Report 083 Introducing one of the fishing gurus to Jetskifishing... 9th of July 2012

Jetskifishing’s growth is largely due to education to newbies. This month, our invited guest for the New Zealand Jetskifishing Club was well respected Wavedancer skipper and soft bait guru, Captain Paul Senior. Paul has always shown interest towards Jetskifishing and has been of the belief that jet-skis could be the ultimate in fishing platforms for chasing work-ups! He didn’t need to convince me, Ive been enjoying work-up fishing for years.
With my constant excitement for this cool sport I offered him an opportunity to join me on the water… We didn’t muck around and scheduled for this trip the first opportunity we found some nice weather.

We each had our own strategies on what works for finding the work-ups… Paul’s technique has always intrigued me with his educated patience! He is quite happy to sit back and relax while enjoying some lunch whilst observing the Gannets fly past, showing him the direction. Me, on the other hand, am all about “do the miles, get the smiles”, while finding them out wide.

 

 After our short stop out in the area of the Ahahaa Rocks we continued our search, which you can study on the Jetskifishing Tracking map. For Paul’s experience we thought it was a good opportunity to get some nice photos of Jetskifishing. We had the company of Bruce from Incredible Images on his own ski and Brent, another seasoned Jetskifisho to try his luck amongst the work-ups.

 This trip was forecasted for light winds, yet out wide it was still brisk, with a gusting southerly building the white caps. It was a 50/50 call whether we could still go wide with the fragile camera equipment, but Bruce was all for it knowing the chance of some nice camera shots. This was no soft introduction to the sport, was a hard slog for Paul the newbie! Fortunately he was dressed appropriately for the conditions, having a first layer of Sharkskin thermals, making for the warmth required for winter Jetskifishing. As we were heading out past Gannet Rock, Paul was as eager as we get and started going off on his own tangent! He followed a few stray Gannets, he was heading further up the Firth of Thames with his jetskifishing confidence growing. Meanwhile our group of three, were heading north in our search of the work ups. As quick as we lost sight of Paul, we located a work-up in full action! No Paul and finally the fishing we had been looking for, a quick text to let him know where we were and it was time for us to drop some soft baits.

 It didn’t take long, it was a Snapper on, the 6” Gulp Grub – Nuclear Chicken taking the first catch. One fish already in the bin and to our relief Paul was next racing over to join us for the action!

There were Dolphins and whales in a feeding frenzy, rounding up the Pilchards amongst the action.
It didn’t take long and Paul too, was hooked up on a nice Snapper.

 String pulling action with Jetskifishing, that’s what we have been talking about!

 It was all on, with all four of us hooked up at one stage.

 One for Bruce the cameraman as well!

 This was a Snapper slaying session with plenty released to swim another day. The average size fish went ten pound and it was great to test the easy hook ups on the slow jig, Jitter Bugs.

 With plenty of fish in the chilly bin I made a call to head back. Heaps of great photos and most likely you will be seeing the unpublished ones in one of the local fishing magazines in months to come.

 A quick stop at Garden Cove for a group photo and then our high speed adrenalin race back to the boat ramp.

 Another top day on the water with Jetskifishing, that’s what we call, living the dream.

If you are ready to get started with Jetskifishing and would like to experience it to the level we do, come see me at the Jetskifishing Store to get you kitted on the right model ski with the best in gear.

FUEL STATS

2012 FX HO Cruiser - 50 litres.
Angler - Andrew Hill
2011 SHO - 61 litres.
Angler - Bruce Clarke
2011 FX HO Cruiser - 46 litres.
Angler - Brent Martin
2011 FX HO - 43 litres.
Angler - Paul Senior

Cheers, Andrew Hill

Report 082 The reward of winter Jetskifishing... 30th of June 2012

The weather here in New Zealand is certainly encouraging us Jetskifisho’s to improvise with the right kit for the cold season. Some of our days are starting off as cold as 0 degrees celcius but that isn’t stopping us getting out there enjoying the lifestyle of Jetskifishing.
Saturday afternoon, I decided to nip out for a fish at the last minute. An advantage of having a ski is you don’t require much time for preparation. I decided for a beach launch rather than the ramp, a ski adds to the convienience knowing you can launch at most beaches if using a All Wheel Drive vehicle.

I was keen on a decent ride rather than settling for a short range local fish, so I set off for a ride out wide to the general area of the work-ups. There wasn’t a lot of fish sign out wide when I arrived, just a few Gannets circling and Dolphins playing around while the Whale boat was also looking for some activity.

With the wind still gusting around fifteen knots, I opted to fish closer to Waiheke Island out of the wind. First stop and I spotted Boris the resident seal at Gannet Rock, his meals made easy being at his door step.

There was plenty of Kahawai activity at Gannet Rock, but with the slack tide at high, I wasn’t getting much interest on the soft baits. I was really keen on some fresh Snapper for dinner from this mission, so made my way round to a spot that produces well in the colder months.

It took a few drifts to get set up correctly, I needed to achieve a drift towards the desired shallow foul. The technique as the tide started moving (about one hour after high tide) was to cast ahead of the drift about twenty metres and as the bait dropped a couple of metres in to the water column, the fish were feeding above the kelp. First fish hooked was a strong coloured kelpie as you would expect in this environment.

The fish weren’t particuarly my size expectations for the dinner table so I carried on using the proven winter soft baiting technique. Working a treat, I had another fish hit the Gulp-Lime Tiger using a 7” Jerk Shad, I was sure to entise a better sized fish! With the fish hitting so high in the water column in the shallow depths of 6 metres, it made for fun soft baiting, needing to keep the fish’s head up, as it was giving its head shakes in an attempt to gain line or bust me off on the foul ground.

Once that one was securely in the chilly bin, I was back in the zone. Start the ski then follow my track using my Raymarine mapping back up to where I started my drift… Same method again, cast well away from the ski and feel the braid as the soft bait drops through the water, ready to strike the predatory Snapper! Here is the result, more Snapper.

If only every Jetskifishing day was as great as this, that’s why it’s called fishing as it is never a sure thing what you are going to catch or how many.
This was one of those days that my patience was well worth braving the cold conditions… I kept seven nice Snapper, making for a good few meals with the bonus of a couple for the smoker.
With light fading fast, I left the spot for another day.

With everything tied down and the reel covers attached to the rods to eliminate the salt water spray and any gear overboard, it was navigation lights on for a fast ride back in low light! Here is the video for this fun session.

Till next time, hope you all are getting out there and living the dream with Jetskifishing.
Cheers, Andrew Hill