Yellowtail Kingfish
Where and when to catch Yellowtail Kingfish in New South Wales: the NSW season, the spots in our guide that hold them, and where to find NSW's current size and bag limits.
- Size
- Up to 50kg, commonly 5–15kg
- NSW season
- Year-round (best Dec–May)
- NSW spots
- 40
Overview
Kingfish are the land-based pelagic of the NSW coast. Rats school around Sydney Harbour's points, wharves and moorings, and bigger fish work the washes off the ocean headlands, breakwalls and rock platforms from Port Stephens to the Illawarra. The East Australian Current pushes warm blue water and bait inshore from late spring, and the kings come with it, usually from November and best through summer and into autumn.
NSW Size & Bag Limits
NSW limits for Yellowtail Kingfish are set by NSW DPIRD and change from time to time, so we link them rather than copy them. Check NSW DPIRD's limits and NSW DPIRD: yellowtail kingfish before you fish.
Western Australian limits don't apply in New South Wales.
Where to Catch Yellowtail Kingfish in NSW
Kingfish want depth, current and bait. The spots below list them: harbour points and wharves inside Sydney Harbour and Middle Harbour, ocean headlands and rock platforms, the harbour breakwalls at Newcastle and Port Kembla, and the current-swept pylons of Swansea Bridge.
Sydney Harbour
Sydney East & Botany
Sydney Northern Beaches
Sutherland & Port Hacking
Central Coast
Newcastle & Lake Macquarie
Port Stephens & Hunter
Illawarra
How to Catch
Best Baits
Live bait above all: yellowtail scad, slimy mackerel, garfish, small salmon or tommy ruff, and live squid. Whole or half squid and fresh pilchards under a float or balloon are the dead-bait options.
Lures
Stickbaits and poppers worked over the wash, metal slices and slugs (40–100 g) cast and ripped back, large soft plastics, and knife jigs vertically worked from a boat or deep jetty
Rigs
For live bait, a float or balloon rig, or free-lined bait with a single 5/0–8/0 circle or suicide hook, on 40–80 lb leader depending on how close the structure is. For lures, a heavy spin outfit with PE3–5 braid and a 50–80 lb leader. Lock the drag up more than feels comfortable; a kingfish given an inch goes straight to the reef.
Technique
Catch live bait first on bait jigs, then float or balloon it out along the edge of the wash, the end of the breakwall or the current line off a headland, and stay with the rod. When the fish takes, let it turn and run a moment, then wind tight and put everything into turning its head away from the structure in the first few seconds; that's where the fight is won or lost. On lures, work stickbaits and poppers fast across the surface over the white water in low light, or cast metals long and rip them back. Kingfish often follow a lure without eating it, so vary speed and keep a live bait in reserve.
Best Time
The warmer months, when blue water and bait push inshore; dawn and the first hours of the morning are the classic window, with the change of light at dusk next best. A tide or current pushing bait against structure turns the fish on, and calm, clear days suit sight-casting to cruising fish. Kingfish feed by day: night sessions are for other species.
- Terrigal Haven has a five-year ban on wire or chain traces (notified 26 August 2026) to protect greynurse sharks, and Long Reef sits in an aquatic reserve with its own gear rules. Check DPIRD's closures before you rig up.
Identification
Also known as Kingie, king, hoodlum (big fish), rat (small fish)
Long and torpedo-shaped, blue-green to dark blue above and silver-white below, with a brassy-yellow stripe along the flank from the eye to the tail and a bright yellow, deeply forked tail. The head is long and fairly pointed, longer than the body is deep. Samsonfish are the lookalike and sometimes swim with kingfish: they have a shorter, blunter head, a duller yellow, and often show dark bars when excited. Amberjack are another deep-water lookalike. Small kingfish (rats) can carry faint vertical bars. On its own, 'yellowtail' usually means yellowtail scad, the small baitfish, not a kingfish.
Size & Growth
Land-based kingfish are mostly 50–80 cm rats of a few kilos, which is still enough to strip line and find structure. A fish over a metre and 10–15 kg is a very good one, and the recorded maximum is around 2 m and 70 kg, though fish like that come from deep offshore reefs, not jetties. Kingfish grow quickly for the first few years and can live well over a decade, so the big ones are old fish.
Diet & Habitat
Pack hunters that chase squid, yellowtail scad, slimy mackerel, pilchards, garfish, mullet and other small fish, pushing bait up against structure and the surface. They patrol deep rock ledges, headlands, breakwalls, wharf and jetty pylons, bridge pylons with current through them, reef edges, wrecks and floating objects, and they're always on the move. Schools of juveniles hang around harbours and bays; bigger fish tend to travel in smaller groups along deep structure. Warm, clean water pushing inshore is what brings them within casting range.
Eating Quality
Very good eating if it's bled straight away and iced hard. Unbled kingfish goes strong and metallic quickly, which is where its mixed reputation comes from. Cut out the dark bloodline. Smaller fish are milder and better cooked; larger fish are richer and the ones worth eating raw as sashimi (it's the same fish as farmed hiramasa). Big wild fish sometimes carry flesh parasites, so check fillets before serving anything raw. Excellent seared rare, grilled as thick cutlets or hot-smoked; it freezes acceptably for cooking but loses its sashimi quality.
Guides Featuring Yellowtail Kingfish
Yellowtail Kingfish elsewhere: Western Australia · South Australia