Charter fishing is something I don't do myself but when I had the opportunity to be aboard Double Rum with a few work colleagues and help out with a few keen young anglers I couldn't resist, one thing I love is fishing with kids and seeing the big smiles on the dials is the best part of the day. When fishing with kids you don't have to catch big fish or a lot of fish and it really brings the kid back out in you.
We all meet up at Gulf Harbour which is along the Whangaparoa Peninsular just North of Auckland, we also had a few of The Warehouse crew coming along with their kids for a spot of fishing. The boat docked in just after 7.30 and we all made our way along the famous Pier Z, of you that don't know about Pier Z it is a special place in the marina that holds some special residents. As you walk along the walk way around midway you start to see ripples and most times people pointing and gasping, as your eyes adjust to the outlines big King fish and Snapper start to take shape. This is their own little fishing reserve right at your toes, there are numerous Snapper, Kahawai, Parore, some nice big Kings and occasionally you see a couple of big stingray wings come out of the water from the local ray that rubs it self along the rocks.
Before we even started the kids suggested we didn't need to even go on the boat we could catch big fish right here, there adventure was of to a great start by feeding the fish before we left - and yes there is no fishing allowed and this is why the marina now has there own little fishing reserve going on it is absolutely great to see these fish swimming in the wild.
After Skipper Brett had a 5min safety talk we made our way out towards the middle grounds, they do a lot of fishing in this area and this time of year can hold schools of fish making it a easy and a fun day putting the crew onto fish. The wind had died away the further we went and soon we could make out lots of Gannets sitting and occasionally feeding in the area. All the way out there was great sign on the sounder and getting to his fishing grounds and a lot more sign on the Simrad Brett pulled Double Rum ot of gear and it was time to drop away. We were using a mixture of Maxistrike Slippery sliders, Fanky's and even had a few flasher rigs to play with for the day, and with us all dropping away the sounder was telling no lie.
We had one of the young fellas hooked up with in minutes, seconds later he was having a ball pulling in his first fish of the day. Then the rest of the kids followed suit as well as mum's and dads - everyone was having a ball with fish coming aboard at will and we had only just arrived. The young fella was into his second, third and fourth fish with his sister close behind, squeals and laughter was contagious and the whole boat was a buzz. We had about 6 kids on board with 6 hookups at once with mum and dads also hooked up, it was all hands on deck from the Skipper and his son as well as me lending a hand with the catches.
There were sporadic workups with Gannets and Dolphins and the whole area with in a mile or two was very fishy, we only moved a couple times even though we left fish to find fish - this was more to give the guys a couple of minutes break time and something to quickly eat on the move. The kids were loving it fishing from the bow and stern of the boat - Double Rum is a great boat for charter fishing as it has a great platform to fish from right around the boat. Everyone aboard thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the Kids did well with pretty much non stop fishing the whole time.
It was great seeing kids smiles from ear to ear no matter what the fish was, that's the one thing I love about when fishing with kids it is very special and makes the day on the water very enjoyable
Skipper Brett called it a day around 2.30 as we had plenty of fish on board and the 90min run back to port was perfect for the 4.00 o'clock finish, It was a nice cruise back with everyone talking about the great day they all had, the kids still buzzing with the odd one asleep up top in the warm sun. It was a brilliant day for all on board and arriving back at the dock it was back to the kids feeding a few more fish which were waiting at the back of the boat.
If your looking at doing a charter with a few mates or work colleague's get hold of the guys from Double Rum for a great day on the water
Keep fishing and tight lines