Kingfish – Recurve – Liquid Life

The Knowledge.

December 28, 2017Gurnard, Kahawai, Kingfish, Shark, Snapper haydnt Leave a Comment

December 28th 2017.

Every trip out on the water is an education. Sometimes you learn a little, sometimes you learn a lot. Fishing is a process of trial and error. Often you figure out little snippets of knowledge and these are tiny little pieces of the puzzle that all combine to make you a better fisherman and maybe, . . . eventually, . . . an expert. There’s a heap of advice online and in magazines, but you can’t beat time spent out there on the water. However, learning where the fish will be, when they will be there and how to catch them, is a long journey. It’s therefore a revelation when someone reveals a short cut. One that arrives outa the blue and takes you from zero to hero in a matter of minutes! This is exactly what happened to me recently. I learnt more from one short conversation, than from 5 years on the rod – and it was with an almost guilty sense of excitement, that I put the knowledge into practice on our last trip. Let me explain . . . .

A couple of weeks ago, after another fruitless hunt for the elusive Manukau kingfish, I stopped to chat with another fisherman and lamented upon my poor luck and lowly catch-rate. Whether it was pity – or just good ol’ kiwi camaraderie – this guy turned out to be The Expert on catching kingfish and delivered the 10 commandments of West coast king fishing. Something of a religious experience let me tell you! He told me exactly what bait to use, where to catch it, where to find the kings and what tide to fish. Some of it I already new, some of it I thought I knew, but there were a couple of nuggets of wisdom that were ’trade secrets’ and quite why he divulged them to me . . . I really don’t know. Either way it helped me pull all the pieces of the puzzle together and on the very next trip, we executed a perfect plan of attack, which went something like this:

1. Launch boat.

2. Travel to point A.

3. Catch live bait.

4. Travel to point B.

5. Catch kingfish.

Easy as! The bones of it were simple but the time money and effort spent getting there are almost impossible to calculate. A combination of my many hours spent trying and his many years of experience, distilled into a few gems of enlightenment. We returned that day with a smorgasbord of seafood crowned by a kingfish. It could have all have been a fluke. It could quite easily turn to custard on our next expedition and we return empty handed, but I’m kinda thinking we may just have made a breakthrough. Hopefully we’ve turned a corner and can finally enjoy the thrills and spills of arm straining, line stripping, rod wrenching West coast kingfish on a regular basis. . . . . Hopefully.

Roughing it.

August 13, 2017Kahawai, Kingfish, Snapper haydnt

August 11th 2017

The further we headed offshore, the rougher the sea became. With a stiff Easterly breeze on our tail, the Awhitu cliffs were slowly fading into the distance. During the winter months you have to burn some gas too reach the best fishing grounds. While those sunny summer days offer rich pickings close to shore, there’s something to be said for the adventure of hitting the open seas, in search of snapper schools in the big blue . . . . or more accurately, the ‘big grey’ on this occasion. With barely a hint of swell, the waves were nothing more than uncomfortable, but in a 6metre boat, it doesn’t take much of a chop, to slow you down to a lurching crawl. Nevertheless, we had the anticipation of a few hours fishing ahead and it’s hard to better the excitement off the unknown and the hopes of landing the big one.

Our goal was the 60 metre mark, but en-route our path was skewed toward a promising work-up. You don’t see too many of these out West – so you don’t pass them up when they come along. A rolling maul of gannets dropped from the air and skewered the water, then emerged to repeat the cycle. Meanwhile the sounder screen showed a bonanza of life below – things were looking good! We cut the throttle ahead of the birds and deployed the drogue, aiming our drift through the thick of the action. The Savage Gear, Squish jigs were rapidly rigged and hurled into the churning seas. Seconds later it was all on – and by that I mean, we were all on. 3 rods bent in unison with barely 10 metres of line off the reels. A dense school of kahawai were hard on the feed and the jigs were proving irresistible. We had 15 minutes of fun with them, but never got down to the seabed to find out if there were any snapper cruising below.

And so it was back to ploughing a path Westward and out into the depths. So slow was our progress that when we hit the 55 metre mark, I made an executive decision to sling the pick over the side and set up base-camp for a while. There’s often debate about whether or not to use berley out West. The nay-sayers claim it only attracts the sharks, and they are certainly right on occasion. But as well as shark, it also attracts snapper and gurnard, so the gamble is just which ones will come along first. We span the wheel of fortune and sent our berley pot zip-lining down the anchor rope. Had we made the right choice?

1hr later, I was starting to think not. With just a single snapper breaking our duck, the conversation turned to a change of position. On any other day, we would likely have cut and run a little further out, but with the prospect of a bumpy ride, no one was keen for the punishment. So we stuck to our guns and hoped for a change in fortunes . . . . . which eventually swung in our favour. The snapper began to come on the feed and though they never reach plague proportions we hit a steady stream of plum winter reds. We called it a day with 20 fish in the bin. Not bad going for a windy day on the water.

The snapper still seem pretty spread out and we haven’t hit any ‘honey-pots’ so far this winter; Those huge schools of fish that are tightly packed and oh so hungry. I expect once the water temperature rises a degree or two, this will trigger the pre-spawn swarms to aggregate. As ever, there’s always something to look forward to and I’m already excited about the prospects of spring.

Wonder what’s down below ?. . . . .

A Comedy of Errors.

March 29, 2017Kingfish, Snapper, Uncategorized haydnt

March 25th 2016.

Lady luck was playing games with us. She’d give a little, then take it all away. But so long as the good luck outweighed the bad, we’d hopefully finish the day with a smile on our faces.

We hadn’t even reached the beach before I realised our first mishap: The baitboard was still in the garage. Bugger – could be a messy trip. Never mind, it’s hardly an essential item. Likewise when Pano discovered his tackle-box was still in the boot of his car, we reasoned he could probably do without. After all, fishing is a communal endeavour. All for one and one for all. Andy and I opened up our tackle boxes to him and he was soon weighted, baited and ready to roll.

However, when mishap no.3 occurred, I had to seriously consider the strength of our friendship; We’d not long set the baits out and Pano was cranking in his first snapper of the day – and the handle sheared clean off his reel. He hand-lined the fish aboard whilst cursing his run of bad luck and no doubt considering he may be playing deckhand for the remainder of the trip; His reel was completely knackered. Not a comforting thought when the fish were on the chew and practically queuing for a space in the chilly bin.

Now I’m all for helping a friend in need but offering another man your fishing rod is a huge favour to give. Indeed I have friends who would loan out their wife before their fishing rod. ( Though fortunately Pano is very happy with his wife, so it’s not a decision I have had to make). In times of true desperation, the greatest friendships are affirmed, so with the a nod of the head I handed over my spare set and asked just one thing of him – ‘take good care of her, mate’

Fishing just a couple of hundred metres beyond the surf line, the water was shallow and the sounder showed a glut of fish beneath the boat. But unlike our last trip when the snapper were young and slight, today they were decidedly more robust. I set the hook into a hefty string-puller and waged a battle to and fro, for a great 5 minutes of fun. The culprit was 10lb red which eventually popped to the surface amid hollers and whoops! The best one I’d caught for a few months and I was pleased as punch.

By now, the jack mackerel schools had taken up position in the berley trail so I whipped out the sabikis and welcomed a few into the livebait tank. Our plan was to stop and dip for a kingfish on the way home and while there was the minor hiccup on the way ( losing 100 metres of braid in a tangle behind the boat) , it pretty much came to fruition as hoped. We arrived at the mark to see a pack of kings carving bow-waves across the surface, so knew they must be on the hunt. First drift with the livebaits down and Pano had an energetic bite and a lively scrap with a juvenile kingi. Not the mature specimen we’d hoped for, but it’s a big step in the right direction. Slowly but surely it seems we’re figuring things out. We now know where to go, we know when to go – and we know what bait to use. We’ve just gotta refine the technique further and weed out a big boy from the midgets.

The Best & Worst of Days.

January 22, 2017January 27, 2017Kingfish haydnt 1 Comment

January 22nd 2017

If you’re a West coast fisherman then this summer has not been a good one. The opportunities to get out on the water have been fleeting and few. The persistent Westerlies have only occasionally lulled -and when they do you need to make every effort to get out there quick before it blows up again. Friday was one such day. It had been blowing a hooley all day but the forecast gave 10knots by evening. The diary was free and I was itching to get out there and wet a lure or two. But that’s where things started to unravel . . . .

Turns out some lowlife pond-scum had stolen all the electronics in the boat. GPS chart-plotter, radio and stereo all gone. Nothing left but holes in the console and a tangle of wires. Morons hadn’t even taken the antenna or mounts. Hopefully karma comes round and gives them a hard kick in the arse someday. I’m sure it will.

Needless to say I was pretty pissed off! I filed a police report, contacted the insurance company and ruefully watched the wind dissipating over the waters of the Manukau, wishing I was out there fishing. Bugger it I thought; Rather than waste time stewing, I’ll go take my frustrations out on the ocean and give it a good thrashing with some lures. Surely a great way to vent some aggression!

I was itching to try out my new Savage Gear 3D trout. The advertising blurb tells you it ‘blurs the lines between lures and live-bait’ and for once I have to agree. I’ve never seen a lure with such a lifelike swimming action. Virtually every cast I had mullet swimming in alongside the lure. Seems they thought it was one of the school. So when a pack of Kingfish came motoring through the shallows sending the mullet leaping into the air, I knew I had the perfect mimic in the water. Sure enough the lure was snatched and an epic battle ensued. Line was screeching off the reel and the rod was arched over double in my hands. 5 minutes later the fish was beaten and with the help of a fellow angler who’d run over to help, we had the kingi beaten and beached. A sleek, sliver-green, speed-machine weighing in at 13kg/27lb.

The lesson learned; Don’t wallow in self pity. Get off your arse and do something about it!