Had a look up the Wairoa Channel this morning to catch the last of the outgoing and first of the incoming which I find is the best time for kahawai action. Using the Echo 369-3 and a Charlie type variant that I call Barbie's charlies. Obviously, the fly is bright pink. Only wanted three kahawai, one for lunch and two for tea, and it didn't take long. All were prespawners in good condition. The first had eaten a squid and a cockabully that was still alive, and was released, the second had eaten 17 mud crabs, and the third, four mud crabs. The three provided great sport, so I will be back tomorrow morning. The three royal spoonbills that were filter feeding near me provided a perfect end to the excursion.

That's incredible footage Troutzilla. You wouldn't want to be doing that on a graphite rod. It has really opened my eyes. What was the outcome? Cheers

Can't complain about that. The Redington rods are outstanding hey? I believe THE most underrated manufacturer out there.

I'm up fishing the canals with Jaapie right now, and my wife's 6# Vice is just a brilliant stick for heavy nymphing.

Great thread. Keep the pics and stories coming.

What a great story and a mighty picture. Quite unreal looking at the bend in the rod. I bet you cringed when you saw the footage later. Bloody good effort on the glass. Cheers

Ha ha! Brilliant! Used to love the noodle sticks

It was really good to watch. U handled that beautifully

Good stuff Dick That's a lot of fish on the butterstick. We finally seem to have some big winter kahawai moving in up here too. Found them hitting small piper off the sand. I managed to connect to a couple of two kilo models. Great fights. They seemed very fit. And that was on a graphite nine wt! I'd probably be in all sorts of trouble with something like the 3wt butterstick

Yep, don't get me started We have the most amazing sportfish that circumnavigates the entire country and we allow it to be decimated by commercial fishermen. It is also a brilliant food resource that swims under its own steam to virtually every coastal community in NZ. Somehow commercial fishing company profits are more important. I badly miss the giant black schools of monster kahawai that used to ride the winter waves on Northland's surf beaches. Hopefully one day some NZ government will see sense and these schools will return. I'm not holding my breath though.

I'm not sure which thread to post this on so chose this one as it seems most appropriate. Spent the weekend with friends on a fly fishing adventure at Bowentown. We stayed at the Bowentown Beach Holiday Park, very comfortable accommodation that I can recommend to other Forum members. We went not knowing what to expect as a tragedy had occurred the previous Monday and a Rahui had been put in place. The park manager told us that the Rahui affected the part of the harbour between Bowentown and Katikati, and as one of our party had a flats boat, it was simple for us to comply. Our target was bow wave kahawai, one of the most exciting circumstances to catch big kahawai on fly. The big bruisers come swimming across the flats in shallow water pushing bow waves that you can see from several hundred metres. This gives you plenty of time to move to intercept the slow moving fish. The kahawai can be going with, against or across the current. My weapon of choice was an Echo River Glass 369, #3, 6'9" glass rod, a small tight water fly rod, probably not a good choice, but hey, it's my choice.  (cont.)