Hi All, With all the big seas and limited days at the mo in Mokau I decided to take my Mac Boat out of Mokau last weekend to another area and fish for the first time! Thats since 2008 when i brought first Mac 360. Im a Member of the Waikato Sport Fishing Club and once a year they hold The Shelly beach Comp. Fairly small club and open event with around sixty entries this year. Went with my brother Mick. On arrival could cleary see all the mussel farms in the distance. We had already decided on not fishing in them and head to a channel or deeper water the next morning  to use my Mokau style of fishingIve never used sounders, apps etc for spots so we didnt have a clue where to go. Asked a local the night before and he pointed out a couple of miles offshore Goat Island and said anchor off the head land there its around 30 meters deep. So that was the plan of attack for the next day! We quickly realized once we were on the water at 6.00am you had to go through the mussle farms to get out to Goat Island. So not knowing how to do this we quickly found out we went the wrong way getting caught up on ropes Up with the outboard and let the current float us off an eventually got through. Anchoured up off Goat the going was slow, Im talking four hours  hours without a keeper! I started hitting some big Jack Macs off the Sabiki and once we had them i knew we had a better chance, Snapper Candy! Swapped the four Straylines over to Jack Macs and within ten minutes had our first Snap, nearly 4 kg. On the board! Shortly after i hooked a better one at 6.30kg. Which I later found out is a good fish for over there.I did have a serious run which was a decent one but the fish ripped the Mac off before i got to rod. A couple more around the 4 kg mark and that was the day. Time for a quick cleanup and off to the weigh in. Pretty laid back affair with quite a few chilly bins lined up. A guy a couple in front weighed a 4.1 kg Snap and that created alot of fuss as it was the biggest so far. I ended up topping it and holding on to first place and Micks 3.8kg came in fourth. Great event the prizes the people the food! I think I might have a crack at the Bounty Hunter or one of the big comps there in the future as its calm enough for the little Mac Boat and im pretty confident in a three or four day comp could pull a few 20 lb snaps..Pick of the boat outside where we stayed and launched accross the road. 

Snappa Geoff wrote: Hi All, With all the big seas and limited days at the mo in Mokau I decided to take my Mac Boat out of Mokau last weekend to another area and fish for the first time! Thats since 2008 when i brought first Mac 360. Im a Member of the Waikato Sport Fishing Club and once a year they hold The Shelly beach Comp. Fairly small club and open event with around sixty entries this year. Went with my brother Mick. On arrival could cleary see all the mussel farms in the distance. We had already decided on not fishing in them and head to a channel or deeper water the next morning  to use my Mokau style of fishingIve never used sounders, apps etc for spots so we didnt have a clue where to go. Asked a local the night before and he pointed out a couple of miles offshore Goat Island and said anchor off the head land there its around 30 meters deep. So that was the plan of attack for the next day! We quickly realized once we were on the water at 6.00am you had to go through the mussle farms to get out to Goat Island. So not knowing how to do this we quickly found out we went the wrong way getting caught up on ropes Up with the outboard and let the current float us off an eventually got through. Anchoured up off Goat the going was slow, Im talking four hours  hours without a keeper! I started hitting some big Jack Macs off the Sabiki and once we had them i knew we had a better chance, Snapper Candy! Swapped the four Straylines over to Jack Macs and within ten minutes had our first Snap, nearly 4 kg. On the board! Shortly after i hooked a better one at 6.30kg. Which I later found out is a good fish for over there.I did have a serious run which was a decent one but the fish ripped the Mac off before i got to rod. A couple more around the 4 kg mark and that was the day. Time for a quick cleanup and off to the weigh in. Pretty laid back affair with quite a few chilly bins lined up. A guy a couple in front weighed a 4.1 kg Snap and that created alot of fuss as it was the biggest so far. I ended up topping it and holding on to first place and Micks 3.8kg came in fourth. Great event the prizes the people the food! I think I might have a crack at the Bounty Hunter or one of the big comps there in the future as its calm enough for the little Mac Boat and im pretty confident in a three or four day comp could pull a few 20 lb snaps..Pick of the boat outside where we stayed and launched accross the road.

Were you fishing on the east side Geoff out from Hahei

Welcome to the dark side Geoff,knew we should of crossed the firth on Friday

Kandrew wrote: Snappa Geoff wrote: Hi All, With all the big seas and limited days at the mo in Mokau I decided to take my Mac Boat out of Mokau last weekend to another area and fish for the first time! Thats since 2008 when i brought first Mac 360. Im a Member of the Waikato Sport Fishing Club and once a year they hold The Shelly beach Comp. Fairly small club and open event with around sixty entries this year. Went with my brother Mick. On arrival could cleary see all the mussel farms in the distance. We had already decided on not fishing in them and head to a channel or deeper water the next morning  to use my Mokau style of fishingIve never used sounders, apps etc for spots so we didnt have a clue where to go. Asked a local the night before and he pointed out a couple of miles offshore Goat Island and said anchor off the head land there its around 30 meters deep. So that was the plan of attack for the next day! We quickly realized once we were on the water at 6.00am you had to go through the mussle farms to get out to Goat Island. So not knowing how to do this we quickly found out we went the wrong way getting caught up on ropes Up with the outboard and let the current float us off an eventually got through. Anchoured up off Goat the going was slow, Im talking four hours  hours without a keeper! I started hitting some big Jack Macs off the Sabiki and once we had them i knew we had a better chance, Snapper Candy! Swapped the four Straylines over to Jack Macs and within ten minutes had our first Snap, nearly 4 kg. On the board! Shortly after i hooked a better one at 6.30kg. Which I later found out is a good fish for over there.I did have a serious run which was a decent one but the fish ripped the Mac off before i got to rod. A couple more around the 4 kg mark and that was the day. Time for a quick cleanup and off to the weigh in. Pretty laid back affair with quite a few chilly bins lined up. A guy a couple in front weighed a 4.1 kg Snap and that created alot of fuss as it was the biggest so far. I ended up topping it and holding on to first place and Micks 3.8kg came in fourth. Great event the prizes the people the food! I think I might have a crack at the Bounty Hunter or one of the big comps there in the future as its calm enough for the little Mac Boat and im pretty confident in a three or four day comp could pull a few 20 lb snaps..Pick of the boat outside where we stayed and launched accross the road.  Were you fishing on the east side Geoff out from Hahei

Hi Kandrew We were on Westside! Pic is from Oamaru Bay a couple of minutes from Shelly Beach which is five minutes out from Coromandle township.

Pcj wrote: Welcome to the dark side Geoff,knew we should of crossed the firth on Friday

Cheers Pcj, nice description! alot of boats alot of places to launch, great scenery, friendly people. definately going back...