Finally managed to snag my first fish for spring on fly today. I braved the horrid weather and went out from Leigh. Found a gap in the rain but still had to contend with the swell. Man did I burley over the side! Not done that in a long time.
Fair weather fisherman I am.
Anyhow, at least there were some intermittent kahawai schools well off the reef. I managed to get 2 from 2 casts but lost one beside the boat. I didn't last long after that as I was still feeling too green.
The schools were a bit strange as they were attended mainly by a large number of red-billed gulls and only the odd tern. No gannets and no shearwaters or diving petrels either.
The fish were also behaving more or less like when they are krilling. Feeding on the surface in a very tight boil up in one spot for a while causing a large "rippled" area. Then they would sound and pop up miles away.
I have no idea what they were feeding on but there were very tight schools of some sort of bait on the sounder plus the larger marks for the kahawai.
Any ideas? There was a lot of salps around as well. All I can think of is krill but I have not seen the kahawai behave like this around Leigh before. Thankfully they ate my small anchovy fly without hesitation.