Hauraki Express skipper Nick Jones has spent his fair share of time fishing out wide on big boats, but after recently purchasing his own 3.5m Smartwave dinghy, he rediscovered the simple joys of small vessels.

After spending most of the last few years hooning around out wide on Hauraki Express charter boats, a recent experience opened my eyes once again to the joys of smaller craft. My mate George and I were doing some filming around the Coromandel with Just Another Fisherman and had borrowed a 4.3m Extreme tiller-steer for a few days. Even with the inclement spring weather, we kept up with the bigger boats, caught some great fish, and had a blast. So, it didn’t take long until I began perusing the internet for my own fishing and diving pocket-rocket…

What’s good about small boats?

There are plenty of benefits with owning small boats, but a major drawcard for many is cost-effectiveness. A new 6m aluminium or fibreglass trailerboat with a 4-stroke engine and electronics will set you back around $100k, whereas you can grab a new 3.5-4m dinghy with a 2-stroke or small 4-stroke for around $10-15k. You’ll also enjoy much cheaper operating costs with small boats, including less fuel, lower servicing fees, less maintenance and fewer extras.

With smaller vessels come fewer headaches. I think most experienced mariners can relate to the fact that problems rise at an exponential rate as boat size increases. Basically, there’s just more things to go wrong in the harsh marine environment, and there’s nothing worse than the sick feeling of breaking down on the water or finding something needs professional attention just as you’re gearing up for a big mission. Launching, retrieving, manoeuvring and storing a little vessel are all a breeze too.

Fully loaded for a weekend camping escape.

A huge positive in my books is the ability for small boats to sneak around the shallows and get right up into rocky nooks and crannies. Soft-baiting and stick-baiting in close is such a fun way to target snapper and kings, and often the best paua and cray territory is right up where others don’t bother to look. If you bump into a rock along the way, who cares – a few scrapes will increase your mana when you return to the beach or ramp, especially if you have a big kingie awkwardly flopping out of your necessarily small chilly bin!

Brooke Jones soft-baiting the shallows for some nice snapper.

Cost and practicalities aside, wee boats are simply a barrel of laughs. The satisfaction of learning the right combination of choke and throttle to start your temperamental 2-stroke first go, the art of leaning forward to get onto the plane, the responsiveness of the tiller, the feeling of wind in your hair and the fact that a whoopsie is far less significant to a budget vessel all make it a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Finding my perfect rig

Following a decent amount of research, my target was acquired – a 3.5m Smartwave. Being polyethylene (plastic), they are heavier and more forgiving than their aluminium counterparts, which gives them a good ride and makes them very quiet at rest which is great for stealthy fishing. Plus, my old man has a plastic dinghy he purchased back in the medieval period and he’s still using it to haul in the Bay of Island’s 20-pounders!

Chatting with a few mates, it seemed that pre-2018 hulls were the best bet. Regardless, my budget was under $10k so second-hand suited me just fine. Luckily for me, a friend-of-a-friend Terry Clynes had a 2013 model he was looking to part ways with. Best of all, it had a 2019 Suzuki 30hp 2-stroke clamped to the transom bracket that takes a lean 100:1 fuel to oil mix – this thing would go like the clappers!

Meeting up with Terry, he regaled me with tales of circumnavigating Waiheke Island and chasing workups out in the middle of the Hauraki Gulf on the 12ft green weapon. I rated the good underseat dry storage areas – two of which can be utilised as small chilly bins or livie tanks. He’d also set it up well with some handy extras like dry rod storage and carpeted floors. I was so impressed I took it off his hands that afternoon, but not before giving him some alone time to say his farewells.

That evening was spent hurriedly preparing her for her (third or fourth) maiden voyage. A couple of lifejackets, a small toolbox, a hand-pump, an outboard flag, and a handheld VHF were assembled, and the forecast was looking perfect for a topwater dawn raid on some kingfish up north.

The adventures begin

On the first trip, my mate George Bourke and I hit the beach before sunrise. We slid the green machine off the trailer onto the sand and then simply dragged her into the water – no need to even get the trailer wet! With plenty of horses on the back, she got onto the plane with ease and comfortably cruised at around 20knts. At WOT, she was a bit like a bucking bronco which was to be expected from a 12ft dinghy going full noise.

Within no time we were approaching our destination – a large reef with good current flow that typically holds packs of kings in late spring. It didn’t take too long before our stickbaits began raising a few greenbacks, and we were impressed with the stability of the Smartwave for standing, casting and working lures. I was first to hook-up – an impressive side-on take at pace with the fish inhaling the lure. The scrap was awesome, with the dinghy getting towed around a bit before the fish was subdued, photographed and released. There were chahoos all-round as the boat was christened in fine form and its new name was decided – Greenback. George was in on the action next with a strike right by our feet – the kings didn’t seem to mind the little boat at all. George kept casting and landed another king while I nabbed a snapper on soft-bait for the folks back home. We returned to the beach at 9:30am – mission accomplished and only 5L of gas used!

Dinghies are perfect for exploring because you can just leave them sitting on the sand.

I’ve done a few trips on Greenback since – a mixture of diving, fishing, eging for squid, exploring and camping. It has filled the inshore brief well and already helped me discover a few hidden gems close to home that I otherwise would’ve left in my wake. Hopefully there are many more adventures to come. 

Small Boat Trips

• Don’t fret if you don’t have a fish-finder or chart-plotter – I haven’t really missed electronics yet on Greenback, although having the Navionics app on your phone is handy and admittedly I’m a bit of a chart nerd so have a fair idea of location and water depth in my local haunts. Using a pair of polarised sunnies and reading the water and currents for signs of life can go a long way.

• Assume everything could get wet – dry-bags and good jackets are key.

• Keep it minimal – only pack what you need to keep things uncluttered.

• Stow some towels onboard for drying the morning dew or sea spray off seats.

• Without an electric bilge-pump, a hand-pump or sponge is handy for getting rid of water when your boat is at rest.

• Be careful coming off the plane – the Greenback needs a burst of throttle just after slowing down to avoid the wake catching up and coming over the stern.