Had a great day out today. Oily calm and nicely overcast. There was plenty of surface action to be found.
I sorted out some fussy kahawai first with microbait flies then moved out to Cape Brett in search of skippies. It was pleasing to find that there were plenty about. However, they were as difficult as ever. I went through about five different fly changes before finding something that worked. The fight that followed on the 9wt was fairly monumental. The hook was only size 8 so I nursed that fish all the way home.
The dying stages of the fight went on for nearly fifteen minutes. Trying to get such a powerful fish in the net while fishing solo was not easy. I was greatly relieved when I finally had the fish on board.
Only about my fifth skipjack tuba ever and, at four and a half kilos, easily my biggest. I was very stoked. These krill feeding Northland skippies are just about impossible to catch with a fly cast from a drifting boat so I was very very happy to put this fish in the bin.
As if to prove how difficult they are I couldn't repeat that success. I am left still scratching my head as to what the answer is with these bloody things.
Great to get one big one though!