Report 052 Solo trip for a big reward at the Coromandel… 27th of January 2011

An executive decision was made, I decided to go on a solo mission to the Coromandel for a Kingfish hunt! Surprisingly enough after three years of Jetskifishing adventures, I had never done the far Coromandel road trip… This was new territory and a very scenic drive along the Coromandel Coast.

MAP KEY
Orange Line – Ride from Otautu Bay to Channel Island.
Red Box – Accommodation location of the Colville Motel.
Green Box – Origin of trip, from East Auckland.

The drive from Auckland to my destination of Colville, was a comfortable three hour trip. Along the way I surveyed a few closer ramp and accommodation facilities for next time. One that looked very promising was ten minutes out of Coromandel, a town called Oamaru Bay, not as tidal as some bays and had accommodation handy with ramp facilities.

As I ventured further around the coastline I got to appreciate the feeling of some scenic and isolated fisheries. So much so, at this spot off Amodeo Bay, a work up was only four hundred metres in the distance…

After my three hour drive, I checked into the Colville Motel to unload my gear for somewhere to rest after my planned fishing trip.

I was eager to head out for a fish, so I was off for a ten minute drive north, along the gravel road to Otautu Bay. There is a public ramp area at the far end of the beach by the stream which when I was launching was one hour before high tide.

With my destination fishing area of Channel Island, I took a leisurely ride up the coast in some building chop. The ride to the first stop took about twenty five minutes and it wasn’t long till I arrived at the spot using the Raymarine.

This trips fishing was a mechanical jigging mission as I was determined to see if I could play some better sized Kingfish.

At a depth of forty five metres I used my Daiwa Monster Mesh set with a 230 gram Pink jig. There wasn’t a lot of drift and I was able to spend plenty of attempts deploying and retrieving the jig. The fishing was not looking too promising and with the wind increasing, my energies were fading… After resetting a few drifts and in excess of thirty odd jig deploys, I finally got the hit! It was gold, I was thinking I was going to strike out and then this fish had hit as I was shattered! The fish is all on video and had some great bursts, demonstrating its power. Fortunately all my knots held and after a six minute battle with plenty of deep breathing… the fish was exhausted like me and was at the ski! First attempt and I missed with the gaff and then once finally on board, I had to wrestle it to the safety of the chilly bin.

The video doesn’t tell lies, I was stuffed! The weather had increased quickly as the battle went on and I still needed to get the nice sized fish in to the Jetskifishing cooler bag.

Once the fish was secured in the bag, I strapped the bag to the front cleats and the other end to the Ultimate Rod Holder frame. This is works in theory, but to continue jigging, the catch was taking up a little bit too much space for my foot work. I continued with another drift in the hot spot and then called it quits and decided to try closer to Channel. Over at Channel I had a chat to a lone boat fishing the area, they were struggling, so I decided to gift them my Kingie so I could continue my jigging… Within five minutes I was back onto another fish off the fifty metre face.

I released that fish and then called it a day, as I noticed a short break in the wind. I headed back along the coast with the luxury of cruise control and while admiring the sights, spotting a few sharks along the way basking in the sun!
Was great to get up to the Coromandel region and I look forward to doing it again soon in the next few months. Another lesson learnt, even after consulting the locals knowledge of the tides and tidal waters, four hours after high tide there is not much water left at the beach which I launched at… The bonus of having a pivoting rollered trailer was the difference between having a really bad end to a great days fishing or my more positive scenario on the day, which was a relatively achievable retrieve in minimal water.