This month’s pick report from our Jetskifishing forum, written by Peter Jacobsen
After watching the forecast and gathering advice from Andrew and other jetskifisho’s, Lincoln and I decided to have a focused attempt to land a legal kingfish. We launched from Stanmore Bay boat club at 7am just as it was becoming light. The boat club facilities are great and we were the only cars in the car park… We followed the trip plan on my GPS over a glassy calm sea, as the sun was rising in the distance.
An easy twenty minute ride had us and only one other boat at our spot near Flat Rock, at the SE side of Kawau Island. We attached our jigs (one yellow and one pink) and began the mechanical jigging as we passed over the bait fish on the sounder… After about four drops, I hooked and released an undersized Kingfish, but adding to the excitement spotted some bigger ones following the lure to the surface. Another couple of drops and I was busted off at the end of my trace by something much bigger, must be the knots I thought. Next came out the blue jig, to be back on to another few drop and retrieves. Then the hookup! After a good few minutes of give and take with the multi-coloured braid telling me it must be near the bottom, I won the battle and landed my first legal kingfish this season (8kg). Having only previously netted snapper and Kahawai, learning to gaff a much stronger fish took a few attempts, but finally managed to get him on board, and in the bin on my Ultimate Rod Holder. With its tail sticking out the top, the bungy cord was used to keep the lid down, this has not been needed before. Won’t be long and I will be getting an Ultimate Catch Bag to keep the Kingfish cool.
With the adrenaline flowing, it was back in to the jigging action. This time, a 40cm snapper, proving that these fish will take anything when they are hungry. Another couple of retrieves and reset the drift, another solid Kingfish hook up. After a couple of minutes of reel screaming and bent rod, it busted off again at the same place at the end of my trace! This one was bigger than the last, but I must be doing something wrong… Within seconds, Lincoln’s rod bent over and he too was on and enjoying the jigging buzz. After a good tussle and a couple of aching arms, he landed his first kingfish at 8.5kg. We had succeeded in our mission: A legal kingfish each and all within an hour of launching.
We continued to jig for a bit longer, but eventually the arms gave in, and we resorted to some soft bait snapper fishing. With the lighter gear and soft baits, Lincoln landed a few snapper to add to his catch.
As more boats started to arrive, the bites stopped and the baitfish were demolishing the plastics. We moved around a bit, but with no decent sign on the sounder we decided to head for home on the calm following sea. We retraced our track on the GPS and soon had us back near the Whangaparaoa Peninsular and approaching some surface feeding Kahawai a few hundred metres off the beach. Lincoln had mentioned he needed some bait for kontiki fishing on the weekend, so we tried casting a few soft baits, but without any luck.
Retrieval of the skis at low tide required the trailers to be pushed into the water by hand, but the ease of these fishing platforms proved no problem with two of us.
After talking to Andrew about the highs and lows of our trip, his knowledge of this type of fishing was evident. My multiple bust offs were caused by my selection of tackle, not my knot tying… 40lb trace is not enough. Andrew suggested 80lbto 120lb, depending on grade braid. Another good reason to be part of the jetskifishing community…
Having now landed my first legal Kingfish, I can see just how addictive this type of fishing can be. I can’t wait for the next trip with the right gear…
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