The first day of spring arrived and it just so happened to be my 1st day of a couple of weeks leave.
I had been planning on getting out for a scallop dive on the 1st, unfortunately the weather forecast was rubbish and my crew got scared and went to work.
The wind dropped off around 11am, down from 40kts earlier in the morning so I decided to hook the boat up and head out for a look see.
The rain hadn't cleared mind you....
Got down the bottom end and found the swell that had been churned up by the wind hadn't settled either and the huge current opposing the swells made for some interesting boating around Kauri Pt.
So that put a stop to my dive plans, wasn't really the appropriate weather to jump in without a boat man, (thats why they call me sensible Dave).
So i turned around and headed for calmer waters and had a quick fish but didn't get any inquiries so decided to head home and come back again tomorrow once things had settled down.
So, the 2nd and the 2nd day of spring.... sent out the txt to a couple who had previously indicated they might be keen for some fishing on Wednesday and an hour later Boulder and Mikey 2 Pies were in the drive way holding on to their rods and tackle.
After cleaning out the bakery it was off to the ramp, those that know Maraetai will know it doesn't usually have this much water .....
Anyway, off we went in conditions much nicer than the day before!
Headed to the scallop bed 1st and got my dive gear sorted then something unusual happened, the Vindaloo I had the night before decided it was time to make an appearance. That in itself is not unusual but as most divers will know, that urge usually comes AFTER you have finished suiting up. So I shot down to the throne and left the other two to throw some soft baits around and Mike managed to pick up a snapper for the bin!
With the paper work all done I suited up and dropped the anchor (the one on the bow) on the scallop bed and jumped in for the 1st scally dive of the season. The water was like soup with about 1m visibility and it was pretty cold on the bottom so not the nicest of dives but thankfully the scallops were in abundance so I didn't have to stay down long!
They were fat too
With the diving done and dusted we head back to where we have been finding a few snapper lately. We picked up a few then noticed gannets going nuts not too far away so we made a beeline for those and pretty soon Myself and Mike had some nice snapper going in the bin, Boulder on the other hand was having some trouble getting started, i guess that happens when you get old.
But soon enough even Boulder managed to find some and to be fair I think he may have caught the most and he was even claiming he had caught the biggest.
Acres of these guys...
We did a few drifts and moved around a bit following the action until the last spot saw us plagued with big kahawai so we decided the bin was full and the heavens were about to open we didn't want to be around when the predicted 35kts of wind arrived so we set a course for home!
Home by 2.30 to clean this lot up...
So it may have been a day late but it certainly appeared as though spring has sprung!
If you looking to get out over the weekend the area behind Rotoroa/Pakatoa all the way out into the middle of the firth behind shag was swarming with gannets and the Kahawai we were catching had been gorging on pillies. Didn't seem to matter what soft baits we used, they all got hit.