Report 050 Insane work-ups… 7th of January 2011

This adventure was leaving from Algies Bay with the destination of Anchorite Rock to see if any Kingfish were still frequenting the area. I was staying at my mate Craig’s batch, who is another keen Jetskifisho and conveniently we were only one minute from the local ramp. The start was another early one, with a 5.30am departure from Algies Bay, which is one hour north of Auckland by car. It was low light, but always a great feeling to be heading out as the sun is rising…

The ride out was comfortable and we were enjoying some fun air with a gentle swell all the way out to the fishing grounds at Anchorite Rock. Craig was new to the fishing method of mechanical jigging, didn’t take long for him to experience the buzz…

Unfortunately the fishing wasn’t going to plan, as we were plagued by the smaller Kingfish in the area, so we had plenty of practice with catching and releasing the smaller fish.

We had quite a struggle enticing the larger Kingfish with our jigs… so we decided to take advantage of the surface fish. With Trevally schooling, we both caught live baits and set balloons hoping to lure some better sized fish.

With no big boys hitting the live baits and a few Trevally in the chilly bin for dinner we decided to head back towards Flat Rock area for some soft bait fishing. The sea conditions were flattening out, with a fast run back I spotted a large number of Gannets diving in the water! This was a great way to finish another fun Jetskifishing session on a high. We stopped amongst the work-up to an insane session of soft bait fishing… Our baits were being smashed as shallow as ten metres of water by Snapper in sixty metres water depth!

It was one after another, I opted for the two ounce Gulp elevator rig to try reach the larger Snapper at lower depths. Yet, it was still a lucky dip as the Snapper were aggressive smashing whichever colour 6” Grub that I attached.

The work-up was covering a huge area and as we followed it a container ship ploughed right though the middle of it!

We continued fishing, us both landing a few more and catching and releasing a few, including me losing a screamer after a ten minute battle, being spooled down to my backing!

With plenty of fish for a good feed we raced back fully tapped in some building chop. It was another one of those must be days on the water, but with the wind getting up, and it showing all the way back to the beach Craig lost his best rod and reel set over board! The race back from the southern area behind Flat Rock took seventeen minutes to Algies with a hell of an action packed ride!