Report 003 Ahaaha's July 15th 2009

With a slow day of work on Wednesday the 15 th of July and the constant phone calls, saying how nice the day on the water is! I swiftly rearranged my day for an afternoon fish, launching at my usual spot, being Bucklands Beach ramp in Auckland at 1.15 pm.
It was an hour after high tide, so my intentions were to head out to my latest fish farm at the Ahaaha's, then if no joy chase some work ups. The swell was a little more than I expected and was producing a consistent big air ramp, all the way to the Maria's, here I was thinking I was in for a smooth run! For this trip I was well wrapped up with my full cold weather riding kit, including a balaclava, a real plus for the Winter’s Jetskifishing trips. On arrival at the Ahaaha's, I went to my usual spot and with the first cast, I was back on to the fish, just like the other day!

First Snapper was caught on a 7" Gulp going 410mm in length, a nice healthy pan size fish.

As it was the other day, the fish were smashing the baits on the drop, within 5 metres from the surface. Then the Snapper would peel the line, swimming the easy route, back under the ski, leaving me with the fun of playing them against the tide. This Winter, fishing of late, has been more excitement than the peak of the Summer, using the soft plastics baits. There was plenty of sign on the Raymarine GPS/Sounder and as you see from my screen shot, my drifts have been consistent over the last month.

I continued with the hot fishing using the Camo's, landing a few more Snapper. Then I had a change of colour, choosing the Gulp 7" Pink Shines, the fish were even more aggressive on these.

Next bait I tried was the Gulp 7" Curried Chicken and the feeling was, I just couldn't go wrong today!

They would hit any colour bait, even this one getting foul hooked!

Something to note all this fish were caught on the drop, casting about 20 metres out from the ski, while maintaining a tight line. Not one of the 9 fish caught within the hour, were caught off the bottom, where all my sounders fish sign was showing. The fish averaged 450mm in length, with nothing to special today, as the biggest only went 510mm.
This was truly a magic day of fishing, don't give up on the plastics in the Winter, it is well worth the patience.

I was back at the ramp, after a fun ride home, 2 hours round trip, 20 odd litres fuel used, with a big smile and another quota of Snapper, waiting to be filleted.