Fishing Reports

Hello!

This past week we had the pleasure of Ian Ruthven and his partner Melodie take advantage of our great package deals. Ian is a well known fly fishing guide from Taupo, www.absolutelyangling.co.nz , and he was keen to get his line wet in the ol' briny.

So on Thursday we headed out under a brilliant sunny blue sky and with the real warmth in the air that signals summer is not far away. And on reaching Piercy Island the sight that greeted us was more than we could have hoped for...huge schools of trevs and koheru on the surface feeding on krill...always a sight to warm any fisho's heart!

So with a whoop Ian was into them and within minutes a healthy sized koheru had been fooled by Ian's guile and was giving great fun on the flyrod.  Not 20 seconds after it had been brought on board Skipper Mark Vezey had it swimming again, but with a bit of body piercing!

Mark ensured the livey was swimming away and handed the rod to Melodie when WHACK! a very hungry Kingi decided  it liked the look of the pierced one and Melodie suddenly had her hands very full with a rod bent double and a singing reel. So while Mark guided the boat towards deeper water we frantically strapped a gimbal on Melodie. Now Melodie is a petite lady and this fish was very determined to get down to the bottom and cut itself free...but Melodie was even more determined this was not the way she wanted things to end up!

A battle of wills ensued and 20 minutes later and with her left bicep almost popping out of her shirt Melodie had skillfully led the kingi to the gaff and a lovely 19kg speciman was dispatched....no going hungry tonight.

Now that is what I call playng together...Ian having a ball on the flyrod and his catch leading to Melodie's Kingi...what a team!

The schools were still surrounding us making an incredible sight on the surface and Ian soon had that flyline singing out amonst them again, but they were proving had to take after that. But that only made Ian more determined to come back again with a boxful of purpose built krill flies!

That evening, back up at the apartments we had a wonderful dinner, the sun setting behind the bush covered hills, a crisp white wine,  salad, new potatoes and fresh Kingi steaks straight of the BBQ...a perfect finish to a great day

The next day they were out again with Jason, the manager of Sublime Apartments, in his small boat and another brilliant Bay of Islands day was had. This time Ian was successful in fooling trevally, kahawai on the fly, a few snapper were added to the bin and Jason went for a snorkel and came up with a bag of fat scallops....you can imagine dinner was almost better than the previous night!

Today was a different plan, we had a couple of families out on the boat, giving the parents and kids a great day out, a mix of cruising the Islands, seeing the Hole in the Rock and always a highlight, seeing the dolphins playing around the boat. A bit of time on an island for lunch and of course some fishing...a perfect family day out.

The water is warming up along with the air, a real spring/summer feel is about, the fish are biting and the evenings getting lighter and longer. And there are still great off-season rates and packages available for fishing and accommodation so gives us a bell or email and we will be more than happy to look after you. Or if you life the sound of some awesome trout fishing, including Ian's speciality of raft or drift fishing down a river over a few days take a look at his site www.absolutelyangling.co.nz

Cheers

Mark