Report 045 The Kahawai are back... 4th of November 2010

With the weather warming up and the talk of plenty of good fish being caught, I was anxious to head out and get some fish for dinner! The wind was blowing twenty knots from the east so I decided to launch safely with the use of the local ramp facilities, one minute from the Jetskifishing Store at Half Moon Bay. I find in the less desirable conditions it is best to be safe than sorry, reducing any damage while launching and retrieving your pride and joy…

After a few conversations with some interested onlookers wanting to know more about the concept of Jetskifishing, I fired my WaveRunner into life for another fun adventure!
I intended to fish closer to home for this session and set for a lumpy ride to Rakino Channel, which is a fifteen minute trip in the forecasted conditions. I fished an area called the Three Sisters where I found enough sign to hold my attention… The fishing was slow and was proving a challenge to hook any respectable fish, no matter what colour soft bait I switched to! I persisted fishing within the islands and then moved around to what some of us Jetskifishos know as the fish farm at the Haystack… Today was no different, on the second drift I had a Snapper hooked up and it soon accompanied the salt ice in the chilly bin. I continued exploring the surrounding area, having a few casts around the Noises and then nipped over to the Ahaaha’s to where there has been some reports of nice sized Snapper of late… Just as I was arriving at the Ahaaha’s I spotted in the distance closer to Waiheke, a frenzy of Gannets! The work up was covering a huge area and was a perfect invite to flag the proposed spot and go enjoy some work up fishing.

You know when the Gannets are this active, you are about to have some serious fun under them.

I chose to fish with the Gulp 6” Green Pumpkin/Lizard which caught my first Snapper added to the bin at the Haystack.

Once I had prepared for a drift through the work up, the WaveRunner was turned off so I could get ready to cast the soft bait. I was in such a rush with the excitement of Gannets dive bombing like torpedoes in to the water, everything happened too quickly! I cast my line out as I was turning on the Tachyon video cams and a fish smashed the bait within five seconds of it hitting the water, still backwards on the ski, I had to maneuver quickly on an aggressive string puller. Was all a bit mad, with the fish really getting the upper hand while I was not expecting the strike. Heaps of fun and what went straight to the lower depths eventually merged as a fat Kahawai.

The fishing was full on for an hour of Snapper and Kahawai action!

 

I switched baits to the Daiwa Pirate 80 gram slow jig, seems to be the only way to get to the lower depths, reducing the chances of being smashed by the Kahawai…

After having plenty of fun releasing a few more fish it was time to head back. I had plenty of fish in the chilly bin including a 3.14 kg Kahawai on the Gulp 7” Nuclear Chicken. With the windy conditions on the water, it added for a fun trip back on the WaveRunner.