29 Sept 2019
Having avoided any debacles with the change to daylight saving, a small but excited group of Forum members gathered at Sandspit to board JW's stylish big Surtees hard top Tickety for a much-anticipated lure trip out into the Hauraki Gulf.
Our luck was in, with a sunny, but breezy day ahead of more crap on the way.
Jonathan (JW) is rapidly making a name for himself in the charter market with Northside Adventures since making a 'sea change' from too many years behind a desk, and it's easy to see why. He'd been out in the pre-dawn catching a few livies for the trip before picking us up and his custom Surtees is a great fishing set up.
It was great to meet JW in person, and fellow members Clifftastic, Popeye, and Macrayfish. We were soon cruising out through North Channel aimed for Little Barrier, the Surtees making light work of a rising NW chop.
None of us 'crew' had been to the island before, and it was truly impressive as we approached - a looming jagged dark hulk topped with a swirling, moody, cloud. The plan was to fish softbaits in close on the sheltered sides in 10-17m, before having a crack in the deep drifting kaburas.
With the big shute deployed, we spread around the boat and gave it heaps. Clifftastic is a softbait newbie, but soon had the technique nailed, and was the first to hook up. Just a little one, but he got on to a couple of nice ones later in the high-50cms. JW regularly reset our drifts and I got on the board with a twin of Clifftastic's fish in the high 50cms on a Z Man Fusilier 7", and lost what felt like a heavy fish which just sat there as a dead weight, then broke me off on a rock just as it woke up to the fact that it was hooked. Typical!
We shifted to a number of spots around the coastline, all of us in awe of the Jurassic-looking vegetation spilling down to the rocky beaches, and the amazing birdsong. What a place!
We had a small kahawai livie out and the drag screamed at one point. JW thought he saw a big snapper-like shape mooching around near the concerned bait.
The story of the morning was fairly tough fishing in close, so we headed out wider and though JW had us over plenty of sign, the fish had their mouths shut except for a few nibbles and one pannie for Popeye. JW couldn't locate any workups with the binos, so in a building northerly the call was to head back to the area we had done best on the softies.
Little Barrier is certainly a soft baiting Mecca, with patches of foul and pristine sand visible below even in 12m. To show us amateurs how it's done, JW had a cast from the anchor well and immediately nailed a beauty in the mid-60cms on a Motor Oil jerk shad and passed it to Clifftastic to fight with aplomb. I got another nice fish which fought powerfully - again on the Fusilier colour, which was working best for me.
The call was made to head for home about 4pm, and despite JW saying it was very hard fishing, I had really enjoyed having the chance to fish such a beautiful place and land a few really solid string pulling fish. I'll have to go back with JW to have round two with the biggie that eluded me this trip.
It was a slower trip home across lumpy seas before we stopped off at a couple of spots near Kawau - last chance saloon, and Popeye nailed a nice pannie. A fitting end to a great day on the water.
If you are a keen lure fisho, particularly softbaiting, I'd highly recommend a trip with JW and Northside. JW never stopped working to get us on to fish, has quality gear on board if you don't bring your own. We ended up with plenty of fish to go home with, but for me it was more about the chance to get out to an area I'd heard so much about but would never be able to fish under my own steam.
Thanks JW for putting on a special price for us members. We appreciate it and I look forward to another trip with you one day soon. I had a fantastic day, and to Popeye, Macrayfish and Clifftastic, thanks for the fun company and banter.
I didn't get any pics of fishing action, but here's one of the stunning island.