Thread: Fishing tomorrow!

Hey , has anyone been out in manawatu , foxton beach or scotts ferry.
Looking at doing some surfcasting out by the bombing range off scotts ferry.
Will be taking my trike out there ( honda ATC 200 ) to cruise out to a spot.
Cheers

Left the house at the crack of 0900 with fisher people ages 7, 9, 10, 12, 40 and 44. Took the brother in law to buy me 4 bags of bait, 3 berleys and 80L of petrol. Anchored in 12m, kid one pukes, berley out, pannies on, kid two pukes, a few medium sized snaps, kid 3 thinks the boat is gonna sink, 2 decent blue cod, about to call it and a keeper kingi hooks up, epic battle requiring all crew members.
Halfway thru year one with and boat and it’s still a learning process but this berley thing is kinda fun.
**Two biggest snaps on a jig @Shearer

Originally Posted by Joe Schmo

Left the house at the crack of 0900 with fisher people ages 7, 9, 10, 12, 40 and 44. Took the brother in law to buy me 4 bags of bait, 3 berleys and 80L of petrol. Anchored in 12m, kid one pukes, berley out, pannies on, kid two pukes, a few medium sized snaps, kid 3 thinks the boat is gonna sink, 2 decent blue cod, about to call it and a keeper kingi hooks up, epic battle requiring all crew members.
Halfway thru year one with and boat and it’s still a learning process but this berley thing is kinda fun.
**Two biggest snaps on a jig @Shearer

Nice one @Joe Schmo

Four friends arrived to stay yesterday arvo and after eating some of Friday’s catch and sharing most of it with neighbours I only had a fillet of kahawai and 6 pieces of snapper left not enough for a dinner. So decided to smoke it in my bbq as a starter - usual salt brown sugar and a few spices.
The snapper was skinless and wouldn’t hold together well on the bbq grate in the hood so placed Ali foil over a section and poked some drain holes in with a knife, laid the snapper on top.
It worked really well the snapper was delicious and got hoovered in no time am gonna try that again.

Nice.

Welcome to full moon fever.

Out Saturday at VC o’clock , arrived at the put in spot and it looked like VC o’clock was gentleman hours ! Plenty of trailers parked up already,

Got the boat in the water and yarned to the competition, they didn’t have a 4wd so had dropped into a channel waiting for the flood. We snuck out using VCs knowledge and sounders tracks to get us out over the bar, out into the screaming NE , windty had suggested a 5/8 knot breeze , well fuck me as the spray slapped me into the face ..it was a quite a testing 5/8 knots as we bashed our way out and around the corner into the lee shore of Pepin island.

So with our favoured 30/ 35 meter depth out of reach we sheltered behind the island at 28 meters , as VC set the anchor I dropped the burley into into the tide only for it to head for the other side of the bay …so I let out line and the burley tore off further into the distance.

I tied it off and set to rigging up a road , the skipper told me off for not giving the anchor and the burley pot not enough line …then he set a line and found out what I knew it was a ripping flood tide.

Not a king tide but once in 5/9 years ripping tide , the burley pot was sitting at a 45 degree angle , we started with 3oz sinkers then escalated to 5/6 oz just to get to the bottom ,Cam added two oz to his stay line to stop the seagulls chewing on his line…

So we set to some kind of fishing,Pickers and small piranaha size brim tore our baits to threads , then a mackerel made a fatal mistake , it was turned into large strip baits ..now I persevered with pilchards , then the slow chew happened , nibble nibble chew chew swallow …run ….strike VCs reel howled in anger and
VC dropped his sandwhich and set to battle , me I was panicking saying don’t fuck it up , lots of tide , big fish , don’t stress the leader ..

You know all those important things you need to hear when your on a good fish and it’s hauling string …well with the fishing gods smiling we got it untangled from the burley pot and a very large snap rose from the depths …into the net and lifted aboard .

With a few photos VC says to me do you want to eat it …”hell yes” , but VC reply’s its the first for the year best we but it back for good luck …so over the side it went and with a few kicks it disappeared into the tide …

Now team the story should be epic fishing tide and burley etc …

Here how it goes still flooding tide 4 hours of massive current and we are onto our third burley we have two carrots line up and both are midgets then VC is on again, this time it’s a long powerful run , then some head shakes and it digs in…

Line in line out another powerful run , I’m calling kingi , then thump thump im calling an epic snap …VC says my arms hurting so he turns up the heat and does
Pump pump pump with turns the fish and its coming to the boat , still deep , still thumping, then another run this time is coming up.
VC gives it death and fuck me a kegger like a barrel of a shark explodes out of the water, in out line and possibly a thumb on the reel and it’s gone

Well that was something else ..so we hauled anchor to check the insurance policy in case old mate was snacking on the fish that as it turned out we hadn’t caught

Pulled the long line to baits and more baits not even picked over, got two keepers out of the set which were a blessing

Tired a couple of old favourite spots on high tide , ran out of burley and the sun beat us down , back to the ramp to the highest tide I’ve ever seen.


Shared fish with the neighbours, and family then into bed …big day a head here ends Part 1

Yesterday woke up to a falling southerly wind and windy predicting a turn to NE later in the day. Half the team were keen on a fish so hatched a plan to head out to the wide blue beyond around 11.30.
Four on board off we went it’s about 30km from the bach to the area we fish which is out in open water with zero shelter so getting the wind right is key. Windy was accurate again. A couple of work ups along the way got our attention but only a few kahawai released at the cost of a snagged lure lost. Big pod of dolphins feeding and coming over to check us out was very cool. Anyway the further we went the better it got but it had turned to a healthy NE by the time we got to the area we fish. It was about 12.30 by the time we got out there. Big tides atm and I as I suspected the tide offset the wind and kept our drift rate below 2kph which I find best for lure fishing.

I started with a big pink soft bait while the other 3 rigged up with slow jigs - I got a couple of gurnard fairly quickly but not much interest in the kabura type jigs. Nicky decided to change over to soft bait her partner Brad sorted that out and as she was fishing my side of the boat I helped with casting technique and we worked out she had her spinning reel set up the wrong way round so got that sorted. First drift of about 40 minutes was not terribly productive so I moved about 2 km dropped the drogue over the side and started again - my first cast produced a gurnard and Nicky and Brad we got one. Neil decided to swap to soft bait too. Next thing Nicky’s on with something big that’s pulling a lot of line but she battles away and up comes a very nice 65cm snapper to lots of delight and a few photos. Gave Neil the same yellow/brown 5” softie that Nicky was using hoping it was the colour of the day. Next thing Brad pulls up a 60cm jobbie on a pink kabura followed by Neil with one then another both 60 cm. Then Brad gets another one again the same size and I said ok that’s an awful lot of fish and with all the food you lot brought in yesterday anymore and we won’t be able to get it in the fridges! And filleting big snapper takes a lot longer than cod or carrots. So we headed for home at 2.20 less than 2hrs fishing time and the 5 snaps were caught in about 15 minutes of all go action

Wind had eased even further so the run home was pretty smooth- there was a huge work up back inside pelorus sound which is great to see. I am keen to fish under one of these big work ups in the main channel where it can be quite deep 60+m using heavier gear and lures but the stars haven’t aligned lately and this time we had enough fish all ready.

Took a couple of hours to sort the fish and clean the boat before sitting down to a nice chardie and fresh fish and salad for dinner with great friends. And…

Nicky enjoyed the evening reminding us all who got the biggest fish !!

Great fishing and what a spot to be staying at, simply beautiful.

Getting out of bed day 2,

rolled over saw daylight and panicked …fuck me I’ve over slept and ruined the trip..
Chucked clothes on tore into the kitchen grabbed a glass of water and anything semi edible in the fridge , headed for the garage ..

Lisa sitting on the couch ask WTF are you doing …ahh shit I’m late I’ve slept in , I’m trying to ring VC to explain ..then Lis say Joe it’s still Saturday ..you’ve being in a sleep for three hours ….

Well the feeling of relief and confusion was just crazy, so wandered into the shower washed the day off and heaved myself back into bed, checked my alarm and then lay their with crazy thoughts of new dive country , slept and had some crazy dreams woke to the alarm blaring , rolled over and thought what the actual fuck.

So with the truck packed and a full moon hanging on the western range I headed for VCs , arrived chucked gear at Jnr VC who packed the boat and the truck …away ..”you little good barstard “ ..stopped at the Wakefield bakery for coffee and a compulsory pie, …then away to the coast

Sounds playing , yarns yarned we arrived at the coast , our hosts were packed ready and had no time for chit chat …but bugger me who wandered around the corner but @Munsey, hugs and hand shakes , what a fantastic surprise!

No time for a catch up let’s get into the tide …down the gutter out into the open ocean ..

We followed our hosts watched them pull a few pots nothing but shorts , VC marked a couple of patches of rocks and we once again watched pots hauled keepers ..very nice !

So with confidence restored because the sea was tea coloured we could see 2 meters of rope and a offer of a our hosts to drop a pot so I could follow the line to the bottom ,

I dropped in,

well your a long way from home stingray, and it’s time to be a grown up ..I’m pretty sure the fishing gods were smiling on me , dropped straight down on a flat rock , and in the middle of it was a cray , even better a keeper , then 3 times is a charm I grabbed the bugger and sacked her!

Well now my nerves are settled and life’s good , then I found a nice underhang crays shorts and keepers , set up for a swing booof the swell rolls though and I’m on the other side of the ledge ..


Ok this is the way it is ..drift over flat rock find a underhang grab the biggest , the bugger me the biggest is soft shell , and his mate has a second skin , so the rest of the dive was rolling with the tide / swell plenty of crays but shorts a plenty .

Managed a handful of keepers ,then took VC in close to the rocks and plenty of seals but the surge stepped up and the full moon started to pull escalating the current, and swell, the top side was good enough vis but the bottom meter was murky broken seaweed , stick n shit and that fine silt.


With VC back in the boat we hunted some more dive turf …found a nice pactch of boulders, he chucked me over the side , same again shorts and tough to catch keepers , I gave up fighting the swell and current and just drifted along , holding on to a crack that he,d a few crays, didn’t take long until I had my limit, so into the boat , with the swell pushing and the tide running we took our leave from this most magnificent part of the world.

Up into the harbour I watched the local try sailing crew get young folks out on the tide , what made me proud was a wee human in a life jacket sick of waiting for a trip on the sail boat , take to the water and float ..arms and legs paddling , mum watching on ..both happy as …get that wee human in a wetsuit !

Got back to base , yarned the yarns of folks that enjoy life and each other company , had an outdoor shower , the lady of the house chucked on a feed and we were treated to some wonderful West Coast hospitality.

They tried very hard to keep us for Monday as the weather was going to be epic , sadly I had work .

VC got us home …all the while chucking crays to family and friends , probably added 2 hours to the trip home but what a wonderful way to live, smiles yarns and the most excellent of company.

Thanks VC I was seriously windy about the dive spot but hearing you motoring above me keeping an eye on me and always being right there when I surfaced as you always are makes us great team, cheers Cam .

This was one hell of a weekend! Let’s do it again !

Why you dont catch many Kahawai at the Tahakopa river mouth

Originally Posted by stingray

Getting out of bed day 2,

rolled over saw daylight and panicked …fuck me I’ve over slept and ruined the trip..
Chucked clothes on tore into the kitchen grabbed a glass of water and anything semi edible in the fridge , headed for the garage ..

Lisa sitting on the couch ask WTF are you doing …ahh shit I’m late I’ve slept in , I’m trying to ring VC to explain ..then Lis say Joe it’s still Saturday ..you’ve being in a sleep for three hours ….

Well the feeling of relief and confusion was just crazy, so wandered into the shower washed the day off and heaved myself back into bed, checked my alarm and then lay their with crazy thoughts of new dive country , slept and had some crazy dreams woke to the alarm blaring , rolled over and thought what the actual fuck.

So with the truck packed and a full moon hanging on the western range I headed for VCs , arrived chucked gear at Jnr VC who packed the boat and the truck …away ..”you little good barstard “ ..stopped at the Wakefield bakery for coffee and a compulsory pie, …then away to the coast

Sounds playing , yarns yarned we arrived at the coast , our hosts were packed ready and had no time for chit chat …but bugger me who wandered around the corner but @Munsey, hugs and hand shakes , what a fantastic surprise!

No time for a catch up let’s get into the tide …down the gutter out into the open ocean ..

We followed our hosts watched them pull a few pots nothing but shorts , VC marked a couple of patches of rocks and we once again watched pots hauled keepers ..very nice !

So with confidence restored because the sea was tea coloured we could see 2 meters of rope and a offer of a our hosts to drop a pot so I could follow the line to the bottom ,

I dropped in,

well your a long way from home stingray, and it’s time to be a grown up ..I’m pretty sure the fishing gods were smiling on me , dropped straight down on a flat rock , and in the middle of it was a cray , even better a keeper , then 3 times is a charm I grabbed the bugger and sacked her!

Well now my nerves are settled and life’s good , then I found a nice underhang crays shorts and keepers , set up for a swing booof the swell rolls though and I’m on the other side of the ledge ..


Ok this is the way it is ..drift over flat rock find a underhang grab the biggest , the bugger me the biggest is soft shell , and his mate has a second skin , so the rest of the dive was rolling with the tide / swell plenty of crays but shorts a plenty .

Managed a handful of keepers ,then took VC in close to the rocks and plenty of seals but the surge stepped up and the full moon started to pull escalating the current, and swell, the top side was good enough vis but the bottom meter was murky broken seaweed , stick n shit and that fine silt.


With VC back in the boat we hunted some more dive turf …found a nice pactch of boulders, he chucked me over the side , same again shorts and tough to catch keepers , I gave up fighting the swell and current and just drifted along , holding on to a crack that he,d a few crays, didn’t take long until I had my limit, so into the boat , with the swell pushing and the tide running we took our leave from this most magnificent part of the world.

Up into the harbour I watched the local try sailing crew get young folks out on the tide , what made me proud was a wee human in a life jacket sick of waiting for a trip on the sail boat , take to the water and float ..arms and legs paddling , mum watching on ..both happy as …get that wee human in a wetsuit !

Got back to base , yarned the yarns of folks that enjoy life and each other company , had an outdoor shower , the lady of the house chucked on a feed and we were treated to some wonderful West Coast hospitality.

They tried very hard to keep us for Monday as the weather was going to be epic , sadly I had work .

VC got us home …all the while chucking crays to family and friends , probably added 2 hours to the trip home but what a wonderful way to live, smiles yarns and the most excellent of company.

Thanks VC I was seriously windy about the dive spot but hearing you motoring above me keeping an eye on me and always being right there when I surfaced as you always are makes us great team, cheers Cam .

This was one hell of a weekend! Let’s do it again !

Awesome weekend.
I had the usual pre fishing trauma and woke wide awake 3 hours before my alarm both mornings....once I wake thats it Im awake.
Was matchsticks in the eyeballs and a few stops and walk round the ute on the way home.
As always just great to get out with good mates who know what they are doing.
Made a lot of people's day yesterday and today.
Let's go do it again soon!

Originally Posted by stingray

Getting out of bed day 2,

rolled over saw daylight and panicked …fuck me I’ve over slept and ruined the trip..
Chucked clothes on tore into the kitchen grabbed a glass of water and anything semi edible in the fridge , headed for the garage ..

Lisa sitting on the couch ask WTF are you doing …ahh shit I’m late I’ve slept in , I’m trying to ring VC to explain ..then Lis say Joe it’s still Saturday ..you’ve being in a sleep for three hours ….

Well the feeling of relief and confusion was just crazy, so wandered into the shower washed the day off and heaved myself back into bed, checked my alarm and then lay their with crazy thoughts of new dive country , slept and had some crazy dreams woke to the alarm blaring , rolled over and thought what the actual fuck.

So with the truck packed and a full moon hanging on the western range I headed for VCs , arrived chucked gear at Jnr VC who packed the boat and the truck …away ..”you little good barstard “ ..stopped at the Wakefield bakery for coffee and a compulsory pie, …then away to the coast

Sounds playing , yarns yarned we arrived at the coast , our hosts were packed ready and had no time for chit chat …but bugger me who wandered around the corner but @Munsey, hugs and hand shakes , what a fantastic surprise!

No time for a catch up let’s get into the tide …down the gutter out into the open ocean ..

We followed our hosts watched them pull a few pots nothing but shorts , VC marked a couple of patches of rocks and we once again watched pots hauled keepers ..very nice !

So with confidence restored because the sea was tea coloured we could see 2 meters of rope and a offer of a our hosts to drop a pot so I could follow the line to the bottom ,

I dropped in,

well your a long way from home stingray, and it’s time to be a grown up ..I’m pretty sure the fishing gods were smiling on me , dropped straight down on a flat rock , and in the middle of it was a cray , even better a keeper , then 3 times is a charm I grabbed the bugger and sacked her!

Well now my nerves are settled and life’s good , then I found a nice underhang crays shorts and keepers , set up for a swing booof the swell rolls though and I’m on the other side of the ledge ..


Ok this is the way it is ..drift over flat rock find a underhang grab the biggest , the bugger me the biggest is soft shell , and his mate has a second skin , so the rest of the dive was rolling with the tide / swell plenty of crays but shorts a plenty .

Managed a handful of keepers ,then took VC in close to the rocks and plenty of seals but the surge stepped up and the full moon started to pull escalating the current, and swell, the top side was good enough vis but the bottom meter was murky broken seaweed , stick n shit and that fine silt.


With VC back in the boat we hunted some more dive turf …found a nice pactch of boulders, he chucked me over the side , same again shorts and tough to catch keepers , I gave up fighting the swell and current and just drifted along , holding on to a crack that he,d a few crays, didn’t take long until I had my limit, so into the boat , with the swell pushing and the tide running we took our leave from this most magnificent part of the world.

Up into the harbour I watched the local try sailing crew get young folks out on the tide , what made me proud was a wee human in a life jacket sick of waiting for a trip on the sail boat , take to the water and float ..arms and legs paddling , mum watching on ..both happy as …get that wee human in a wetsuit !

Got back to base , yarned the yarns of folks that enjoy life and each other company , had an outdoor shower , the lady of the house chucked on a feed and we were treated to some wonderful West Coast hospitality.

They tried very hard to keep us for Monday as the weather was going to be epic , sadly I had work .

VC got us home …all the while chucking crays to family and friends , probably added 2 hours to the trip home but what a wonderful way to live, smiles yarns and the most excellent of company.

Thanks VC I was seriously windy about the dive spot but hearing you motoring above me keeping an eye on me and always being right there when I surfaced as you always are makes us great team, cheers Cam .

This was one hell of a weekend! Let’s do it again !

Great story Stingray can relate to your comments re nerves settling and knowing you have a good boatman up top tracking you always right there when you surface gives you a heck of confidence. Poor vis + swells and current sounds just like Banks Peninsula/Akaroa heads/Motunau beach where I started diving - getting onto that first cray really settled my nerves/windiness too.
Cheers
AMac

A pod of Orca came up the Fjord after winter Cod which buggered the fishing,then it got cold a d the sea froze.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Awesome weekend.
I had the usual pre fishing trauma and woke wide awake 3 hours before my alarm both mornings....once I wake thats it Im awake.
Was matchsticks in the eyeballs and a few stops and walk round the ute on the way home.
As always just great to get out with good mates who know what they are doing.
Made a lot of people's day yesterday and today.
Let's go do it again soon!
Attachment 290109

I like that I am able to call you guys my friends

Had a visit from one of my wife’s friends who with husband and family had come down from way up north in their 60’ launch they stayed overnight and had dinner with us and helped put a major hole in our fish supply necessitating another fishing expedition when the weather looked good. Scones cooked up and morning tea and a look around the very impressive big boat I haven’t been on a really big launch before so quite an eye opener.

Out again yesterday with brilliant sunny conditions wind so light didn’t need the drogue. Did a bit of snorkelling bottom end of the Chetwoods but no cray and the pāua were a couple of mm too small Note to myself this is the South Island so next time bring the 7mm suit - $&$@ it’s was cold only 16 degrees brrr.

So off for a fish.

1st drift one snap and a carrot. Knowing which way we were drifting moved 2.5km and bang 4 more snaps and another carrot. I got no snaps again must be losing my touch.

Went over to see how one of our neighbours were getting on they had kept about 5 and had put 3-4 back. Couple of divers on board who had grabbed 7 whopper cray from the Chetwoods.

Wanted to get a few more gurnard without catching more snaps so moved to an area that only holds gurnard and quickly picked up 5 more and at least I got a couple maybe there’s hope for me.

Trolled a couple of rapala lures for a kingi but no takers so headed home for the big chop up.

This morning Neil went up the hill behind us with his new light weight Browning 223 and tipped over 5 goats.

One of the neighbours shot a deer a week or so back and another reckons a 3m great white cruised past his jetty two nights ago. It’s been all go around here!