Jet ski fishing Blog: Report 065 Winter Jetskifishing at Little Barrier... 1st of July 2011

After a crazy week with work, I agreed on some time out with Buzz’s invite of a Jetskifishing adventure on a work day! Not only was it me easily persuaded, there was a total of seven keen Jetskifishos on this trip. The original post on the Jetskifishing forum was to head wide in the Hauraki Gulf, but after some quick discussions, we opted for a long range Little Barrier mission. It was an early start and we all met up at BP Dairy Flat, Autobahn along the Northern motorway at 6am. I was running a bit late, the others had met up earlier and had a catch up with a quick breakfast together.

We all left in convoy from the BP which is a fourty minute further trip north to our launching point of the Omaha ramp.

After some quick preparations we were safely through the Omaha bar to what was a long haul ride out in some lumpy conditions! The bar was the calmest area of this trip, we were soon heading out to a southerly wind with a uncomfortable chop. As you can see from the photos we are all kitted out for the colder winter months fishing, most choosing the thermal Sharkskin clothing as our first layer of apparel. ( To learn more feel free to call me to discuss options)

Three of us powered through the rough to head to the southern corner of Little Barrier while the rest took a leisurely cruise, more sensible but no near as exciting as our airbourne ride out!

These hard rides at speed can take a toll on the body, but if out Jetskifishing reguarly your body becomes conditioned.
It didn’t take long for Dave, Brent and I to get on to some fish at our first stop. We were fishing in about thirty metres of water with plenty of sign, with a variety of species being caught. Dave’s first, a Tarakihi, mine a Blue Cod and Brent’s a Snapper…

The size of the fish weren’t trophy fish, yet plenty of action.. My hot bait of the day was the Gulp Pink Shine - Crazy Legs.

I went for a scout out wider to where I fished a drop off area to fifty metres and there I found plenty of better sized fish on the bite! I carried on fishing that area, while at the same time trying to raise my group on the VHF, unsuccessfully... to find out later on that one’s VHF - the speaker was blown and the other’s VHF was not turned on. A lesson learnt by all of us, you need quality gear for Jetskifishing and should be aware of the common communication channel. This communication breakdown created a comedy of errors including me circumnavigating Little Barrier on a wild goose chase, much to the guys amusement. Eventually I found the whole group only five hundred metres from the point of origin!
We all continued fishing with the main group having a few laughs about the number of Cuda, with plenty of gear loss! Another Minties moment, one of our Jetskifishos losing one of his catch when a keen Snapper jumped out of his chilly bin while sorting his catch.

Brent had a fifteen minute battle with what he expected to be a personal best Snapper, to find a Shark at the end of his line! It is always plenty of excitement at Little Barrier as you never know what to expect to hit your baits...
After all the cuda action some of us went for a venture out to Horn rock, there was plenty of bait fish but sadly no Kingfish action underneath.

Neil carried on catching the Cuda, but still had a smile knowing he already had the prized John Dory amongst his catch of Snapper in the chilly bin.

With all of us having a few fish in our chilly bins we made a call to head back at each groups leisure …

The conditions eventually got better with a smoother ride back. Stefan and Buzz did the best on the day with Stefan catching a couple over ten pound and being a great ambassador, releasing his fair share of fish - fishing for the future.

Buzz landing the fish of the day going fifteen pound and loving every minute of Jetskifishing. Recently introduced to the sport after purchasing a Yamaha from me, he is living the dream of having the choice of his boat or the ski as his fishing platform.