Report 035 Catching a quick feed on the Gulp soft plastics... 28th of May 2010

The last few weeks in Auckland we have experienced some very windy and wet weather attributing to less fishing opportunities. The benefits with Jetskifishing, allows fishos to enjoy successful, short fishing adventures. Many of our Jetskifishing fishos access web-based weather forecasts to take full advantage of small breaks in the weather. With accessibility and convenience, a typical round trip Jetskifishing can be in a couple of hours… For myself, with the busy life of self employment and little spare time being father of three, Jetskifishing has become a huge part of my lifestyle. My fishing times are more on impulse, typically if I have a spare couple of hours that arise between kids and work. I could not achieve these adventures as easily with a boat. This Thursday I spotted a break in the weather and took advantage of a quick session, heading to my most reliable area near the Haystack. The various weather websites forecasted a drop in wind to below 10 knots about 6am… so I headed out via Rakino at 8am, only to see a white capping sea with strong winds!

I was fortunately prepared for the conditions, as I have now switched to my winter Sharkskin full length, climate control series top and bottoms. If it is a wet trip, I also wear my large tour coat, that protects me from the damper conditions. If you are dry and warm you can enjoy your fishing for longer, experiencing some magic days on the water over the winter months. On arrival at the Haystack, I soon found some sign on the Raymarine sounder and set up for my first drift. I was fishing in twenty metres of water and chose not to use a drogue. My first bait was a Gulp 7” Camo hooked with the one ounce Berkley Nitro 3/0 jighead. It is really important to use quality branded fishing equipment… I have trialed various jig heads over the years and there is nothing worse than losing a good fish to a snapped hook! The Berkley Nitro jig heads have more than proven themselves with many of my Jetskisfishing adventures. This days Jetskifishing started with a Snapper on the first drop, the fishing was looking promising, so I reset my drift and persisted for another ten minutes, before opting to head for some shelter amongst the islands. I next moved closer to the Noise’s and found some more promising sign where I hooked up on another Snapper with the Camo.

I continued scouting the area and then moved around to the other side to drop some more softbaits.

By now I had trialed various colours and was getting the most activity on the Gulp-Curried Chicken colour. I lost a few good fish at this spot and most of the action was high up the water column. After a much needed quick snack break I then headed over towards Zeno area, where I knew there had been plenty of fish activity in recent weeks. On arrival, I was soon in to my work, this timing using a Gulp-Swimming Shad, they have a unique tail action which creates more interest to the fish. The Swimming Shad worked a treat, it was smashed within a few metres of the surface, after a cast of about twenty metres away from the jet-ski. It was only a small Snapper, but always fun on the light gear.

I continued with fishing a few more drifts in the same area and after my bait taking a bit of a hammering, I switched to a 7” Gulp-Satay Chicken. I casted again using the same method… with a long cast away from the ski, letting the soft plastic sink as it was floating towards my ski. Next I had another hook up, this fish had a great head start with all the extra free line! I was using my Daiwa Sol rod, with the fish taking a run from one side of the ski to the other, making for the challenge of me having to avoid my other rod secured in the Ultimate Rod Holder. Eventually I got the upper hand on the fish, soon seeing it was a Kahawai, as it was tail dancing on the surface. The Kahawai are definitely a good buzz with all their strength, I decided to take this one home for a smoked fish pie.

With another fish added to the chilly bin, I had enough fish for a few meals. I headed back home, enjoying the nice conditions after the wind finally dropping. Was a great run back, less than twenty minutes from Zeno Rock to Bucklands Beach.