Report 028 Long range trip to the tip of the Coromandel... 5th of February 2010

I was long overdue for one of my solo missions, so with the nice weather window, I ventured over to the Coromandel. The night before, I was kept up to date with the weather forecasts from a friend, his forecast was so much more promising that what I had been reading off Swellmap. I was staying at Clevedon for the night and had everything ready for an early morning launching, using the Kawakawa Bay ramp, one of the better ramp facilities in the Auckland area. Check below the map with the orange line showing the path of my trip, starting from the Kawakawa Bay boat ramp.

I launched just before 6am, with the stars and moon light keeping me company.

The first destination was the 19 metre foul area in the Firth of Thames. On arrival I was disappointed to see a boatie with no navigation lights, or none turned on! It could be an education issue, not knowing about the regulations, but should be common sense, especially with the lights being so affordable.

I tried the foul ground for a while, there was plenty of sign, but only frustrations with tail grabbers. So I soon packed up and headed over to the group of islands closer to the Coromandel.

Tried a few more spots with no real success and spotted the local guru, Milan Radonich racing past on a mission to what looked like Little Barrier. I next moved up to Shag Rock, pictured below and then further up to the Black Rocks.

At the Black Rocks there was still little activity, so made the call of Port Jackson… One of the most important things to consider on these long missions is to calculate your fuel on your craft. With these non-supercharged Yamaha's, trips like this are stress free, as the WaveRunner’s have plenty of range with their 70 litre fuel tank.
I first tried around the corner from Port Jackson amongst the big swells of Colville and then went for my pick spot from the chart, a pin out in the middle.

I circled on the pinnacle and soon spotted on the side with the current, what looked to be Kingfish showing on the sounder. First drop confirmed with the purple 200 gram jig, I was on to a rat. Once releasing the rat, it was one after another! Then I finally hooked up on a solid one, a more respectable fish and after a short battle it busted me at about 15 metres. Instantly another rat takes its place with a hook up on the wind up, very frustrating when you are after the big one... Once drifting over the pin, there was plenty of Snapper sign on the other side. I could not resist, so I soon deployed the Gulps, with great reward. First snapper went 470mm on the 7" Nuclear Chicken, so I persisted on the plastics giving the body a break from the jigging.

The next one was a better fish, really giving the light gear a work out, once surfacing I could soon confirm a greedy Snapper with gob full of food along with my soft bait.

After this, I moved over to Channel Island to happily see a large school of rat kingies on the surface, this was looking promising! The jig was deployed, but it was still rat kingfish, from 40 metres of water, I was over it! Continued persisting, moving further away from the school and dropped the jig down the 50 metre face for a solid hook up. This was a beauty, I was hanging on harder than my 19 kilo a few weeks ago. It was proving a real battle after the long ride out and so many rats. Just as I was starting to gain momentum, 2 minutes after the hook up, I was thinking this could be the 25 kilo fish I was after. Then instantly the fish puts on the power they are known for, along comes some gear failure! I was busted, maybe I was to aggressive retrieving the fish and missed the opportunity of landing a beauty...

That was it, I had enough, went and chatted to a boatie, going by the name of Corofisho on the fishing net, then headed back before lunch.

Was another day that was welcoming with the calm conditions, thanks Mark for encouraging me to out there… Went home with plenty of fish for dinner and released plenty more to swim for another day. Confirmed 58 litres of fuel used and received some body conditioning with the long distance ride.