kings are

certainly encountered in deep offshore waters, they’re more than

happy to follow the schools of baitsh into the shallows each summer,

nding themselves square in the sights of landbased anglers and the

tinnie brigade.

While kings range up the east coast sporadically as far north as the

Queensland border, they’re caught most prolically on the New South

Wales central and south coasts.

They’re snaveled in decent numbers by Victorian and Tassie-based

anglers these days too, while record-sized specimen roam South

Australian waters and are occasionally caught by west coast shos

between Albany and Perth.

PAT WILLIAMS

Battling yellowtail kingsh from the shore is the

ultimate challenge.