Growing up in Beach haven as a kid the Waitemata was my back yard for many years through out the late 70's and 80's, surfcasting the likes of Greenhithe bridge, Beach haven wharf, Island bay, Kauri point, Birkenhead wharf and Fishermans were my spot X's.
I remember as a young teenager we even use to hire Mr Larkens boat at Beach haven, me and a few mates use to row down the Harbour after collecting crabs and shrimp for bait and drop our hand lines just off Hobson army base. As a kid most of my mates weren't as mad as me when it came to fishing and most would fall a sleep after making them fish for hours. We use to get some good fish but my favorite was just hand lining off the wharf for spotties, good size and plenty in the bin we got a good feed out of them.
I fished the area a few times in friends boats and also once I got my own my mates and I had some special fishing days around Chelsea and Meola reef right up to Greenhithe bridge, lots of nice Snapper around 60-70cm and a magic spot that gave us some nice Kingfish action constantly with some beauts 15-20kilo.
With some nice weather for the weekend I decided to pick up the little tin and take the Sis out for an old haunt mooch, we made our way to Birkenhead and launched around 8.00am. I haven't fished the area for a good 7-8yrs now and it was going to be interesting to see if a couple of my close by spot X's would still produce the goods. We were there mainly for Snapper but had a go at the kings first with no luck, this spot would just about hold a king or two 99% of the time until the word got out.
I will be back to try this again at some stage but we moved on after 10mins or so to my first spot off Chelsea, it's quite deep this spot and we use to move around with in 50mtrs with great results.
We arrived on the slack low and set up for the morning, there was little wind and the Sis had already enjoyed the start of the day. It's great to go fishing with someone that buzzes with just magic conditions, a fish in the bin just adds excitement to a great day. I had my sister start on a dropper as it's a little easier to fish with in current, I had a 2oz ball straight to the hook - cubes of pillie and squid for bait.
One other thing I love about fishing in the tin is no sounder - it adds to the old school ways. I remembered a post and yacht I use to line up with, it gave me goose bumps remembering the old days. I use to fish the area a little earlier, more mid to late Spring just before the pohutu blossomed and the E - N/E winds kick in and push the fish up the Harbour. Our first baits were in and it didn't take long for the bites to come on, our first fish were small around 25-30cm - a lot smaller than what I remember.
As the bites came on more with the smell of our bait swirling around the better fish came in, my first keeper was around 38cm. Gen's first fish was a surprise to me as it was a big Carrot, the size was impressive like the ones we get out West but before I could grab the leader it fell of. I was pretty guttered as that would of been our first ever Gurnard for the Waitemata but know over the past couple years they have started to show up here. Each bait dropped was pretty much instantly bitten or grabbed, the Sis got a couple of solid hits to. As the tide started to run the fish came more and more aggressive, there were lots of fish around that 30cm which were going back strong and healthy as we were picking up some better ones around that 40cm in between.
After catching a few we decided to move around and try a few other old spots, they all produced but nothing of great size like we use to constantly catch back in the day - but like I said the water was warmer and a little later than I use to fish it for the better fish and this is when the smaller fish also make there way up the Harbour.
It was awesome coming back after such a long stint of not fishing the area and great to see there was still plenty of fish about, we ended up with a couple of nice fish to between 40-50cm with the rest around 35-40cm. There is still a handful of spots I would like to fish that we didn't get to - great day fishing the old haunts with the Sis in the little tin....I will be back and maybe next time spend a little more time on the Kings.
Beachaven wharf was my fishing platform in the mid 60's. Handcaster was my pride and joy after saving pocket money to catch pakati and small snapper.
Frank Larkin was a Beachaven icon that literally dug and wheelbarrowed thousands of cubic metres of mud from Beachaven beach and used old tyres to create huge retained areas that in later years were grassed. This sort of work would be prohibed now sadly but Mr Larking was one of a kind.His dinghy was available for hire but I was too young and not allowed to hire it not because Mr Larking said but my parents.
My mate and I walked our home made long lines out across the mudflats from the Ranch House and caught rig sometimes. We were about 9 or 10.
Joined: 12 Oct 2014
Location: Matamata
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Points: 339
We came up there on Thursday Jase, tried the very same areas you spoke of with lures only, Spent the morning down that end then up to the naval whaft, then around to rangitoto channel......ZIPP. But it was quality time out with my son
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