Report 068 Early morning fish before work... 13th of August 2011

With a busy week of work preparing other Jetskifisho’s skis, I was eager to get out on the water and have a fishing session of my own. My only opportunity was for a quick solo mission before work on Saturday. I had been listening to the VHF, keeping constantly aware of the cold front sweeping up the country. Fortunately there was a small window first thing in the morning with the forecast of variable light breezes!
I was up at first light and looked out the window to see a thick fog welcoming me for this session. There was no mucking around and with a quick snack for breakfast, I was soon on my one minute drive to the Bucklands Beach boat ramp. Plenty of other locals had the same idea, there was quite a queue building at the ramp. With a bit of patience I was soon in the water and heading out in poor visibility with my navigation lights beaming brightly in the thick fog. Without the luxury of the Raymarine A50D GPS it would have been a canned mission, I fortunately had help with the mapping to asssist with navigation. It was a slow, safety consious ride out and once arriving at Motiuhe, there was a break in the fog, yet still thick over the islands.

With the improvement in visability I could finally maintain decent speed and headed for the Noise’s.

There were plenty of boaties fishing the same area, which made it difficult to set my drift over a mark I had logged in my Raymarine. There was plenty of sign, but the fish seemed pretty picky and they were not serious on the bite. After fifteen minutes with no fish landed, I scouted the area, soon coming across another keen Jetskifisho also struggling over by the Haystack. I was still not content and was starting to think it was going to be one of those hard days fishing and went back to basics, deciding to fish the familar area of the Ahaaha’s. My first choice bait of the day was the Gulp - Curried Chicken/Crazy Leg and it didn’t seem to be firing today! All I was after was a couple of fish for a feed, something for breakfast over the weekend and a Snapper for the smoker after my kids continual requests... This was all looking a tall order, knowing I was also meant to be at the Jetskifishing Store that morning. I had decided one more spot would be the call with a change of soft bait colour and headed to some structure just off Maria Island. Within one hundred metres from the proposed spot, I could see another Jetskifisho also soft baiting the area.

After some quick introductions, I soon found out it was Johnny who had headed out from Maraetai Beach. I thought it would be rude not to join him for a fish and carried on fishing with the change of bait to the Gulp Lizard – Green Pumpkin. Johnny had mentioned he had been doing well and had a few already in the chilly bin, including a nice John Dory.

I could see from the sign, on the sounder it was looking pretty likely for some fish soon to be added to the bin. As I was watching Johnny get a few more hits on the drop, I also casted my line out. The trick was to cast about twenty metres ahead of the ski and as it was sinking to the depth of twenty eight metres, the Lizard bait was thumped! The fish was pulling plenty of string and this was the stage I knew it could be a worthy fish for the smoker. There was plenty of weight on the rod and the Daiwa Sol had the perfect arch with rod tip bent in to the water, with the familiar nods from a Snapper doing the head shakes! I had a good ten minute battle, with me starting to show confidence towards the end of it, starting to talk it up with excitement as the fish was getting reeled to the surface... I finally spotted some colour and we both confirmed it was a nice fish. The fish was swiftly netted and secured at the ski! I was amazed that a slow fishing session could quickly change with a bit of good fortune...

Knowing I was after a fish for the smoker, I reluctantly added it in the chilly bin, as I normally release all my larger Snapper caught. I continued fishing for another ten minutes and with another Snapper quickly caught on the Lizard, I then called it enough fish for me.

Heading back the conditions were making for a nice ride to keep my prized catch Snapper in top condition.

I was accompanied by the Dolphins to top the day, which is always a welcoming sight to see swimming beside the ski.

As heading back through Motuihe, I could see the fog was still thick over Auckland city. It was in fact thicker than when I had left earlier in the morning, so I needed to drop back my speed once reaching the poor visability.

As approaching the Tamaki River the fog created an eerie feeling and it was necessary to retrace my GPS track, as the visability was down to about fifty metres, as I tried to spot the ramp I had launched the ski at.

That was another great day on the water, showing the importance of changing soft bait colours when finding it hard on the bite. Do the miles and get the smiles, thanks again
to Johnny for putting me on the fish.

Cheers, Andrew