Another day to remember
Today's plan was to target Kingfish and Gurnard. I had seen some being caught on the beaches so I thought a few would be hanging around still. I got on the water nice and early at 6.30 and began searching for some baitfish. After making it off the front of the flat rock. I found the bait and caught a few mackerel with no trouble.
I quickly deployed one onto my 24kg rod and started to slow troll it. Not 2 minutes later the bait got whacked and the clicker leapt to life. Yep fish on. Not any runs and weight. No way! a bloody John Dory.
He wasn't getting off. The poor mackerel was in the stomach and the 8/0 hook had somehow been taken all the way in too. My first ever for Hawkes Bay. Incredible start.
After picking up the rest of my live mackerel i headed offshore to my Kingfish spot, No bait out here or any sign of the greenback hoodlums. Gurnard time... There were some nice fishy marks hard on the bottom so i chucked the anchor down and set up shop. 1 mackerel swimming and one ledger onto the bottom. After setting up a nice tuna chunk trail, a few fish started to turn up. First were some Kahawai, then a couple panny Snapper.
Then a nice 43cm Trevally which gave me a great scrap.
Next to the party were some big marks on the bottom.
It took some time before my bait got smashed and i was on the tow. This fish was clearly a Snapper with huge headshakes and bulldozing runs. It would take as much as i would gain. After getting it near the kayak it fell off for whatever reason, long range release. about the 3kg mark anyway. The same thing happened on the next fish which was even bigger. Estimated over the 4kg mark and shook the hook out near the yak.
The big Snapper marks continued on the bottom , but none seemed to be interested in my baits for the time being. I put out a few chunks of tuna and this fired them up. Bang, another enormous hit and this one felt like Kahawai. I was quickly reassured ''I'm no Kahawai''
after it dragged my kayak around and began towing me the opposite direction. This fish had no intention of making long runs. I would gain a few metres and then the fish would take it back to the bottom. After a short time i worked the fish up and got a glimpse. Into the net it went.
A 6.2kg 70 cm Snapper.
I did not think it was going to weigh that much out on the water. The true weigh became apparent on the beach. Astonishing.
Later i caught and released a beautiful 3.5kg Snapper which fought extremely hard , well deserved freedom.
Hometime with a very very packed chill pod.
Video :
Tasman and Golden Bay snapper still running hot We are not far away from daylight... Read More >
Variety is the spice of life On one recent trip, the plan was to spend a... Read More >
Fish where the fish are! Catching fish or just going fishing? I tackle this issue... Read More >
Thoughtful tactics required for better fish Over the course of each year the fishing varies,... Read More >