This report we could call the ‘Mike Show’, I was basically his personal charter and photographer for the day! The trip was planned earlier in the week after seeing the good weather window forecasted. The destination was Little Barrier and with Mike being under gunned on previous trips, he decided to have some retail therapy with Tania at Top Catch. What was meant to be a new reel to stop some strong running Snapper, also ended up with a credit card workout for a new jigging set too! Lucky Mike has a good sense of humour as what happens on this trip, was one of my more amusing days fishing. It started on Friday morning, after giving Mike the wakeup call we made an early start. With a short drive to Omaha from Auckland with a 7.00am launch at the local public ramp, it saved on riding time from our local ramp back at home.
The conditions were mint with little swell, making for an easy comfortable ride out to Little Barrier. The trip out on a good day takes just under thirty minutes on the jet-skis, averaging about 80kph.
Our first spot for the day was an area to target the Kingfish, unfortunately the drift direction, along with a commercial fisher working, made it difficult to fish… Not long and my patience had run out and we were settling for some other fishing with the Gulp soft plastics. As with most of my longer range reef fishing trips of recent, I soon felt the baits being picked at by the menacing reef fish! The fishing was slow and most of the morning the strike rate was disappointing with only the small fish on the bite. Mike was doing well and enjoying his newly acquired Daiwa Exceler and hoping to have a better chance stopping any bigger Snapper. For me, I had no need for such gear with what I was landing!
It didn’t get much better for me, I couldn’t find any of the big boys…
We tried fishing the shallow areas, donating plenty of tails to the local smaller fish. The surroundings of Little Barrier is a sight to enjoy and having us wondering what wildlife and sights are actually on that sanctuary they call ‘Jurassic Park’.
There were a good dozen boats out at the waters of Little Barrier and I guess a couple from the Fishing.net after the friendly waves as we tried the various areas. With Mike being more conscious of his fuel on the super-charged ski, we decided to start making our way back and take a chance of finding some workups closer to home. For Mike it wasn’t a case of needing some fish as he already had a great selection in the bin, including Snapper, Gurnard and some Cod. For him he was still determined to catch a decent size fish on his new soft bait combo. We were a kilometre out on the way back when we spotted the birds. Always a great feeling, especially when you spot the water bubbling with Kahawai, you know your chances are looking up…
We were both off doing our own thing and next I spot Mike in the distance, standing up and playing a fish. I rushed over, anticipating he might be on to a good one and started snapping some photos.
It was a heavy fish, and at this point the chaos was starting, as he was yelling, his net wasn’t ready!
I offered to net the fish and while maneuvering beside his ski. Next, it was a comedy of errors, he loses the fish without even seeing it, was lost about ten metres from the surface! He was cursing and going through the ‘what ifs’ after just pulling the fish from the depth of fifty metres. Within a minute I spot the fish in the distance struggling on the surface, it obviously stuffed its swim bladder… Mike was off like a rocket after me saying I might grab an easy catch!
Next, it was like a slide show of entertainment, first trying to scoop the fish on the move…
Then obviously with the adrenalin and excitement everything happened so fast for Mike, while trying to scoop the fish, he missed, only assisting the Snapper to gain some balance and it had one last chance to avoid capture. Mike had to make another lunge, this time diving into the water, net and all, determined to land what would be his personal best!
I was cracking up with laughter, at the same time asking if he was ok and snapping priceless photo opportunities. He was soon climbing back on the ski while hanging on to his fish…
Still amping, we were both laughing and questioning his dedication to catch what is his best fish.
It was true commitment, not sure how many of us would take the plunge for a fish… This was well worth it for Mike, achieving his new personal best after six months Jetskifishing and plasticing, he lands a 16 pounder.
The fish was caught using a Gulp Nuclear Chicken 5” with a Nitro 1oz Jig Head on 10lbs Fireline/20lbs Black Magic Flurocarbon. We didn’t have any joy on the jigging on this occasion, but still had another great day out on the water Jetskifishing.
I am really looking forward to the coming weather, especially after the forecasters saying the worst of the winter is now over, with a warm spring on the way. For all those keen Jetskifisho’s, come see me in-store at the new Top Catch in Half Moon Bay. We are the first Jetskifishing specialist store, offering experienced advice, also selling jet-skis, fish finders, Ultimate rod holders, navigation lights, VHF’s, waterproof action cameras and offer a full installation service for all of these great products at our workshop. The shop is just one minute from the local boat ramp, convenient for all your fishing accessories and test rides are available. Everything is now so easy for those wanting a quick introduction to the exciting lifestyle of Jetskifishing.
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