The Comeback King: Catching kingfish in Port Phillip Bay by Lee Raynor

I can clearly remember flicking through fishing magazines as a young tacker, looking at pictures of blokes like Marc Rushton and Andrew Rothic holding massive kingfish taken from The Rip and the surrounding waters close to the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. Unfortunately, several years back, the big kingfish population was severely depleted by the highly effective kingfish traps wiping out the fish stocks further up the coast in NSW. Thankfully that was stopped just in time, and now anglers are starting to see not only some big kings, but also big numbers of 'rat' kings returning to our southern waters.

While the removal of the traps has seen numbers increase, I believe other factors, such as improved water quality, have also helped increase the baitfish that form the kings' primary food source. Whitebait, pilchards, garfish, barracouta, mackerel and yakkas, all rate very highly on the kingfish menu.

The majority of kingfish talk around the bay usually centres on the often rough (and sometimes downright dangerous) waters of The Rip. There is, however, another option for anglers who prefer calmer waters - and that is to chase the good numbers of kingfish move up into northeast Port Phillip Bay.

Many people don't believe these bay kingfish exist, or that they are only a rare occurrence. If you take the time to actually fish for them, however, I think you may be pleasantly surprised at how many are around.