With only a couple of days to go before it is winter in the southern hemisphere our run of perfect weather continues. Saturday I sleep in and decided to do some jobs around home, what a mistake not a breath of wind all day flat calm. Sunday we got up early to find a light southerly (our bad weather comes from this direction) so off we went. The sea wasn't as good as we had hoped with a 10 knot southerly the sea was choppy, we headed to Ariel reef for a snapper stray line and shallow water was quite rough. We gave the berlie time to work and perservered all morning for only 2 snapper, I must say Murray who hates stray lining was very patient and didn't start moaning until lunch time, at 1 pm we pulled the anchor and where heading out to south rocks when the cell phone went with a problem at work, so it was time to head in. About 8km's from shore the sea just flattened out and turned to glass, amazing how different the sea can be over a few k's.
footnote: It looks as if the Blue fin caught last week may be a world record, the heaviest world record Pacific blue fin on 60kg line is around 145kg even though NZ records are over 300kg. (may be the cost of registering for a world record puts us Kiwis off)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
21.05.11 Perfect weather
Ethan posing next to Robbies 155.05kg Southern Blue Fin TunaFor the last 7 days we have had perfect weather no wind, sunny and warm during the day at least and a couple of light frosts at night, all thanks to a large high pressure system covering New Zealand. The only downer is we have a 2-3 metre swell and I'm at work. Saturday it still looked good and the usual weekend weather turn to custard didn't happen. Murray and I were at the ramp at 6.30am and the sea looked perfect, the swell had dropped to a metre and the surfers and fishermen were in for a great day. We headed out to BS1A which is 34km out to sea and about 16 km out we came across 20 plus Albatross sitting on the ocean a sure sign of fish. The water temp was 17.4, a bit cold but we set a couple lures and 1 minute later Murray had a Skip jack tuna on board (I had thought they were long gone to warmer seas) we then hooked a couple of rat Kingfish which were released. With fresh bait on board we didn't want to waste the day we continued heading out to BS1A. On arrival we had a look around and found 8 metres of sign over the rock Murray caught his big Bass, we set up our first drift and to our disappointment we both caught sharks (full moon and slow tides....recipe for sharks) over the next 4 hours we managed to catch 4 Hapuka (2 each) in between numerous sharks. A lot of other boats were complaining of hard fishing so we think we did ok with 4 Puka we headed home with the conditions just getting better.
Footnote. Sunday morning I received a text from Johnstone that his son Ethan had been out all night on the boat Houston Broad bill fishing and they hooked a 155.05kg Southern Blue Fin tuna not far from where we were.
Footnote. Sunday morning I received a text from Johnstone that his son Ethan had been out all night on the boat Houston Broad bill fishing and they hooked a 155.05kg Southern Blue Fin tuna not far from where we were.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
26.04.11 Cape Runaway
Johnstones green jacket winning 7.59kg snapperThe white Pointer Cricket teams annual fishing trip.
Well where do I start............At the beginning I guess.
Tuesday .. had to do the shopping for the trip (food etc) and load the car as well as sort out my gear for land based rock fishing, and pick up Evans small boat. Did I mention there was a gale and it was raining, not ordinary rain but torrential rain, rain that caused severe flooding, washouts and slips 100km's away in Wairoa.
While I was loading the car I said to my self, "self watch those steps they are slippery", and on the "hundredth" time coming down I ended in a tangled mess at the bottom, no real damage except to pride and a couple off bruises - good start.
Wednesday day morning the rain had stopped in the night and I was just getting out of bed and the phone went. Work - There has been an armed robbery last night, "Oh shit", A quick phone call to one of the boys "I will be late". Luckily no one was hurt and it looks like no weapon was used and they didn't get away with much. Two hours later I make it to our meeting spot. The boys had used the time well and had found out the road we were going to use was closed due to slips so we were able to use the only other route in.
We arrived at the farm house to see the front paddocks under water,and a quick check of the sea showed it was fishable, so it looked good for the next day.
Thursday... We load the small boats and head to Cricket Island, the wind had picked up again, but the island was sheltered and calm. We managed to catch a slow but steady stream of snapper and rat Kingfish (all returned to the sea), I managed to weigh the heaviest snapper for the day at 2.5kg.
Friday ... We head to Lottin point to launch the boats and go to a favorite rock island I love (Hams rock). Cod starts the day off with 7 baits and 7 snapper, the rest of the day is steady with all fish returned except 4 for tea, far cry from the old days when all fish were kept or wasted. Johnstone caught only one snapper all day but it was a good one 7.59kg. Back to the farm house and to a power cut that went to 9.30 that night, candle light tea cooked on the gas top.
Saturday .. was a great day weather wise hot and sunny and no wind, we went back to Hams rock and with the clear skies the fishing was hard but we all manged a couple of snapper or two but nothing to beat Johnstones 7.59kg fish that won him the "green jacket" for the third time. Again we had power cuts and the hot water still hadn't come on.
Sunday .... as we were leaving the clouds were gathering and the heavy rain returned and 3 days later it is still raining up there, so all in all we were very lucky to get 3 good days fishing in. Next year is our 20th year up there, so it will be a big one.
Well where do I start............At the beginning I guess.
Tuesday .. had to do the shopping for the trip (food etc) and load the car as well as sort out my gear for land based rock fishing, and pick up Evans small boat. Did I mention there was a gale and it was raining, not ordinary rain but torrential rain, rain that caused severe flooding, washouts and slips 100km's away in Wairoa.
While I was loading the car I said to my self, "self watch those steps they are slippery", and on the "hundredth" time coming down I ended in a tangled mess at the bottom, no real damage except to pride and a couple off bruises - good start.
Wednesday day morning the rain had stopped in the night and I was just getting out of bed and the phone went. Work - There has been an armed robbery last night, "Oh shit", A quick phone call to one of the boys "I will be late". Luckily no one was hurt and it looks like no weapon was used and they didn't get away with much. Two hours later I make it to our meeting spot. The boys had used the time well and had found out the road we were going to use was closed due to slips so we were able to use the only other route in.
We arrived at the farm house to see the front paddocks under water,and a quick check of the sea showed it was fishable, so it looked good for the next day.
Thursday... We load the small boats and head to Cricket Island, the wind had picked up again, but the island was sheltered and calm. We managed to catch a slow but steady stream of snapper and rat Kingfish (all returned to the sea), I managed to weigh the heaviest snapper for the day at 2.5kg.
Friday ... We head to Lottin point to launch the boats and go to a favorite rock island I love (Hams rock). Cod starts the day off with 7 baits and 7 snapper, the rest of the day is steady with all fish returned except 4 for tea, far cry from the old days when all fish were kept or wasted. Johnstone caught only one snapper all day but it was a good one 7.59kg. Back to the farm house and to a power cut that went to 9.30 that night, candle light tea cooked on the gas top.
Saturday .. was a great day weather wise hot and sunny and no wind, we went back to Hams rock and with the clear skies the fishing was hard but we all manged a couple of snapper or two but nothing to beat Johnstones 7.59kg fish that won him the "green jacket" for the third time. Again we had power cuts and the hot water still hadn't come on.
Sunday .... as we were leaving the clouds were gathering and the heavy rain returned and 3 days later it is still raining up there, so all in all we were very lucky to get 3 good days fishing in. Next year is our 20th year up there, so it will be a big one.
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