Report 061 Social trip enjoying the fun lifestyle of Jetskifishing… 5th and 6th of May 2011

There has been plenty of interest from the growing Jetskifishing community to enhance their angling skills, so another group trip was booked for some foreign territory. When fishing away from your natural environment, the challenges and communication with other Jetskifishos assists with learning a lot more about the sport on and off the water. This adventure had five of us leaving on the Thursday morning from various parts of Auckland with a thick fog at first light…

With a three hundred kilometer trip ahead of us, the traffic was not making it any easier!

After some earlier planning we agreed to meet for breakfast at Wellsford, on the way to the fishing grounds of Whangaroa and the Cavalli Islands.

I was eager to get fishing, so after a quick snack at McD’s, we were off and forming a Jetskifishing convoy with Peter leading the way…

After a few hours of traffic, we finally arrived at Kaeo, wondering where Peter had left us after being the leader through Whangarei. A few minutes after us arriving at Kaeo he turned up explaining he missed turn off!

I don’t know where he had been but his ski looked like he had been dirt tracking!

Once checking in to the accommodation at Tauranga Bay and working out who was sleeping where, little did some know that they were sharing with some mean snoring!

We soon ventured out to launch the skis after receiving, it seems, some not so credible local advice!

The getting stuck was one of the many ‘going on tour’ comedies, fortunately a great bunch of guys that learnt from each incident and found the funny side! For me we quickly learnt there was no getting out with just any ordinary 4WD, the Subaru got temporarily replaced and the Cherokee which had to tow two cars out!

So after losing an hour, we went to plan B and launched at Whangaroa for a few hours introductory session to the area. We enjoyed a short session releasing some Kingis caught on the jigs and then did some Snapper fishing as the sun was setting while we fished the area of Stephenson Island…

With the hours of day light restricting our fishing time, we headed back to Tauranga Bay and dropped the skis off so we could go have a few beers at the local pub and get some dinner… This was an opportunity to make a plan for the next day and reflect on our first day, enjoying a few laughs and some games of pool. We found it interesting getting the local knowledge at the pub and seeing the lifestyle people lead in the smaller towns, always an eye opener after how we become consumed by living in the Auckland rat race.

The next morning was extremely miserable, the weather was blowing 35 knots plus! So after much debate and a group vote, we went on a mission to Matauri Bay to see the local accommodation and launching facilities. Local rumours made the area of Matauri Bay seem pretty intimidating, but after some cautious introductions, we were soon impressed with the lovely area and accommodation facilities…

The camp grounds have the convenience of their own ramp, a dream spot with chalets right at the beach!

After some safety strategies, next was launching the skis which required a lot of team work with the incoming swells. Our technique was, releasing the trailer from the car to launch the skis…

The conditions looked nice, yet deceiving on shore, but as soon as we got around the corner, the storm weather hit us! With huge swells and plenty of wind it was an exciting ride out… fortunately we were all well clothed with our thermal Sharkskin making for some comforts in the drenching conditions. We headed out to some of the middle pins with safety of the group for a jig and then sheltered in some calmer areas for some soft baiting…

The fishing was challenging in the conditions, yet we had caught plenty of variety of fish on the Gulp soft baits… we all ended up with plenty of fish to take home and Chris ended up with a the best catch of the day.

The next challenge was retrieving the skis… we all made it in incident free.

Once all the skis were safely on the trailers, Chris represented Jetskifishing with the locals… who were impressed with our catch and very hospitable, offering the beers.

 This was a welcoming initiative...

Chris and Peter showed their best fish of the day and we headed to Kerikeri for some much needed lunch before headed back home to Auckland…

More guiding trips are available throughout the winter and some social Jetskifishing trips are already scheduled… This week is the Hutchwilco Boat Show, I will be with the team on the Yamaha stand #398 this year, come say hello to me anytime Thursday to Saturday.

Cheers, Andrew