Report 009 Thirty plus knots wind, rain and swells... 27th of August 2009

Yes... You may say mad! or many other words to describe the sanity of me heading out that far in miserable conditions.

The dedication and passion is definitely there and for those Jetskifishos already enjoying the excitement of Jetskifishing, already know the capabilities of the big three seaters. The purpose of my trip was to achieve my weekly fishing report and at the same time this was my only free few hours, so unfortunately you don't always get the glam weather. The bonus was I needed some conditioning for my 100 mile jetski race in Wellington in the next two weeks. These conditions are probably nothing in comparison of what I will be braving down there at 60 mph. As I am not completely mad as some of you may think, there was some necessary safety plans in place, the obvious being the VHF, cellphone and flare. Also, as I did, it was good sense to tell someone where the planned trip was. This included departure and return etc with a deadline of if I haven't been heard of, when to alert the necessary emergency services.

My original plan was to launch at Bucklands Beach. Yet on arrival at the ramp, it looked pretty miserable with the strong Westerly coming straight towards the shore. I quickly made the necessary call, alerting the change of plan and then headed down for a launching at Eastern Beach, where I could handle the ski safely by myself.

It sure was a messy trip, so I went on my mission riding to the elements which was only an average speed of 55 kph. This speed allowed me to ride the waves without spending too much air time, not bashing the body about with the extreme conditions. The conditions were extremely rough across the Tamaki Straight, heading towards Sergeants. I then cruised past the back of Motuihe Island, with a heading to the tip of Rakino Island. Once arriving at the edge of Rakino the conditions were more pleasant, with being out of the strong winds. I continued down the side of Rakino till sighting the Haystack, where I was back into the messy conditions with a big chop rolling through. By the time I got to the destination I was more than wet! But with the right wet weather gears for Jetskifishing, I was not feeling the cold and was looking forward to an extreme session, just hoping not to get a zilching. The first drop was in 18 metres of water and I was having difficulty getting to the bottom with the rapid drift.

There was a few small hits on the plastics and then dropped a couple of fish, only to loose three quarters of the 7" baits. I soon deployed the sea anchor to slow down my drift and set up over a different rock for some limited sign. Still was no better and after three quarters of an hour my patience was wearing thin. I had missed the bite time for the day with my delayed start, but was determined not to be zilched so I went to my next spot to see if the Snapper are biting where I was getting them a month from now, this time last year.

This was a good choice, there was some sign with a few hits. Not long and I was on to the first Snapper of the day going 400mm. The swell was really washing through where I was drifting. With the strong wind, I was drifting quickly and this time I was not using the drogue. My casts were a good 20 metres away from the ski and within about 30 seconds the braid was heading beneath my ski. Before I knew it I was onto another Snapper and this one was fighting behind the ski using all the drift.

By this time my still camera was unfortunately flat, yet the Tachyon helmet camera was on, so I did end up with some footage for the trip. The day didn't go completely as planned with the extreme conditions and the limited 3 hour fishing window. I only got a couple of Snaps today, learnt plenty and really appreciate how stable the big skis are in conditions I would not consider venturing in a small boat. You may ask how the body is? When I was writing the report, I honestly had no aches so far, yet this comes down to sensible riding in the conditions, being 100% alert. Normally we are at high speeds on the calmer waters, so hence you will put your body through further conditioning if you don't ride in the correct stance.