The last bag is being hauled as I type.....I can hardly wait!
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I am interested to know the capacity of those tanks Stingray.
Hi @Rushy they are
80 cubic foot , 11.1 litres
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Floundering this arvo @axeman @madjon anyone local that is keen meeting 345 pm at Delaware.
Yeah think that may be the case, big tides so worth a dig. If nothing else a catch up with mates is assured. Sadly you are working, but will organise a time to yarn soon
They who dare win!
What a afternoon out got to the fishing spot met up with @ROKTOY and Aaron, I brought another bloke from work so whilst not a big crew we had enough hands to work the net.
We wander out across the flat with a silt layer an inch to 3 deep the snails and crabs seemed to have worked through the problem and were in their normal abundance, with a bit of crap sticks oyster shells weed etc laying in the shallows we lifted the net over this and set into the deeper water..a quick 10 min drag I swore I could feel life in the tow, so up onto a nice clean bit of beach we found a net of sticks shells weed and three very very welcome flounder.
That put a spring in our step ! Looking up stream it seemed it was snaggy and less than ideal so we packed up and headed way down the channel to an area we didn’t tend to fish due its shell beds and sand mounds…with ankle deep mud making head way hard we chose to chuck the drag in the tide have a bash then fish the incoming from firmer ground …
well only a few steps into the drag Dans calling fish , I’m feeling fish in my side as well …then it all settled down to a slog and the odd worrying tension of the net as we picked up drift wood off the bed …up onto some firm the sticks rose out of the tide first the a splash and a tail loomed large the another and another …smiles and yahoos abounded as we beached the drag all hands to the pump binning our bounty …a couple of shorts were returned to the tide and the rest were sorted and cleaned.
We sorted the drag and counted our tally of 15 prime flounder and a mammoth mullet. We cleared the rubbish from our net and set up for the flood, it rushed in but all was very quite. With a squal of rain reaching in from the hills we headed for the trucks. Cracked a beer and yarned for a while enjoying our time together.
The chill set into my bones and I pulled the pin away home to a hot shower and dry cloths…great couple of hours out and about with some like minded folks ..interestingly the flounder were stuffed absolutely stuffed with cockle shell, certainly the normal crabs but some were chocked with shellfish ..I have no idea how they
A got them into the gut
B broke the shell open ….but they obviously did and were doing very well on this diet .
Like Dan said “You don’t catch them on the couch “! Not a truer word spoken
That was a fantastic way end to the day. Cheers guys.
The recent flooding had left its mark, but not as bad as I had expected. The channels where were we had left them, the grass hadn't been wiped out too much and the cockles had been buried a bit. But, the fish were there and they were healthy. The cockles were still there but not as easy to find as they had been. Aaron left them in peace this trip.
It was good to get out and get a feed, A few good blokes, with a couple of mutts having a ball playing in the mud together, A great way to catch up with a good mate and have a yarn or three.
Funny one yesterday. Got caught out with the weather despite a good forecast. Just vile outside the harbour. To make matters worse, I promised a fish to a mate who doesn't get the opportunity to get out very often. At least we achieved that before heading back in to the harbour. Saw some poor buggers on a Mac 320 who were soaked from head-to-toe. I'm guessing they've had better days. Boat cleanup took longer than fishing time! Still, we got home safely which is the main thing, and we got a feed.
Interestingly, Korean mate (guy in the photo) contacted me last night to say that it was Korean "Thanksgiving" which coincided with the full moon and the moon was the "biggest" in 100 years. Maybe related?
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Had a crack at Kina yesterday. First time with the kontiki there. With Rabbit Island shutting early and obviously the council has never heard of pumps to remove water, there is no access either.
Cracker day but only a carpet shark for our efforts and then a seal 20m off shore brought an end to proceedings.
Might try the Blind Channel this afternoon, but my crew may have deserted by the sound of it. Not sure about baited hooks and people with dogs that are not able to be controlled, when I'm by myself. Always great to see people who have taken the effort to train their dogs in basic commands and are able to call them.
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Theres a reason we have never walkwd our dogs on back beach dog exercise area!!!!
Just a after thought ..and I do apologise for not posting this with my fishing report.
The edges of the channel are boggy in parts, the main road from ramp to channel is still solid but has a bit of mud
But the edges of the creek used on a flooding tide and the north side of the ramp look ok but I would certainly walk the last 10 yards to the channel before driving backing out onto it…there is patch’s of axel deep silt that could compromise a launch or retrieve of a boat or vehicle.
Please take the extra 10 mins to make sure your on what was traditionally hard surface …has not become a truck trap
VC home from sea , so we promptly returned to sea to go sharking.
A wonderful calm morning ,oily to the horizon. We mucked about trying a few close spots waiting for the ebb tide to run, I cursed @Shearer yet again as my expensive shinny shit got snaked and returned to my bait fishing.
I then cursed the burley ,the lack of current and bloody spiked dogs. All the while VC boated gurnard and the odd carpet shark….as I set my forth set of gear into the tide I managed to snag a keepable bluey , then a carrot and then another things were looking up, I even had time to heckle VC as he busted off a solid fish on his strayline … replace your rigs after a couple of sharks I crowed!
Ohh how the fishing gods love to punish a smart arse…I went from catching table fish back to shit fish in a minute, then doubled down to catching shit fish two at a time. VC took pity on me and we hauled the gear and wandered over to check the hook line, well the first few hooks produced carpet sharks and things looked grim as they got bigger and bigger and bigger…then a wonderful treat , a carrot followed by a handful more …smiles all round
Finished up with a Northly wind pushing us home as we gutted the fish and headed up the channel and sat the boat in the shalllows. We had a beer and let the tide run out so we could trailer the boat without getting the utes feet wet.
Well that was the plan we hooked the boat on and I heaved on the winch, the boat stayed were it was as the winch wound itself towards the boat…a few strops later things were secured and we backed the trailer under the boat as I gently winched this time.
A bit off banter about being ham fisted and rough as guts. All in all a great day out we were very tempted to chance our arm and go floundering on the bottom of the tide but with a lack of bodies and enough things to take care of we set that plan aside for another day.
Photos to follow as normal!
To be fair it was one of two bits I didn't replace when I built the new trailer.... always good to have a strong mate about.
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Anyway we bro'd it up to get home and no worries.
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Looked like a nice day out there Fella's. Well done, dinner looks nice
A great day with an afternoon tide. Attachment 206736
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Photos say it all, great folks mud , dogs , and flats. Thanks again everyone who mucked in cleared the net gutted the fish, laughed and heckled
A perfect evening of young folks tearing about in the mud, dogs battling and chasing each other!
Us dragging a trawl, gathering a feed of fat delicious flats,
RIP Liz , I think we celebrated your passing in the best way possible with friends family and fishing!
Might hook a fly fisherman here.I have a Scientific Anglers 6-7L Systems 2L fly reel for sale.Has a 6wtdt line on it.Hasnt been used for ten years.Had some use but not obused as i had 3 of these reels and 3 sage fly rods.So the work load got spread around amongst the gear a bit.
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Mud, stickfish and cockle shells. That was a good afternoon out.
@Trout I hate to say it but these arnt as sort after as they once were. I've seen a few listed on the yellow site over the last few months with $30 buy now remain unsold, only one I saw sell came with spare spool, backing and one spool had a line on it.....from memory it made $50.
They're bloody nice reels, I've got the same model that I purchased way back in 97 for $200. Problem is everyone wants large abours now.
Hi wsm Junkie,i ended up selling the reel with its bit more worn out twin brother.So the buy had a very good reel and a spare spool and 2 fly line.I was happy with my sale and buyer was happy with his purchase.I know what you saying tho,theres a few ton of fishing gear for sale on tm.At least the guys on here know im only selling good gear.Cheers n Beers.:)
Hey Stingray, has all that mud affected the cockles? Can you still get a feed of them out there?
Once before, I was in a small fishing harbor, local fisherman stewed couple of these wild catch of the day, in a big cast iron pot. Corn breads, green onion with miso and 58 degree of strong alcohol, still miss it. So, I get to bring a 24 inches wide of cast iron pot back:P
@stingray, Are you guys being successful?
Looks like great weather to be out.
Enjoy it guys.
Kaikoura turned on a treat, arrived Friday afternoon to a large rolling swell and milky vis!
Caught up with all the folks had a beer.
Up at gentleman hours, loaded the boats to catch the low tide for hunting some fish out wide. Got to the public ramp at an hour before low, a sign says caution slippery ramp at low tide…it bloody well was you could hardly stand to unhook the boat and then trying to get the truck back up the ramp was another story.
Certainly a trap for the in experienced.
Anyway steamed out dropped pots on a couple of rocks and headed out wide, hit the mark and the sounder started to show the bottom again stooged about checking the drift. Dropped the gear sat in the slop , lifted the gear a small perch and a red cod the were inhaled whole by the resident bird life.
Up past the mark more weight added as we were drifting off the marks before we reached the bottom, it was a wonderful sunny day with a puff of breeze that added to the easy but large swell made conditions trying. After 5 drifts and conditions starting to take a toll on the crew we headed in closer. Tried here and there but the fish seemed off the bite.
Got to have a dive, splashed a great spot, managed a handful of keepers in limited vis saw a few XXL moki which was really neat. Home for a shower.
Up again on Sunday but to avoid the slippery ramp we hit the water early with much improved conditions we enjoyed a lazy hour checking pots! Back into the water for me better vis saw a enjoy a bit more of a hunt, found one better size cray but still had to be pretty selective. The girls were mostly empty with only 3 still holding eggs handled over the weekend.
With sun and wind and swell on Saturday we just had a quick look around and back in. A great trip away and a relaxed drive home for Lisa and myself!
Bring on the summer and blue water!
I like the second picture, snow capped mountain on the horizon. Any groupers?
Kaikoura team is battling, the fishing and the occy's
VC let me know they are getting a few keepers and a few eaten clean skeletons.
The import walked out of work today ...hay see you Monday ..let me know if any fishing is happening...Tides look good ..
Checked the tides and rang / texted a handful of folks ...photos tell the rest ...a epic afternoon with now seasoned fisherman...
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Father and son with a beauty
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Sweet, good to see the flounder dogs doing their bit too :)
Not a bad haul by the look of it
Yeah a great evening out, 6 people made clearing the net so much better, still a heaps of branches and twigs even pine cones tangling the net, what we don’t show is the team , taking a side each of the net untangling rubbish to get the trawl back in the tide, they are earned flounder, then they are shared throughout our community!
I’m truely honoured to have folks turn up time after time laughing and yarning getting covered in silt and mud , frozen cold to try and harvest a feed of delicious flounder! Without these folks it would be a bust!
With out their enthusiasm it would never happen
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My personal favorite...the bloody experts judgeing my efforts from the shallows
A few picks from Kiaks.
At ten bucks per launch you would think the council could water blast the bottom of the ramp.
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Due to a canceled gathering at the Pengys , we were forced to head for okiwi to hunt kings in French pass.
So with VC on the shore swing and my boss away next week whitebaiting, I took a bit of a bulge and sneaked off early …VC arrived with tucker and beer and yarns, we stowed the gear in the mighty Nissan and buggered off to okiwi.
With the southeast puffing we settled down to yarning , visiting folks to gather intel and enjoying a ale or two!
VC out did himself in the kitchen as we salted / peppered and seared and baked a fallow back strap it was to die for…
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Up not early and away to F / pass …saw dolphins ,gannets , terns it looked very very promising, got to the pass it wasn’t crazy pumping so I was sure we were on the money, being the only boat there took our time setting up our drift and looking for fish…we had the perfect drift again and again …nothing not a nibble no sign of a bait school or kingi on the sounder …it was a bust! ..
Next plan chuck me over the side and hunt crays off to super secret spot …so secret the crays didn’t know they were supposed to be in the cave..off to never fail spot …you guessed it…shit vis couldn’t find a good rock let alone the crack that holds the bugs…
Back in the boat VC has sorted tea couple of fat blues 40cm plus then adds a couple of carrots and I’m just a bloody spectator!
Home to fill the tank…sea flattens off looks like a perfect day tomorrow! Marked up a few rocks for investigation…Photos to follow Sunday evening…beer o’clock