Weather wise, its been a pretty tough year and warm, with unusually stable water temperatures that hasn’t helped the fishing. But, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t good fish to be had.
Heading out with the lads, I hoped for a feed but expected little.
I was trying something new – anchoring up – and I must admit I am really not sold on the whole sitting still gig. As I sat there feeling increasingly restless – the fellas took to lobbing verbal volleys back and forth. While entertaining, it was all “what is said on the water, stays on the water” stuff – meanwhile I quietly worked my microjig – from Kaveman Tackle of course.
While they continued their brotherly banter, I got a few good hits on my jig so paused for a few seconds – next thing, a good bend on the rod and some decent weight behind it. As they continued to wind each other up, I was quietly winding myself then having my fish alternate between having seizures and diving back down to the floor. Although it was taking a good while, I resisted the urge to crank my drag up .
It was just five meters below the surface and visible on the sounder when one of the blokes finally noticed I had a fish! A nice healthy looking trevally popped up a short time later. The lads did say it was a good sized one but, not having caught many trev’s before, I thought they were – well – being “supportive” … hence only taking a photo on the bow of the yak.
I was far more successful at getting my snapper to the surface without anyone noticing, despite being considerably larger (68cm) – perhaps because I was on the drift rather than anchored up – he hit hard, put in some really good runs, battled like a trooper and came up well and truly done. The couta showed up in numbers so we decided to head in closer, I quietly toodled my way in trolling a lure on the sand, hoping the couta wouldn’t notice.
I didn’t see it myself but, the couta did notice – and apparently absolutely smashed me , much to the delight of one of my paddle buddies. Good fun and not a target species but, I decided to keep him for bait when surfcasting/ wharf fishing with my daughter and granddaughter.
My final and biggest fish was definitely not a keeper – casting into bust ups of kahawhai, I felt my bobbing kabura get hit – twice – then the rod bent over with some serious but not overly enthusiastic weight. This wasn’t a battle of wits but rather, a test of strength – and disconcertingly, by the time I had this one up and had it under control, it had pulled me into the reserve. A lovely healthy looking thresher, hooked at the pointy end, I decided it best to play it safe and do a two person release. One of the fellas wound in and paddled in to give me a hand – which didn’t go quite as smoothly as it ought but he did eventually swim off.
While the take was modest, the company was great, the weather awesome and the fishing was both challenging and entertaining.
Fishy times and tight lines!
That Kayak Fishing Chick
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