Report 076 Ultimate Jetskifishing Experience - Bay of Islands... 16th to 18th of February 2012

The title and testimonials from this trip say it all! This was our best trip yet, we had 28 keen Jetskifishos from various regions thoughout the North Island to enjoy this social adventure. There had been plenty of pre-planning with the management team from Otehei Bay at Urupukapuka Island. The main group of us arranged to meet at BP Autobahn by 11am just out of Auckland, to assemble for a convoy to head North. Some were overly eager and there before 10am, adding to the anticipation of a fun road trip.

With a quick hello to everyone and some introductions to the newbies, we were off on our 3 hour road trip to the Bay of Islands. We were fortunate to be heading to some great weather conditions and once passing Kawakawa we had that holiday-mode feeling, knowing we were only 15 minutes from the car ferry.

On arrival at Opua we had a short ride over on the car ferry. The leading pack of our convoy had already crossed on the ferry to Russell, so it was another couple of ferry crossings to get the whole group over.

On arrival at Russell we had one last leg of a thirty minute drive out to the remote area of Rawhiti.

It was a welcoming sight seeing Rawhiti, the island barge was also waiting to take our luggage, a few of our group were launched and ready to go.

Our ride on the skis from Rawhiti to our destination was a leisurely five minutes with some dream conditions.

Once everyone arrived at the beach, the team at Otehei Bay directed us to each of our cabin sleeping quarters. Most were sharing and we had one bonus for the best Snapper fisherman on the day… Shane who caught the heaviest Snapper on day 1 was rewarded with his own private room upgrade!

The first days fishing was a real eye opener for the newbies being amongst the amazing scenery and the plentiful fishery. The bonus of these unfamiliar fishing regions is your opportunity to catch some different species. Plenty of the group caught some personal bests off their skis, including Stefan with this whopper Kingy on the jig weighing in at 19.2kg.

After a hot day on the water we all eventually met back up at the island restauraunt/bar, eager for our much appreciated quality buffet dinner.

As with our Jetskifishing events, it is always a great opportunity to build new friendships and learn tips and tricks from each other about Jetskifishing. Some over indulged and participated in an all nighter, socialising till the early hours in the morning… Of course paying for that the next day and not being too keen on the fishing. The majority of the group went out for an early morning fish on day 2 and headed back at 9am for a much needed cooked breakfast.

After breakfast came a lot more fishing and also had the bonus of a few more personal bests caught by members of our group. There are plenty of photos on our Facebook page and also a video slide show on our Jetskifishing YouTube Channel as follows.

Day 3 was time to end our Ultimate Jetskifishing Experience. It was a quick fish in the morning before heading back to our vehicles for the drive back home. As many of the group mentioned it was a trip of a life time and the hospitality from the team at Otehei Bay is must to be experienced. Thanks again to the group that came up and the maturity and responsibility demonstrated by our fun group. Check out our next event, the Top Catch King of Jetskifishing Tournament.

Andy Mitchell from Explore NZ, "A group thank you to you guys for putting on a great public spectacle on how to behave out there on the water. I know jet-ski's get a bad rap at times, but you guys were awesome. Lots of great feedback from our crew on the boats who saw you out there doing your thing. The tourists back at Otehei Bay loved seeing the setups on all of the ski's also. It made for some great photo's. Also a big thanks from myself, Chris & Flo and the staff at Otehei for sharing your sport with us. See you all back there some time soon."

Cheers. Andrew Hill