Tuesday, October 22, 2013
20.10.13 finally we get out
It's been awhile but finally we get to go out, early start and we had to go through 10km's of fog to find clear skies and sadly
the northerly was already up, so another 20k's of slop to our spot and 5
drops each we have our limit 10 bluenose and back to south rocks for
some tarekihi, by now the wind was up and the sea was getting ugly, we
managed 7 Tarekihi while being plagued by small red snapper (golden),
enough was enough and the long slog home to port to find the bay flat
and calm, what a contrast. We were able to stop and drift to filet our
catch. Home and cleaned up by 3pm. Bluenose
for tea
Sunday, August 25, 2013
25.08.13 spring is near
Since the last blog I have been out 3 times. The first time was late July, we went out wide to look for Hapuka (grouper) and found none so on the way home we stopped at a spot we call Rope saw sign and dropped the anchor, we both caught a Tarekihi and then the snapper kicked in, 2 at a time at times, they were hungry, as soon as the sinker hit the bottom we hooked up with most fish in the 2 kg range, it took less than an hour to get the limit of 20 snapper.
The next time was in early August we headed out wide again to look for Hapuka and only found sharks, we stopped at Gables on the way home and were on to snapper straight away, we shifted on the anchor and were into Tarekihi sadly the tax collectors turned up (barracuda) and took toll on our gear, we ended up with 4 snapper and 24 tarekihi.
Yesterday we went out and went straight to rope saw sign and again dropped the anchor and again we were straight in to the snapper it took an hour to get our limit of 20, nothing big' all around a kilo. with the wind around 18 plus knots and a metre plus swell we pulled the pick and headed home to be all cleaned up by 2pm. The days are getting warmer with spring looking a month early "yay".
The next time was in early August we headed out wide again to look for Hapuka and only found sharks, we stopped at Gables on the way home and were on to snapper straight away, we shifted on the anchor and were into Tarekihi sadly the tax collectors turned up (barracuda) and took toll on our gear, we ended up with 4 snapper and 24 tarekihi.
Yesterday we went out and went straight to rope saw sign and again dropped the anchor and again we were straight in to the snapper it took an hour to get our limit of 20, nothing big' all around a kilo. with the wind around 18 plus knots and a metre plus swell we pulled the pick and headed home to be all cleaned up by 2pm. The days are getting warmer with spring looking a month early "yay".
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
winter
Sorry not a lot happening, big sea and storms, just waiting for a break in the weather. We have a winter comp going for 3 months and the first month is nearly over and i haven't been out at all - not good, need my fix.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Queens birthday weekend
Its raining and blowing its gut's outside right now, in contrast Queens birthday weekend was breathless and flat seas, I on the other hand went (was dragged screaming) up to Bowentown to the batch and left the boat at home. I have never seen it so flat in the Bay of Plenty, on Saturday we managed to get Cliff to take us out in his runabout and cross the bar, we anchored in 13 metres of water and berlied and caught and kept 27 snapper and released another 20 odd, all in a couple of hours - $10 fishing. While back home off Gisborne the sea was flat and calm as well with good catches reported. Oh well can't win them all.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
19.04.13 Cricket trip to Lottin/Cape Runaway
Doesn't time fly it only seems like last week that we were at lottin and here we are again another year on and our 22nd fishing trip is about to begin.
Day one. We load up and drive the 3 hour trip to Cape runaway where we stay, The weather in the last couple of days has turned to crap, after the best summer and Autumn in memory it is typical that this week is the drought breaker. We get to the house to see the paddock flooded and the river high and dirty. So it was unpack and knock a cap off a bottle or two.
Day Two. We awake to blue Sky's and a strong north westerly (not good), 4 of us take the 4x4 bikes over the hill (700 mtrs) to have a look and the sight was not good for the boats but the track was drying out fast and it was ok to take the 4x4 land cruiser over the hill and to fish the rocks at the back of Jim's farm. The fishing was ok with everyone except me catching snapper with Pooh getting the biggest at 5.18 kg. My day just got worse and worse. I cut my finger before I even had a bait out (my main casting finger) and it bleed like a stuck pig, then all I caught was a eel, to top it off the sole of my rock boots came off. I had to take a lot of shit that night, not that anyone cared about my cut finger on the rocks but when they saw it back at the house suddenly there was a scramble to find first aid kits.
Day Three. The wind had gone and the morning was still and perfect so took the boats to Lottin and headed to a rock island we like 6 km up the rocks. We spread out and got the berlie in the water, the fishing was slow but steady. I managed to catch a snapper early on to get rid of the boggy tag and did I mention my finger was still very sore. About midday I had a big hit and managed to land a good snapper which I put into a rock pool to keep it fresh. About a hour later Evan who was fishing with me and I decided to head to the gear pile for lunch, taking the snapper for weighing (as the weigh master the scales were in my pack) Blank yelled out to us to check out Gnomes fish, I opened the ammo box (old ex army plastic shell boxes great storage containers) and saw a big snapper and thought this is going to be close. I weighted his snapper first 5.75kg and then mine 5.81 kg phew 6 gms in it, but I was in the lead. Heading home Evans boat had a disaster when he hit a submerged rock and smashed the drive shaft, luckily 20 metres from the trailer.
Day Four - The last day of the competition. With the boat out of action we had to go back to going over the hill in the 4x4, the day was perfect no wind or swell, which was sad as we could see the Cape rocks where we wanted to fish off were accessible, they are very hard to get on to. The fishing was slow with the odd good fish being caught around 3 kg, with the day ended no one was able to beat mine and finally the green jacket was mine for the next 12 months, we have been competing for the green jacket for the last 10 years and I have been coming 2nd for the last 5 years, now I can relax in future years now the monkey is off my back.
To top the weekend end off on the way home the heavens opened up again with flooding up the coast road to the cape and the wheel seared off Evans boat trailer, we were lucky that one of the boys brothers lived in a near by town and we were able to get a new set of studs and to be on our way after a couple of hours in the rain.
PS - my finger is better now
Day one. We load up and drive the 3 hour trip to Cape runaway where we stay, The weather in the last couple of days has turned to crap, after the best summer and Autumn in memory it is typical that this week is the drought breaker. We get to the house to see the paddock flooded and the river high and dirty. So it was unpack and knock a cap off a bottle or two.
Day Two. We awake to blue Sky's and a strong north westerly (not good), 4 of us take the 4x4 bikes over the hill (700 mtrs) to have a look and the sight was not good for the boats but the track was drying out fast and it was ok to take the 4x4 land cruiser over the hill and to fish the rocks at the back of Jim's farm. The fishing was ok with everyone except me catching snapper with Pooh getting the biggest at 5.18 kg. My day just got worse and worse. I cut my finger before I even had a bait out (my main casting finger) and it bleed like a stuck pig, then all I caught was a eel, to top it off the sole of my rock boots came off. I had to take a lot of shit that night, not that anyone cared about my cut finger on the rocks but when they saw it back at the house suddenly there was a scramble to find first aid kits.
Day Three. The wind had gone and the morning was still and perfect so took the boats to Lottin and headed to a rock island we like 6 km up the rocks. We spread out and got the berlie in the water, the fishing was slow but steady. I managed to catch a snapper early on to get rid of the boggy tag and did I mention my finger was still very sore. About midday I had a big hit and managed to land a good snapper which I put into a rock pool to keep it fresh. About a hour later Evan who was fishing with me and I decided to head to the gear pile for lunch, taking the snapper for weighing (as the weigh master the scales were in my pack) Blank yelled out to us to check out Gnomes fish, I opened the ammo box (old ex army plastic shell boxes great storage containers) and saw a big snapper and thought this is going to be close. I weighted his snapper first 5.75kg and then mine 5.81 kg phew 6 gms in it, but I was in the lead. Heading home Evans boat had a disaster when he hit a submerged rock and smashed the drive shaft, luckily 20 metres from the trailer.
Day Four - The last day of the competition. With the boat out of action we had to go back to going over the hill in the 4x4, the day was perfect no wind or swell, which was sad as we could see the Cape rocks where we wanted to fish off were accessible, they are very hard to get on to. The fishing was slow with the odd good fish being caught around 3 kg, with the day ended no one was able to beat mine and finally the green jacket was mine for the next 12 months, we have been competing for the green jacket for the last 10 years and I have been coming 2nd for the last 5 years, now I can relax in future years now the monkey is off my back.
To top the weekend end off on the way home the heavens opened up again with flooding up the coast road to the cape and the wheel seared off Evans boat trailer, we were lucky that one of the boys brothers lived in a near by town and we were able to get a new set of studs and to be on our way after a couple of hours in the rain.
PS - my finger is better now
Ladies comp
After one postponement we finally got underway, this year Trish wasn't able to fish so it was just Deb and Lianne who crewed for me. The weather conditions were very good with little wind and little swell, we headed out to my spot at Arial reef where we had the berlie in and the stray lines out in no time. Our first fish in was a shark not a good sign but it turned out to be our only one, we soon had a snapper on board followed by another and another in fact we were catching and releasing a steady stream of pan sized (legal) snapper we kept a dozen 2 to 3 kg snapper and a 3.72kg which earned Deb 4th place and a prize. Lianne hooked a good sized Kingfish that won the fight and busted off when it dived to the bottom. The day turned out to be very good with both girls catching heaps with about 20 fish released and sore muscles the next morning.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
very quiet at the moment
I went in the Young Nicks Charity contest with Evan and Sue as crew, we managed a few snapper stray lining, but nothing big enough to get us on the leader board. The last day Sue and I got into the skippies, boating 30 for the freezer.
Monday I took the day off from work and went out again for more skippies with Gnome for our cricket trip to the cape, as usual we only caught 8 as they seemed to have dispersed, small groups all over.
Easter was a toss up whether I took gazebo up to Bowentown or not, looking on the web, the forecast wasn't the best so I left her at home, as one would expect the weather was perfect and what was worse the snapper were biting with limit hauls for most. I manged to get out on the brother in laws small runabout in the harbour and we managed 20 snapper in 2 metres of water - It pays to watch fishing programs on TV as I got the clue how to catch snapper in the Harbour from the programme "Big Angry fish" which did a lot of its filming from Bowentown. Every place is different even though you are targeting the same species. Only 10 sleeps until our fishing trip to the cape, can't wait.
Monday I took the day off from work and went out again for more skippies with Gnome for our cricket trip to the cape, as usual we only caught 8 as they seemed to have dispersed, small groups all over.
Easter was a toss up whether I took gazebo up to Bowentown or not, looking on the web, the forecast wasn't the best so I left her at home, as one would expect the weather was perfect and what was worse the snapper were biting with limit hauls for most. I manged to get out on the brother in laws small runabout in the harbour and we managed 20 snapper in 2 metres of water - It pays to watch fishing programs on TV as I got the clue how to catch snapper in the Harbour from the programme "Big Angry fish" which did a lot of its filming from Bowentown. Every place is different even though you are targeting the same species. Only 10 sleeps until our fishing trip to the cape, can't wait.
Monday, March 4, 2013
14-17th Feb Tuna Tournment
A bit late sorry.
As was last year I was on White Pointer with Johnstone, Gnome and Rex the owner. Sadly for us this will be our last trip on her as she has been sold and will be going to Broom in western Australia.
The weather was near perfect for the 4 days with Friday being the stand out with glassy conditions well into the afternoon. Our 4 days fishing was a bit of a distaster this year with us not following our plans and heading off in the wrong direction each day. Friday was our best day with 5 Albacore Tuna caught in the 7-9 kg range not enough for a prize and Saturday I managed to jig a Kingfish at 17.9kg (2kg short of a prize). We did manage 1 strike from a marlin, but he didn't hook up. A 251kg blue Marlin won the contest followed by a 102kg Big eye (tuna double in weight 204kg) both caught by lady anglers, the Big Eye looks like it will be a new New Zealand ladies 37kg record
As was last year I was on White Pointer with Johnstone, Gnome and Rex the owner. Sadly for us this will be our last trip on her as she has been sold and will be going to Broom in western Australia.
Hot warm and glass
Perfect
A new add on to White Pointer (fish spotting seats on the roof)
Work up of Kahawai (where I jigged my Kingfish)
4 days of waiting
Mid afternoon 50 km's out to sea doesn't get any better
Thursday, January 24, 2013
25.01.13 Enterprise Holden Bay Bonanza Competion
Day one.... Canceled, Woke up a 4 am to hear the rain on the roof and the howl of the wind in the trees, 25 knot southerly and swell increasing to 1.5 meters. Back to bed try again tomorrow.
Day Two .... Not much better than yesterday, but the wind had dropped a bit, only 10-15 knots from the southeast. So the call was made to let the boats go, we head to the Wharerateas to hide under the cliffs, hoping to get some protection, but no the sea was yuk. We dropped anchor on the inside neddle's area to find only small Kahawai, so we then head out to the neddle's proper where 6 other boats are at anchor. We find good sign on the sounder and drop the anchor, berlie in the water and straylines deployed. Bang a hit and the trace is gone times 4 rods. Baracoutta are at their worst, we hang in retiring trace after trace, the other boats are pulling in small snapper one after the other. Finally I get a bait to the bottom and after 15 minutes a hit and I wind in a 7.18kg snapper. After another 3 hours and dozens of traces later, we pull the pick and head over to another boat to find they haven't seen a coutta at all, we drop the pick near them and have problems hooking up to the bottom and manage to catch 3 Tarakihi and that was that for the day.
Day 3 .... Still southeast but 1-5 knots, we head out from the Tata ramp and head to Baistows, the conditions are sloppy but ok. We drop our gear in 210 metres of water and I hook up instantly, a 8 kg Gemfish and Evan brings up a smaller one. We move over slightly and again soon as we hit the bottom I hook up, this time a small Bass and Evan a 5 kg Bluenose (good size for Baistows). over the rest of the morning we catch 5 Bass, 2 Hapuka (we even release one small bass, one that seemed ok, normally they have blown up from the change in pressure) and 4 good Bluenose all around 5 kg. We follow our game plan and head over to south rocks where we come arcross a work up of Kahawai, we break out the jigs and I land a Kingfish around 10-12 kg's Evan is straight into a good sized Kingi, takes around 15 minutes to get it into the boat and its a beauty, I release mine and it swims off none the worst for its stay on the boat.
Evans Kingfish weights 27.68 kg and takes 1st place, My snapper takes 2nd place and one of my Bluenose takes 3rd at 5.8 kg, so we didn't do to bad after all.
Day Two .... Not much better than yesterday, but the wind had dropped a bit, only 10-15 knots from the southeast. So the call was made to let the boats go, we head to the Wharerateas to hide under the cliffs, hoping to get some protection, but no the sea was yuk. We dropped anchor on the inside neddle's area to find only small Kahawai, so we then head out to the neddle's proper where 6 other boats are at anchor. We find good sign on the sounder and drop the anchor, berlie in the water and straylines deployed. Bang a hit and the trace is gone times 4 rods. Baracoutta are at their worst, we hang in retiring trace after trace, the other boats are pulling in small snapper one after the other. Finally I get a bait to the bottom and after 15 minutes a hit and I wind in a 7.18kg snapper. After another 3 hours and dozens of traces later, we pull the pick and head over to another boat to find they haven't seen a coutta at all, we drop the pick near them and have problems hooking up to the bottom and manage to catch 3 Tarakihi and that was that for the day.
Day 3 .... Still southeast but 1-5 knots, we head out from the Tata ramp and head to Baistows, the conditions are sloppy but ok. We drop our gear in 210 metres of water and I hook up instantly, a 8 kg Gemfish and Evan brings up a smaller one. We move over slightly and again soon as we hit the bottom I hook up, this time a small Bass and Evan a 5 kg Bluenose (good size for Baistows). over the rest of the morning we catch 5 Bass, 2 Hapuka (we even release one small bass, one that seemed ok, normally they have blown up from the change in pressure) and 4 good Bluenose all around 5 kg. We follow our game plan and head over to south rocks where we come arcross a work up of Kahawai, we break out the jigs and I land a Kingfish around 10-12 kg's Evan is straight into a good sized Kingi, takes around 15 minutes to get it into the boat and its a beauty, I release mine and it swims off none the worst for its stay on the boat.
Evans Kingfish weights 27.68 kg and takes 1st place, My snapper takes 2nd place and one of my Bluenose takes 3rd at 5.8 kg, so we didn't do to bad after all.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Summer 12/13
Sorry its been awhile since my last post, things have changed in my life, Having been made redundant just before Christmas and starting my own company, finding clients and work have kept me busy. Still I have found time to go fishing, we took our caravan out to the beach again this year (here in Gisborne we can freedom camp on certain beaches) and this year not having to work over the holiday period I was able to enjoy the beach. We have had the best summer so far in years, hot and dry with little wind.
I was able to go to the Tokomaru Bay's (about 65 k's up the coast) 2 day deep water contest on White Pointer, as usual the wind turned on shore for the contest and dropped completely as the contest ended. The conditions 46 k's out to sea were not good on the first day with most of the fleet being sick at sometime (even seasoned commercial fishermen were crook). I surprised myself with a quick spit after untangling a couple of lines and was good for the rest of the time, we had 4 on the boat who were not good all of the time on the first day. We managed only a couple of Hapuka and 16 Bluenose over the 2 days. not a good return seeing we were in the eldorado of Hapuka, the people we stayed with caught over 30 Hapuka over the 2 days supplying most of the small township of Tokomaru Bay with fish .
The water off Gisborne is starting to warm up reaching 20.9 last weekend, so everyone is starting to talk Tuna/Marlin, but still no sign of them. The sea looks ready for them with heaps of bait fish around so they can't be far away. This weekend is the Enterprise Holden Bay Bonanza our big 3 day contest, as per normal the forecast is crap for the weekend - but we live in hope the weather men have got it wrong.
I was able to go to the Tokomaru Bay's (about 65 k's up the coast) 2 day deep water contest on White Pointer, as usual the wind turned on shore for the contest and dropped completely as the contest ended. The conditions 46 k's out to sea were not good on the first day with most of the fleet being sick at sometime (even seasoned commercial fishermen were crook). I surprised myself with a quick spit after untangling a couple of lines and was good for the rest of the time, we had 4 on the boat who were not good all of the time on the first day. We managed only a couple of Hapuka and 16 Bluenose over the 2 days. not a good return seeing we were in the eldorado of Hapuka, the people we stayed with caught over 30 Hapuka over the 2 days supplying most of the small township of Tokomaru Bay with fish .
The water off Gisborne is starting to warm up reaching 20.9 last weekend, so everyone is starting to talk Tuna/Marlin, but still no sign of them. The sea looks ready for them with heaps of bait fish around so they can't be far away. This weekend is the Enterprise Holden Bay Bonanza our big 3 day contest, as per normal the forecast is crap for the weekend - but we live in hope the weather men have got it wrong.
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