Report 078 Maiden voyage on the new ski... 22nd of May 2012

So much for the onset of the cold winter weather in NZ slowing down Jetskifishing. I’ve been busier than ever enhancing Jetskifishos PWC’s platforms, transforming them into their ultimate fishing weapons. This trip happened to be the perk of the job, me taking out one of my long time clients and now good friend (Buzz) on his new fully kitted Yamaha.

The long range weather forecast was for some great weather for later in the week and this was the last of the unpleasant wind with it dropping throughout the day... Upon checking the Nowcast it was blowing 26 knots at Channel Iskland at 7am this morning, so that changed our plans of a Coromandel mission to test run the new ski. We continued with our early start from Bucklands Beach and opted for heading to Gannet Rock, at the bottom end of Waiheke where there are still plenty of fish holding.

The trip had a slight chop with a quick introduction of a true winter not far off. Really pays to be dressed appropriately and I fell short of this on this occasion, still opting for my summer Sharkskin top! I recommend to wear the full winter mode from now on on these early morning wet trips, so much it is hoodie time and fully fingered gloves to and from the spots. We arrived at Gannet and drifted a few familiar spots with an encouraging drift line. The fish were hitting the soft baits on most drops,though legal, an embarrassing size that were not going to be acceptable for my fry pan. I had higher expectations and as you see from the last photo of the tracking report, we didn't take long to move on for some angrier Snapper. The next destination was out of the wind which didn't want to drop! Closer to Spray Rock I spotted some Kahawai bubbling on the surface and decided to flick a soft bait to try hook a decent live bait. No problem for the hook up and as fast as I hooked up, I was busted by the fish and the schooling Kahawai were gone! Fortunately armed with the premium in Jetskifishing accessories, our Raymarine sounders clearly showed the sign of Snapper we had been looking for... a solid blob of fish for 10 metres of the lower water column. It was to be Buzz showing us "how he rolls", blooding his new ski with impressive style, with a 62cm Snap to break it in.

It didn't stop there, it was fun soft baiting in 20 metres of water, simple as scouting the area for the moving school of Snapper using the sounder. Then dropping on the small patch to have them consecutively hit the New Penny soft baits on the drop...

After a few photo ops of Buzz I headed to Spray Rock which was full of fish life. Fishing in as shallow as 6 metres of water getting my better Snapper of the day.

There were Kingfish in the shallows with plenty more Kahawai also splashing on the surface. This was more pleasant fishing, out of the wind and plenty of fish in the 25 metres of water off the Ahahaa's side of Spray Rock. With fish in the chilly bin or as Buzz famously quotes "binned up"

A quick stop for lunch at Garden Cove and then an awesome ride back amongst the dropping wind.

All my future reports can also be followed with the new innovation for Jetskifishing, the Jetskifishing tracking system.

Our next big event is the Jetskifishing “Goes Wild” trip to the Coromandel June 14th till 16th, we have a great group attending, so a cool report will be coming. Any of our followers interested in where we are fishing can follow the track report for that trip too. Keep up to date with all our events on the Jetskifishing Facebook page, including the next Bay of Islands over-nighter and King of Jetskifishing 6, October 28th 2012.

Cheers, Andrew