i really liked to go out fishing near the boat ramp at kawakawa bay, but i've never had luck. But it's still a bloody awesome spot...
The best landbased spot was the river mouth near waiuku, caught fish everytime i've been there.
Good spot also was at Oputere (coromandel)... fished the incoming tide... good fun... one of my mates caught a kingi out there...
on the south island the best spot was near Omaru at the Waimotu river mouth, best fishing at low tide... yummy fish out there....
Where: can't say - obviously.
What: approx 400kgs of fish, consisting of 100 kahawai (average 2.5kg), a kingfish approx 20kg, 4kg trev's, 3kg snapper, 2 x sharks (50kg each).
When: Labour weekend Y2K. (16 hour days Saturday/Sunday)
Who: just me and my mate.
Started fishing at 6:30am...fish came on the bite at 9am...and didn't stop until we were so tired, we just HAD to stop.
Oh yeah....for you greenies out there.....we ate one snapper and a kawakai for lunch that had been gill-hooked, the rest were released.
The best spots in Auckland for me when landbased were
Dawsons ledge
The ICI wharf
End of constable rd (the best spot of all)
Distruction gully
The old wharf at Whatipu
I agree with Mars, each spot is special, in it's own right. I've seen killer whales, dolphins and seals, huge rays, and sharks thrashing around in the shallows, massive kingis fighting over a livie and massive kingis that wouldn't take a bait, but were content to swim around in the burley trail for a good 45 minutes.
Once, a seal leaped out of the water, and curled up to sleep on the rocks next to us in the sun.
Even the moon and weather can add another dimension to the beauty of LBG.....why bother with a boat...they are just a big pit to throw money into.
I should write a book.......
P.S Favourite spot is "the far north".
Similarly to Mars comments�Favourite Spot would have to be East Cape.
��..would like to have a thrash off Cape Brett one day, as haven't done that yet�seems that now would be a good time for a LBG gamefish effort, judging by the latest report.
Looking back over my landbased catches, the ones that generally bring a smile are those caught via LBG'ing. The ones where fish were earned the hard way, by hiking and carrying crippling weights of berley into remote spots.
My first couple of experiences to Lottin Point up at East Cape circa '91-92 were mind blowing, but fishwise unsuccessfull. Articles in Fishing news by Pete Lamb, and also Peter Davy (The chap with the Morrie Van/Alvey Reel/young son called Aaron) at the time were the seed to drop everything and find out for myself what this mythical place was like.
First trip - One Saturday lunchtime just decided to pack a couple of rods in the car and set sail from Wgtn. Stayed in the old Te Kaha Hotel before it burnt down a couple of years later. Drove down to Lottin and walked out to the rocks 1/2 way to the point. Within 10 mins of observing, I saw a 60lb Kingie cruising by� Threw a bait in - and got wasted big-time on 15kg surfrod. More wastings followed that day.
Second Trip - Another weekend dash from the Capital. After driving all night, Saturday morning saw me showing a non-fishing mate how to catch a kahawai livebait for my LBG outfit with a pilly on the 4kg eggbeater.
1st cast as I was showing him how to wind in the pilly - An estimated 80lb kingie smashed my pilly literally a yard from my sneakers, showered me with water and and took off sideways. My mate crabbed his way backwards up the rocks in fright.
The little Shakesphere reel emitted a Formula 1type of high pitched scream, and a few seconds later, roughly 70m of line later - I put my hand on the spool to bust-off before I lost the lot.
A few sights I have seen from this particular haunt:
Free jumping marlin/YFT and some big sharks
Whales
Orcas
Gigantic rays trying to eat your kahawai livebait
Large snapper cruize thru the berley trail
Saw a definite WR sized King swim lazily round for 5mins with a few smaller rats in tow.
(The dammned rats were too quick and got to our pilly offerings beofre the large specimen could)Funnily enough some of the things you lose or don't end up catching, contribute towards a particular spot.
Hopefully I can get up there in the next couple of months�maybe hang a livie out wide on the LBG stick and the 80W �and see what happens.
my favorite genereral landbased area would be the eastern side of great barrier and the needles.
fishing with my alvey with 24kg on it
my dad and some of his mates
fish up to 11.1kg for me, best out of anyone fishing with us 13.2kg
we catch most of our fish between 2300 and 0100 hours.
b.m
my fav spot would be any where in the far north, remote as possible the better rod holders is good or Cape Brett is my fav spot close to home.Still havn't nailed a good kingy of the rocks yet but slowing getting the right gears for the job plenty of 20 pound plus snapps to keep me happy tho
and i have to agree theres nothin like land basing and just checking out the scenery and nature all around ya(i could catch nuthin and go home happy)
i did a lot of Rockhoping when i was younger and had some great experiences..... at Hot Water Beach when the only way from AK was the Tapu hill road {showing my age now} well i was only a kid then, we didnt even take bait with us just used a perry winkel from the rocks to catch a Parrot fish on line attached to the rangon cain rod tip with a small hook this would be filleted, one fillet, one bait and maybe two or three snapper on that one bait before you used the other fillet, these where the times that you didnt use a sinker or burley because the fish where at your feet, if you got there early and the tide was comming in you often saw a big tail splashing around right at the waters edge.... we would walk for miles either side of that beach climb down ropes hanging from cliffs it was a joy to get home after the holidays and have a real break..
Cheers Lethal
Very interesting posts above!
No disrespect to boat owners, but I once read a very interesting quote in a pub by the fastnet rock in Ireland, it went like this...
"A boat is a hole in the water surrounded by wood, into which one pours money"
I guess this is what the gist nzkingfisher was putting across.... very true though!
Best land based spots for me, well, anywhere really! On the rocks at one with nature, you cant really beat it.
My favorite places would be round my home at Piha. Some fantastic spots there on the right days. Also, Hotwater beach is fantastic, or more rightly, the rocks around it, huge snapper, monster kings, and a spot so difficult to get to walking, if you catch anything big, you have to paddle them back around the point like a surfboard!
Only thing is, never take your missus there. Not good for the relationship!
Ohh, and dont accidentally leave your terminal tackle at home!
i agree with tamure nui about big snapper attcking the berley bag and big kingis being highlights which even after all the times it has happend i still get very excited about it. my biggest snapper was caught by droping a bait an inch to the side of our berley bag as two big snapper (the other was bigger... i think) and hooking up.
i also love releasing those bigger fish but not the really big ones as my dad probably wouldnt beleive me if i didnt bring them home and love them smoked. we release the fish between 10-18 pound usually and i love seeing them swim off.
one of my greastest experiences was when a medium sized kingi (15-20kg) was stuck in a rock ledge (beats me how he did it) with his tail clear of the water as we came into the rocks in the inflateable. i managed to release it and pull it aboard remove a couple of hooks and set it free. it the followed us in the dingy all the way to the rock we were going to fish. an awesome sight.
b.m
I started off fishing from rocks, wharves etc as a kid. I have never fished any remote spots or anywhere fancy. I still like fishing from rocks but seldom get the opportunities....apart from a little spot I fish at nights that is a great kahawai spot. I could fish for kahawai any time on light tackle...I love it!
Even in the spots around Auckland where I went rock fishing ...Whangapaoaroa, Whatipu .. places like that ... have seen some real sights... Orcas off Whatipu, big schools of piper erupting out of the water and tail walking as if a predator had frightened the snot out of them..... fishing hard with NOTHING going on at all ... only to look around a corner and finding a colony of seals parked up. Big rays swimming around burley trails, kingfish smashing through the bait fish swarming around your livies ... watching some idiot gathering mussels dangling off a rope getting smothered by huge waves .... coming out alive - dunno how - having a mate gonig to net a fish for me but had to get up to higher ground because of the big swells ...only to step backwards off the ledge and fall in, he was sore but his hat, ciggies and glasses were last seen heading to Australia at 5knots. Learning not to confront big guys for catching a sack full of undersized red moki ... size limit is 40cm and no they arent red parore...seeing some poor sucker sitting in the sun all day ...not a bite going on and all of a sudden seeing his gear go skittling across the rocks and surfing off into the distance .... having a diver surface 10 metres out from the rocks on a ledge covered in fishermen during the Westcoaster .... casting out your 2 piece spin rod and watching the tip section go sailing for miles... hooking a boat while retrieving a lure...losing so much gear that you cant afford to go fishing again for weeks. Wishing you let half your catch go because you didnt realise how heavy at was to carry it back....well it DID happen once ..... spending 5 or 6 days for 3 summers fishing off a rock for your first kingfish only to turn up one day and see four guys with 1 or 2 kingfish EACH ..saying ..man you should have been here an hour ago... finally catching one .... going for an overnight fishing trip without any food in the hope that you will catch something ... taking your kids for a mile long hike and opening your bag to find you have left the tackle box at home ...ohhhh the memories .. then there's the bright blue fish with white spots that I still dont recognise that I saw caught off Whatipu one day. I must go rock fishing again some day...
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