Sunday, 19 Jan.
Summer holidays have so far been about Northland farm and surf beach time with the family,so it was time for the first Auckland boat trip of 2020 - although it was also to be combined with a family island adventure.
I hit the flats off Beachlands early. Fishy looking with single gannets and terns plunging in, and the odd short and sharp kahawai boil up you could hear from a long way away in the flat calm.
I could see whitebait sized baitfish skittering at times, and heaps in the water.
But it was very still and increasingly sunny under cloudless sky, and very little snapper-ish sign in 8m. Shark-Bait used to say "find the bait, find the fish" in that area. But I found it hard going casting and dragging softbaits - Gulp and ZMan. Not really a surprise given the conditions.
I also tried a silver/black 30g micro jig Greg at GoFish recommended, fished like a softbait - cast ahead like a bullet, and twitched back fairly fast along the bottom.
Fished until low tide - kept four nice-conditioned snapper to the mid-40s, and dropped a fish that judging from the first long searing run was probably a rat kingie (big snapper pretty rare in that area). Got several fish on the micro jig which was interesting. First time i've tried it. They seem to do a lot more head shaking with the assist hook set up (one of the larger fish bit through one of the assist cords but I still hooked fish on just one hook).
Zoomed back to the beach to pick up the family for an adventure on Motuihe Island, and after several hours in stunning conditions playing on the beach we finished off with a drift on the last of the incoming through the deeper water at the southern end of Sargeant Channel. Picked up several fat keepers, again to mid 40s, which took dragged Gulp Squid Vicious on 1oz jighead, and the same micro jig as before in the rod holder.
The boys ( 6 and 4 ) took turns winding in one fish while I unhooked a fish off the other rod. Fast and furious for a few minutes before the action slowed and we headed for home with dinner and great memories of a fun day out.