Took my 8.5 yr old son out on the water yesterday afternoon / evening on the Viking 2+1. This was his first time out fishing on a kayak with dad so I was quite careful to make sure everything was right. Took us about an hour to get ready and on the water! We eventually got paddling by around 5:30pm. He was a very good boy and very helpful with paddling and navigating to our spot with the handheld GPS. Anchored and burleyed up and wasn't long until we were into bites. First fish was mine a nice little Snapper. Whoop! Only there for 10 mins sweet. Daniel was getting bites but nothing sticking. I had another Snapper before too long. Was really hoping and praying he would get one too and sure enough he was on! His technique for bringing it in was textbook. So proud was dad. Lift and wind, lift and wind. Up pops a very respectable first Snapper for him and into the net. Yes!!! A bit of a lull in bites them Daniel's rod bends over big time. A 5min battle again with champion technique up pops a 7 gill shark to which he was very excited. Had to cut the line as it was a little fiesty. Next was me on with another small Snap. After that something very weighty takes off with mine. Feels very sharky and sure enough another seven gill . Much bigger this time at around 2m. Should have cut the line earlier as it freaked both myself and the boy out a bit. Could have said the S word as it slapped the side of the kayak with its tail on the way down. Bites slowed down considerably and caught another shark so decided to pull the pin.
Very happy with our outing. Daniel was stoked to be out and to catch one too. Great conditions. Can't wait to get him out again if the conditions allow.

Shame the sharks turned up...

What's a good wind to fish puk bay?

Merry Xmas All,

Santa bought the best present! Flat calm water! Not sure Id be welcome home though if i snuck out today 😳

Might have to wait til tomorrow... Which looks good too. I hope the snaps are hungry 👍

Have a good one everyone

Planned to head out with the hoards as well on boxing day but left the paddle at home and went on a boat instead. Managed a bunch of blue cod and I got a kingi which was cool. Anyway enough talk of those noisy machines and onto yakking..

Shot out the harbour this morning to pretty nice conditions.

Tonne of kahawai and mackeral around, tried live baiting but could only forsee a big tangle comping up as he wouldn't leave the side of the yak.

Managed a few snaps, couple keeper gurnards and a couple others released.

nice one Ants. a good feed there!

i shoulda done harbour yesterday too but decided to try and make amends for a poor effort last sunday at puks. pretty much did a repeat of last week yesterday...came home snapperless and having lost 6 traces to big fast fish some (if not all) of which were thresher sharks....i end up leaving once i could see a few circling under the yak! sitting in a pool of fresh ky blood in my yak prob wasnt a great idea! they go super fast when hooked...gd fun but not so good on the gear or them😳

saw Dan hook into something big and fast too. mate that reel was screaming!

think ill stick to evenings out west. have been doin really well on the snaps until tryin mornings. anyone else notice the same?

could there be a window to get out tmrw? place your bets now... weather forecasts are all over the place!

Hey Guys

Am selling my Prowler Ultra 4.7 over on trademe if anyone is interested

Cheers Gareth


Trade Me Auction

kiwifred wrote: picked up a couple of new spots i want to try out but this damn wind is starting to get to me again. went up to the BOP for xmas and only managed to get out once for no result. was hoping to get out on the weekend but looks like its going to be to windy again....might just go for a paddle

Deeble wrote: Have any of you guys fished inside the western ledge off Tarakena Bay? I had an evening drive around the coast tonight to at least see the water during yet another NW gale and it looked like a nice sheltered spot to try in more pleasant conditions and some interesting terrain further out for a calm day that looks very kingyish on navionics.  I also spied a few other potential spots that also looked fairly well protected from the North too like on the sand behind breaker bay too. I'm keen to try and locate a few spots that can be fished in moderate N - NW winds when the west coast isn't on.