Insane winter workups - carnage in the FC430

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    Posted: 15 Jul 2019 at 6:03pm
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The other day my mate Luuk contacted me to see if I was keen to take him out for a fish on the little FC430 - I hadn't fished with him for awhile and I was keen to get him out on the Kaipara to chase some carrots, but with a N-NW wind on the cards for Saturday I decided to go to plan B and head along the East coast which was going to be more sheltered for us in the little boat.

The thought was to head to either Omaha or just launch out off Wenderholm. I hadn't fished both areas for a while but knew either would be sweet in the NW wind, the tide was going to be a little late for Wenderholm but driving through Orewa we made the decision to launch Wenderholm and fish the coast up to Mahu and maybe even head to Motuora for a big berley sesh in the shallows. Further on driving past Hatfields I noticed quite a bit of white water on the point and pulling over I had to take a second look only to see a mass of diving Gannets working hard.

Carrying on we arrived at Wenderholm and as we launched we were wondering if it was maybe worth heading back towards the workup, or would it be finished by the time we got there. To make things worse we were an hour out from low knowing we would be pretty much getting out of the boat at some stage to drag it over the river shallows. One good thing is we had the little FC430 and I knew we would be able to do it easily. The shallow corner was coming up fast and with the hull hitting the sandy bottom we were both over the side quick smart pushing.

It took a little while but making it to the other side we were back in and on our way again - although things like this can be frustrating I do quite like it as it just adds a bit of fun to my little adventures. Coming out through the entrance we could instantly see birds working along the coast towards Hatties, racing over to a few birds that were working close by Luuk dropped a little jig while I sorted out my softbait gear. Looking down to where we had seen the workup when driving there was still a heap of white water with Gannets dive bombing. Once I had set up my gear and Luuk pulling in a couple small Snaps and Kahawai I fired up the merc and we flat tacked along the coast, the closer we got the more birds we saw. There was a heap of Gannets sitting on the water further out with 2-3 closer to shore workups going on, it was just a huge mass of workups in a radius of 2-3 football fields.

The great thing was some of the Gannets were working in a tight pack at each workup and even better we were the only boat there with one Kayaker and another guy on a jetski, we had all this commotion to ourselves. Getting to the first workup we started our drift with huge boil-ups all around us, there was hundreds of anchovies / sardines being rounded up and totally annihilated. We threw our first baits, Luuk was still on the little lure and I was on the softies. We both pretty much hooked up straight away on Kahawai, there was just Kahawai on top of Kahawai and we had another 6-7 if not more following our hooked up fish. When the workups are thick like this with kahawai I prefer to stay further away, and even more so when in such shallow water.

I find the Kahawai are thick right where the birds are diving then once they move past the Kahawai thin out then it is just Snapper time with the odd Kahawai, once the work up had shifted we stuck at it working the area instead of moving. These areas still hold a heap of fish even up to 30-40mins after workups have stopped. I like to work them and only move once we have had no takers after a few casts, we would do this then fire up head back to a work up and repeat it all again. After each workup passed it gave us fish constantly and we could even see a few Snapper just under the surface or even following hooked fish. There was a lot 35cm fish with some chunky Kahawai that Luuk was keen to take home to make a curry so we binned a few fat Kahawai for him.

Every bait cast was hit instantly and into our 6-7th workup once again catching a few kahawai they would past then we started working the back end of it more seriously, my softbait was hit and hit hard this time - it was a nice fish. The rod loaded up and buckled I was hooked up to fish of the day , still nothing big but it was a lot better than the 35-40cm fish we had been catching constantly. It wasn't a bad fish at around 50cm and a cool little fight on the light gear - It was good to see there was some better fish in among the smaller ones. Luuk had also swapped over to the softies and was picking up a few nice fish around 40-45cm. Once again twitching the bait my rod buckled over and I was hooked up again, it was a better fish than the previous one I had just caught. Luuk was hoping it was just a big Kahawai but I knew it was a nice snap as it was even pulling a bit of line.

I could see a lot more pink on this one and got Luuk to ready the net - a nice 60cm fish came up, Luuk gave me the look and netted it for me - it was a nice fish and fish of the day. We followed the work ups along the coast which was heading back towards Waiwera and after Luuk and I had caught a few more nice fish from 40-45cm for the bin we called it a day. 
What an epic mid winter catch up fishing sesh it was with Luuk, huge workups non-stop over the 5-6hrs we were there and even left with them still working off the bay.

A great day out fishing with a mate in the little FC and a few nice fish in the bin - what more could you want.

Tight lines















































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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote Rumblefish1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2019 at 8:08pm
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Nice snaps I was in kaipara on Saturday in my fc 430
Got some nice fat snaps and gurnard
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Rumblefish1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2019 at 8:11pm
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