Report 064 Time to fill the Ultimate Catch Bag! 11th of June 2011 (Day 3 of 3)

 After plenty of talk between the group at dinner on Thursday night, I didn‟t know who to expect at the ramp first thing Saturday morning! The last I heard was, see you at 7am… and there was no way I was going to be late, this was the day to get my game up to speed…  

With at least ten of us launched and ready for this last session, the procession of skis started their adventure with the first challenge of exiting the Tairua bar. I had a small incident after sucking up some seaweed at dead low tide in the shallow water channel, but with a few tricks learnt from my many riding hours, it was soon ejecting out the jet unit. I needed to catch up with the group and the bar was pretty extreme with the big swells and in close sets. The breakers were there to make for some big air excitement and after a quick adenalin fix,I was ready to see what the open water conditions would be today! The fishing grounds would be dictated by the sea conditions and some of the anglers went for the easy ride, choosing to fish some of the closer pins. While a small group led by myself, went in the direction of the deep water pins. We were heading into a huge swell, making for a tough ride, with every ten seconds an airborne drop, off the back of the swell.

With having a distance to cover of 35 km out to the spot, it wasn‟t long before my group started fading, with a few turning off and fishing closer to the Alderman Islands. Eventually I only had one on the chase, he was just as keen or more to the point 100% dedicated to land a big fish. So it was Andrew Howard and myself on a serious mission, determined to finish the trip on a high! Fifty minutes of riding later, my Raymarine GPS track lead us to Spot X which feels like in the middle of no where! Now keep in your mind, as mad as we sound, we have experienced 100‟s of hours and are fully prepared with safety equipment, having a VHF, Cellphone and a PLB to communicate with emergency services.
I could see the fish on the sounder at our first stop, so much so I yelled out to Andrew "drop your jig here"! I had a little bit of preperation to do before I could get in to it and was enjoying catching my breath after the long ride. Andrew had not long dropped his jig and on the way down he could feel the jig being hit... that was real encouragement for me to join the action! Eventually his jig made it to the bottom to start the retrieve and with a few winds of the reel and a couple of lifts of the rod he was hooked up! Exactly what we were after, Kingfish action and he had quite a battle with the fish making some strong runs. Seven minutes later and one exhausted angler, the Kingfish was at the surface. Going 12.2 kg which was a new personal best on the ski for Andrew and a real adrenalin fix after our hard ride out.

Next a quick photo opportunity, with a fopar of dropping the fish in the water, luckily able to retrieve it as it was still hooked on the trace.

With one fish landed, Andrew was shattered and called it quits. Until you ride one of these mammoth trips, it is hard to understand the energies lost. For me I had the hard work ahead of me. I had already done a couple of drops with retrieves from 80 metres of water and felt like my arms were going to drop off. In hind site the three days with so much jigging and riding had taken toll on the body! Never the less I was not giving up, it would be a long drive back to Auckland evaluating the „what ifs‟ of the trip without some Kingfish for the fridge.
The jigging went on and on, with me resetting drift after drift and feeling the cudas damaging my fluorocarbon! Forty five minutes later and my fishing buddy was starting to lose patience! I finally hooked up on what I knew was only a small rat Kingfish by the little strain on the Monster Mesh rod tip. It was exhausting me like a 10 kilo plus fish fighting and after a 5 minute battle I confirmed an undersized fish getting the better of me and it was quickly released! With a few not so pleasant words I was back into it and feeling worse than ever, fish-less and close to calling it quits. Then when all felt lost my jig was smashed within metres off the bottom and what felt like a solid fish! After the quick hype of this is the one... I had a slow retrieve with a fish that had the upper hand for the first 5 minutes, not moving it out of the 60 metre stage colour of my braid! I was cautious not to over apply the drag as I was aware of the early damage the cuda had worn on the trace. I was only getting one last shot at landing a fish as I was out on my feet! After 10 minutes it was looking like we were on to the fish of the trip. I could see the fish coming up through the water, spotting it through the clear visability as far as 15 metres down. It‟s always a good feeling when you see a solid fish‟s colour after a long fight between fish and angler! This is the stage when you have to think fast, 1- Never to leave any slack line for the fish to dislodge the hook and 2- Not to fluff around too long that a shark can take easy picking. Before I knew it I had the fish lying sideaways and tired (like myself) beside the ski on the surface. There was no time for the gaf and I took the risk to grasp the hook with my hands to lift the fish out of the water. That‟s when it all is worthwhile after a wicked hour on the water, I had the fish on the ski knowing this is why we do this sport, what a high!  

Winter Jetskifishing can have many rewarding days like this!

After all my gear was secured, I put the Kingfish on ice in the Ultimate Catch Bag... with the fish stowed in the bag, I securely tied the bag while set in the footwell. The Yamaha cleats are used for tying off, which come fitted factory on the FX HO and SHO Cruiser models. I can tell you from experience, insulated catch bags are the best option to maintain the condition of your large fish, especially on these long adventures. The catch barely moves while secured in the footwell at speed, where as in the chilly bin the fish can receive a battering in rough conditions and ice melts quickly with the chilly bin lid ajar.

After a long ride back, we had one last horsepower fix as we headed in through the rolling swell of the bar! As we arrived back on land, the locals were commenting on the other catches including Peter J with his new personal best of an 11 kilo Kingfish from the local pins.
The social trip was well appreciated by the whole group, being just as much fun off the water as on the water. We all learnt plenty from the experiences, with many tips being shared between the group of friends. Keep in touch if you are keen on the next over-nighter I have planned for July and be sure to contact me if interested in a new or used Yamaha WaveRunner.