Report 036 Winter soft plastics is where it's at... 9th of June 2010

It was time to refresh my Winter Jetskifishing skills... Wednesday the 9th, I headed out just after 10am to what was forecasted of some light southerly winds, supposedly decreasing as the day went on. I launched at Bucklands Beach, headed out via Motuihe Channel to be greeted by the small white caps with a cold tail wind breeze. I decided to take the easy route and cruised through Rakino Channel around to the back of the Noises where I found some shelter. After a few minutes of flicking the baits with no reward, I made a plan to try my productive hunting spots of last winter, the Ahaaha’s. I arrived at an area with plenty of sign, with the feeling of some good fishing about to happen, I set for a drift.

After a few casts to get the feel for the drift, I was feeling the nod of an aggressive Snapper from the top five metres of the water column. This one caught with a 7 " Gulp / Nuclear Chicken going fifty six centimetres, a nice start to the day.

The Snapper kept coming, most on the drop and if they didn't smash the soft plastic bait there, you would get the solid tug on the plastics at the lower depths of eighteen metres.

There was one other boat out in the area, looking like he was on to the fish too.

I next tried something different, the Gulp / New Penny grubs and they also had the same good results.

Was one after another, experiencing some great Winters fishing on the soft plastics, with the smallest fish going forty centimetres. After catching plenty of Snapper for a few nights dinner, it was time to head back.

The ride back was wet and rough with the wind increasing, instead of dying off like forecasted… With most of my adventures coinciding with rough water, the comforts of the luxury seats are gratefully easier on my body. I got back in good time to collect the kids from school, then cleaned down the ski and filleted the fish. With time to spare, I smoked a few of the better fillets, all in the hours of daylight, keeping it real with the easy life of Jetskifishing.