Fishing Reports

 Hi All

While the weather for the last two months hasn't been overly conductive to fishing, no-one has told the fish that!

It has been an awesome season as far as kingis go, and this jigging caper seems to be taking the NZ fishing world  by storm! There has beeen no end of Jigging Master rods, Daiwa and Shimano jigging reels coming on board our trips to the Aldermen Islands, and both of my latest jig orders have been met with a grim reply, it seems there has been a bit of a spending spree on jigs lately!

The horse of a fish pictured opposite was caught over the weekend on a Jigging Master rod and Daiwa Expedition spinning reel, and on one of my favourite jigs - the Pink Katch1 from Sportfishing NZ. The fish went 27kg on the scales, was nearly as wide as the boat and would easily have gone well over 30kg had it scoffed some breakfast - as you can see it is pretty skinny and slabby - a contrast to many of the other fish who are in very solid condition.

It seems the word is well and truly out about how good this Katch1 jig is as they is currently a six week wait on them , thanks to the guys from Sportfishing NZ who managed to scrape together the last six at the warehouse to send to us!!

The kingis are not the only one pouncing on the Heavy Metal...the 'puka love them too.  The technique is slighty different to targeting kingis, more old school like the bottom bouncing that used to be popular targeting snapper with jigs.

The water is still pretty cold around Tairua and the Aldermen Islands - 14-15 degrees in fact so the puka are about as close in as they get.  We try not to give them too much of a hammering as we all know hapuku are a slow growing fish but there is nothing wrong with taking one or two fish for the boat on a trip, especially if there are already a few other fish in the bin.

Hot colours seem to be anything with a little bit of lumo, with the main colours being blue and green. Tony from YeeHaa Fishing Tackle in Auckland has been out with us on a few trips lately and will be able to fill you in on just which jigs are working with the Puka - the River2Sea jig pictured below accounted for a nice puka for one of his customers.

As for the snapper they are pretty spread out from 5m in close out to 100m at the back of the Aldies, and well, a few snapper to add to puka and kingfish rounds off a pretty epic day doesn't it! 

We're trying to release most of the fish we catch over 20kg, in my mind it makes sense that we leave all of these trophy fish in the ocean, they are the prime breeding stock and with more people out there jigging these days it won't take long before the fishery takes a hammering if we're not careful.

Kerren Packer released this horse of a fish with us last month. It was a big fat pig of a fish that would have gone somewhere between 25kg and 30kg, Kezza estimated it as better than his previous personal best of 26kg. After a quick photo or two the fish was put back in the water to fight another day.

There have been no shortage of fish over that magic 20kg mark that we've caught thanks to other anglers releasing them previously.

GAMEFISHING SEMINARS IN NOVEMBER

We're lucky to have some very talented fishermen here in New Zealand. One of those is lure maker and game skipper BONZE. If you are looking for an edge for the coming season we might just have the answer!

Bonze has just arrived home from a stint fishing the blue marlin mecca's of Cape Verde and the Azores.

We've been lucky enough to secure his services on board Epic Adventures for a few days in the first week of November and will be running on board gamefishing seminars that week in preparation for the coming season. We figure the best way to run a session like this is on the water so that you can see his lures in action!

There will be four spots each day and Bonze will be sharing some of his secrets, especially around fishing his lures. The seminars are geared at learning and education rather than catching a gamefish as the water will still be a touch on the cold side, but weather permitting we'll also stop for a jig to ensure you don't come home empty handed.

JIGGING TRIPS

We have plenty of mid week spaces on jigging trips coming up.  The trips are suited for everyone from first timers through to experienced fishermen.  There have been no shortage of first timers who have gone away having released a 20kg plus fish on their first outing so come out and give it a shot!

All the best

Carl Muir

http:///www.epicadventures.co.nz