Introduction...
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: JetSki (PWC) fishing
Forum Description: Doing it on a ski....
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=138256
Printed Date: 23 Jun 2026 at 10:22pm
Topic: Introduction...
Posted By: Freakaccident
Subject: Introduction...
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2024 at 11:16pm
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Hello. My name is Aaron. I live in North Carolina in the United States. I am here because PWC fishing isn't a big thing here yet and I wanted to be part of the community and share my adventures and stories. So I have been offshore fishing for many years from boats. I just purchased a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy. I have all of my gear set up and ready to go out this morning. I have never PWC fished before and I may be jumping in too quickly but we will wait and see. I have my trip planned for today. I live in North Carolina right on the border with South Carolina. I will be leaving an inlet called Little River Inlet. I plan to head out 15 miles to a waypoint that I have fished many times before. It is a ledge that holds really good Black Seabass this time of year. The seas are supposed to be 3.5 foot and 8.5 second periods. If I get out there and I am not up to it my first time there is a closer reef I can go to. I do have plenty of safety gear so do not worry. I will have an EPIRB, a Garmin InReach, and a VHF radio attached to my life vest at all times. I am going to install a fixed-mount long-range VHF as soon as I can. I will report back when I return and hopefully have some good pictures and videos to show you. I can't wait to learn more from all of you and I hope that maybe I can get a YouTube channel started here in the States to get people more interested.  |
Replies:
Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2024 at 8:17am
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So I went out today about 17 miles and bottom-fished a couple of reefs. I didn't get a single bite. Other boats were out there complaining on the radio that they weren't catching anything. A guide captain spoke up on the radio and said that the cold front and storms from the previous day had mucked everything up I left the boat ramp at sunrise. I had never launched a PWC before and didn't realize I would be getting wet feet to launch it. I was not prepared for that. I ended up wearing scuba boots all day with cold wet feet. 55 degrees F or 12.7 C is what the water temp was. The outside temp was 57 F or 13.9 C when I left and 67 F or 19.4 C when I got back. I also made a mistake and left my gloves and thermal ski mask in the foot well. Those were now wet. I wore wet gloves and didn't wear my thermal ski mask. I learned a couple of things. 1. I must use fenders when docking. PWCs are much lower than a boat. 2. Reversing is not the same as a boat. It is backward. 3. You can go MUCH faster on a PWC than in a boat in the same wave conditions for the most part. I had an amazing time. I am so glad that I just jumped right in and went for it. 17 miles offshore on my first trip out alone was pretty fun. I wasn't nervous. The seas were rougher than expected. 4 foot swells at about 8 seconds apart. I ran in Eco mode on the way out at about 30-31 MPH. I fished for a couple of hours and then headed back in. I ran in Sport mode on the way back in. I was doing about 41 MPH on the way back. Once I got back into the waterway I hit the 2-hour mark on the engine and I was able to go 56 MPH. I put a little over 2.5 hours on it today and went 57 miles total. I LOVE this and can't wait for warmer weather when the fish bite starts up. Unfortunately, I didn't get any quality videos. I had a knock-off GoPro on my life vest but the mic got muted and I didn't notice it and it was very bouncy being attached to my life vest. Can you folks give me some advice on mounting an action camera and how you are doing your filming? Thank You from Up Above, Aaron ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2024 at 10:40am
| Hey Aaron. I had 7 years jetski fishing. It was great, had a blast! Now have a boat. Not much jetski discussion on this forum. There are a few dedicated Facebook groups where there is a lot of traffic. |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2024 at 2:47pm
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As for GoPro mounting, I found a dash mount covered most bases. I would recommend Railblaza mounts. The camera can be turned backward or forward and because the lens is super wide angle, it'll catch all the action. A quick release also means that you can use it handheld. Pretty versatile. If you were serious about making videos, you might want to add a head or chest mounted camera. |
Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2024 at 3:41pm
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I had my camera mounted to my life jacket today and this is what I got. :D Terrible first video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LowCfwNWiSA" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LowCfwNWiSA ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2024 at 3:44pm
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The Railblaza stuff looks great but to get a star port mount for my ski I have to get it from NZ. I am going to order one soon if I can find a good mount that uses the factory bolts. ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: bigred1
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2024 at 6:32pm
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Hi, interesting as I am considering selling the boat for a jetski. https://jetskifishing.co.nz/" rel="nofollow - https://jetskifishing.co.nz/ is a NZ website run by Andrew Hill that sells gear specifically for the Fishpro range e.g. navigation lights that use original mounting points . He also has a few youtube clips, obviously NZ based though. |
Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 8:25am
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I am going to order Andrews's Ultimate ST3 front mount so I can mount Railblaza accessories to it. I can buy all of the Railblaza items on Amazon here in the US. The ST3 front mount I have to buy from the UK. ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 8:29am
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I have ordered the ST3 mount with Starport. What lenght of an extension should I use for my camera? Also what other accessories besides an extension would be good? ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 8:37am
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Also, I have noticed that with the waterproof case installed the mic doesn't pick up much sound. How do you manage to get decent audio with the waterproof case? ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 9:01am
| Any extension that clears the camera of obstacles directly in front of it should be fine. With the newer GoPro cameras, there's no need to use the waterproof housing. |
Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 9:20am
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Do you use any type of gimbal to stabilize it? ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 11:00am
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Also, there are some things a guy is making here that you folks down there might like. Vacuum formed fixed VHF mount POD, left side up to 9" Garmin mount/pod, and right side upgrade brackets to go to a 9" Garmin. https://www.facebook.com/groups/130093441456913/user/100009981399417/" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/groups/130093441456913/user/100009981399417/ https://www.myindustrialcompany.com/pre-order.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.myindustrialcompany.com/pre-order.html ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 11:02am
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What are the Facebook Group names that are popular for jet ski fishing down there? Thanks ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 11:06am
No need with the newer GoPro cameras, they have electronic image stabilisation and it's bloody impressive.
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Freakaccident wrote:Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 11:07am
NZ Jetskifishing Community Closed Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/896929107125372" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/groups/896929107125372
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Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 11:12am
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By the way, I had some of these and they were bloody awesome! Gave me the confidence to take my young son offshore fishing with me. https://jetskifishingmob.com.au/jet-ski-collars" rel="nofollow - https://jetskifishingmob.com.au/jet-ski-collars
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Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 12:13pm
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I don't think we can get those collars here. They are nice though. I have applied for that Facebook group. Thanks! ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 12:26pm
| The collars are made in Australia, but can be shipped anywhere in the world. There's a few reviews from US customers on the website. Well worth it in my opinion. |
Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 12:47pm
What are the benefits of having the collars? ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 1:05pm
| Stability with no loss of speed or manoeuvrability. Big help when carrying passengers. You can literally stand on the edge of one side of the ski with no drama. |
Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 1:39pm
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Do you wear ear plugs or something when go really fast? ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 2:51pm
Never went that fast 
Top speed on my FX HO was 95 km/h, after I had the custom windshield fitted that reduced to 90 km/h. Fast enough!
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Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 3:25pm
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At 90 km/h, my ears were being buffeted so much that it was uncomfortable. If I were to go on a long trip at that speed I would need earplugs. I was lucky that morning. There were no other boats out and we have this thing here called the Intracoastal Waterway 'ICW'. It starts in Texas and goes all the way up to Canada wrapping around Florida. It is a safe passageway for boats to commute along the Gulf of Mexico and up the Atlantic Coast without having to go out into the ocean. It is no less than 100 meters wide at any point. So that morning the area I was coming back through to get to the boat ramp was on the ICW, There were no other boats out and it was protected from wind and waves so the water was like glass. I could go as fast as I wanted to which is how I was able to go 56 MPH. I did that for at least 5 minutes constantly at one point. I LOVE this Sea-Doo! ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 3:42pm
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OK, try a hat with ear flaps, or a buff up over your ears. Jetskis do have a habit of turning boring middle aged men in to speed freaks
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Posted By: Freakaccident
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2024 at 4:24pm
I would agree. I wish it was faster. I am hoping to get in better shape as well. I feel like I have been beaten up. Muscles I didn't know I had are sore. ------------- Newbie PWC fisherman with a 2024 Sea-Doo Fish Pro Trophy from North Carolina, United States |