Rippton are supporting all drone anglers throughout New Zealand via sponsorship of our Landbased & Surfcasting Forum - your hub of discussion for landbased fishing in NZ. Or to find out more about Rippton Drones, visit their website here.

The use of drones has taken the Kiwi fishing community by storm over the past five years. What started as individuals building custom drones has morphed into an industry all its own, with multiple fishing drone options now available for land-based anglers.

Drone fishing is the perfect combination of surfcasting and longline/kontiki fishing. Anglers still get the thrill of playing a fish (or multiple fish) on a rod and reel but get the benefits of long-range deployment that a kontiki usually offers.

I’ve kept a close eye on this up and coming fishing method, watching new developments and the release of drones with more range, bigger payloads and better safety features with interest. When the opportunity came to test one out, I (and the rest of the NZFN team) jumped at the chance.

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Enter the Rippton Mobula drone

The range of fishing drones available is broad. To get to know the sport a bit better, we enlisted the help of a Rippton Mobula, one of the top-end models, with its 2.5kg payload, 10,000mAh battery and IP56 waterproof (and buoyant) design.

To showcase the abilities of the Mobula, the NZ Fishing News team spent an afternoon with Shawn Sangster of Nacsan (Rippton’s NZ distributor) at a quiet beach bordering Auckland’s Tamaki Strait. The area, while not a big fish destination, is known for its consistent tern workups and pannie snapper and is clear of no-fly zones.

Upon arriving at our spot, Shawn’s set-up took a mere 10 minutes. Out of the truck came the drone, a Shimano Forcemaster electric reel mounted on a 24kg LBG (land-based game) rod, complete with a small rod-mounted battery.

The drone itself was larger than most models but still lighter and more compact than a lot of other land-based fishing systems. It can be transported in either a protective case or a convenient backpack.

I’ll admit to a fleeting glimpse of hesitancy when unpacking the complex looking bit of kit, but Shawn assured me that it was ‘easy as’! The Rippton Mobula is a genuinely automatic model. While the kit comes with a remote controller, it’s nearly obsolete as all navigation, bait deployment and return to home functions are through the Rippton app. Anyone who can operate a smartphone will be able to fly this drone with ease.

Getting out there

We loaded the app to a smartphone, synced it up with the drone and after a quick calibration and baiting of hooks (Nacsan sell pre-rigged traces which were quick to attach), we were ready to fly.

The drone flying works with a simple pin-drop method. We chose a spot roughly 500m from shore where we could see the odd splash and tern dropping to the water. With the area locked in on the app, the drone lifted off and headed to its destination. On arrival at Spot X, the app prompted us to swipe across the screen, instructing the drone to deploy its fishy cargo. A 720p live feed camera shows you exactly what’s below. Another quick swipe and the drone returned to its landing pad on the beach.

Watching our baits fly out on the camera had us scheming all manner of ideas – could we deploy berley and traces out together? Could we fly a livebait out to a likely kingfish haunt? The opportunities seemed endless.

It didn’t take long before the tip of the rod started bouncing as fish enquired at our offerings, leaving us novices excitedly bouncing around on the beach like we had just discovered the joy of fishing for the first time.

Shawn, cool as a cucumber, hoisted the rod from its beach spike and engaged the electric reel, gently playing the fish back to the beach. The sight of this Gulf snapper riding its way into the beach was the most exciting thing I’d seen all week!

We were itching to get another set of baits out (the battery on the Mobula gives 15 minutes of flight time – enough for two deployments), but time dictated otherwise, so we packed the drone and kit back into the truck.

It took us just over an hour on the beach to set up, ‘cast’ out, catch fish for dinner, and get packed up again. Whether you’re after a feed or a relaxing way to enjoy your land-based fishing, drones are the way to go!

Want to know more?

If you’re curious about drone fishing, my advice is to find a local dealer near you and join a demo day.

For more information on the Rippton Mobula visit www.ripptonnz.co.nz