udging by the queue at the Sulphur Point boat ramps at 7am last Sunday, it appeared everyone with a penchant for piscatorial pursuits spotted the opportunity to get out on the briny that day. It’s still a case of grabbing the opportunity to get out when you can. These incessant winds, generally from a westerly direction, are often called the ‘roaring forties’ between latitudes 40 and 50 degrees. As they move north they get renamed by others as the ‘furious fifties’ or screaming sixties’. I had always believed that these winds moved north to affect the Bay a bit later in the year, but maybe I’m suffering from a short or selective memory! Local client, Brendon Love had organised a charter on Sunday for some friends, ‘Moccona’ Mick, and visiting mainlander Dave Randle. Mick was a machine when it came to catching tarakihi, all the larger ones seemed to favour his offerings over others. However Mick is very non-committal when reeling in a fish. Is it a good one Mick was asked? The only reply being a long mmmmmmmm. Hence he has now acquired the ‘heft meer mmmmmm’ or ‘Moccona’ nickname. And what is it with ‘mainlanders’? They arrive on the boat demanding snapper, presumably having had a diet of blue cod for their entire lives. They are then almost inevitably the first person to catch blue cod. Must be in the technique I guess? As you will have guessed by now, it was decided to focus on tarakihi, and in 80m or so north of Motiti they were plentiful. There was also a huge variety to the by-catch. A lot of snapper, both red and golden snapper, feeding just above the tarakihi, as well as the aforementioned blue cod and some good sized trevally. However, Brendon scored the table fish of the day, a plump little hapuka falling to a large chunk of bonito that he allowed to slow drift into the depths. We did have some barracouta issues, but these were brief and they didn’t destroy rigs left, right and centre, as can happen. It possibly wasn’t a coincidence that having used squid almost exclusively for a couple of hours, some bonito was used. I wonder if the extra scent or oil from the new bait attracted the couta? Focusing on the tarakihi seemed to be the right call. When the wind came up early afternoon, we shifted to fish close inshore. Despite distributing a good amount of berley, only kahawai were attracted to the boat. Others I have spoken to had some success inshore, i.e. in the 10-20m depths, but it seems around a distinctive midday bite time. One of these was friend Richard Montgomerie, who bravely took the mother-in-law and his three youngsters out in the morning. In perfect flat conditions his daughter Pippa caught her first snapper. I am told she was cheered on by little sister Abi, though Abi doesn’t look so impressed in the photo Richard sent me! Son Archie apparently did a mean job of netting the fish for Pippa, hopefully the first of many to come!
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 05:38:34 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015