Was long overdue to take my son out for a fish to try out the baitcaster he got for his recent birthday, but flat out at work so said if we are at the boat by 5.00am we can fish until 10:00 and I can get back to do the work I have on.
Promptly at 5:00am (son more awake than father) we are loading the gear into one of our boats at Z Pier and off we go. High tide around 7:30ish so had a plan to work the tides. First off a quick drive over the Stanley Point hole but nothing showing so headed off towards the mouth of the harbour further and dropped the pick on not much sign but a normally productive area when the fish first hit the harbour. Small fish straight away and then a bunch of Snapper in the mid 30's to mid 40's. Told son that once the tide dropped we would probably get plagued by small fish and sure enough by 7:15 it was time to move.
Back to Stanley Point for a look and slow drift on the slack tide produced one mid 40's fish and a couple of small Kahawai. Once the tide picked up we shot back to the first spot and grabbed a few more in the high 30's until the tide was ripping too hard there. Tried a quick drift along the Bayswater shallows for (surprisingly) nothing and then shot across to a slightly deeper area where I thought the tide might be a little slower. Got the tide strength estimate wrong and it was ripping so hard that 18oz's wouldn't hold 10kg nylon on the bottom.
Was thinking about heading in but remembered something we learned last year about fishing heavy tides in the harbour. Borrowed sons rod with the light braid and tweaked the rig. Straight into a 40cm fish and then a couple more similar before we started being plagued by small fish. Time to head in.
I guess we might have used 15l - 20l of fuel on the 31fter and back around 10:00 with a dozen nice pannie Snapper and 3 kahawai.
Got to love Auckland's Summer fishing when you are short of time.