Moro Mou Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Hello Raiders, I have just returned from NZ and despite the ordinary weather I had a fantastic trip. Hope you enjoy the report. Tuesday My mate and I arrived Auckland on Tuesday afternoon and after checking in at our hotel we made a dash for the tackle shop for those last minute "must have" items. The exchange rate was good so the blow was softened with our purchases. I spoke to my NZ mate who organised the trip and the weather reports were terrible and there was a high chance the trip may not even happen. Wednesday We were picked us up, a little bleary eyed, at 830 and we commenced the 5 hour drive north with one of the other guys in our fishing crew. We took the scenic route and had a great lunch at Russel after a visit and tour or the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club. This area was made famous (to the game fisherman anyway) by Zane Grey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zane_Grey#Fishing A beer stop at Waitangi Game Fishing Club and a few yarns with some colourful characters who re confirmed that the wind would make things tough for our trip. We arrived at Manganoui at 6pm, boarded the vessel (A 53 foot craft Powered by twin 500hp Yanmar diesel engines. Is capable of 24 knots although a cruising speed of 10-15 is more the norm) and met our skipper for the trip, and his two deck hands. The remaining 2 members of our team arrived at about 7 and then we received the good and bad news. The forecast was terrible (read as 30 knot + winds and 3 - 4 meter swells) but there was a chance we could get a window to fish the 3 kings. If this failed we would always have snapper off North Cape. Dinner at the pub at Manganoui and we were bunked down by midnight. Thursday We set sail early am and once out of the harbour we knew this trip was not going to be for the faint hearted. I was a little worried about getting crook but fortunately survived. The weather report came in about lunch time and it was confirmed that we could have a shot at the 3 Kings area if we wanted. The decision was unanimous despite the conditions and we were all pretty pumped. After lunch we received our first taste of fishing in NZ when we stopped for a quick jig off North Cape. Water depth was about 180 metres so jigging with 500 gram jigs was hard work. We hooked a couple but only one was boated of around 75cm and released. We continued our journey north and when we dropped anchor at the 3 kings later that evening we were all relieved to have made it with all meals still inside us. A few drinks and off to bed to be rocked gently to sleep by the swaying boat. Friday Our first solid day of fishing and it started well with the bait gathering session. We started burleying and the Koheru (cowenyoung) started to arrive .... along with 3 - 4 kg trevally and 60 to 80 cm kings! It was a race to get the Koies hooked before a trev or rat (by NZ standards) grabbed your bait, jig or soft plastic. I managed to boat a few kings (in the 65 - 85 cm range) and trevs each after fairly long battles on light gear. This was awesome fun and gave me a slight insight into the fun that lay ahead. Once we had about enough bait we became the slug to the king bank. It was an interesting ride but when we were all lined up on the starboard side of the vessel with livies deployed for Marlin the weather was temporarily forgotten. The action was slow but on our 3rd drift I finally had a take and hooked up to something that chose to head towards the surface at high speed. I was expecting to see a Marlin burst through the water however the battle was short lived and when the chewed off leader was reeled in it was confirmed to be a mako and not a marlin. One of the ballooned livies was next to go but yet again he was bitten off after a short lived fight with another mako. As a result stumps were pulled and we moved to have a quick bottom bash in 200 m for bass and hapuka. The bottom bash was reasonably successful and a few of the Kiwi boys kept some bass for the table. They were not huge fish but tasy eating. My Aussie mate caught the biggest at 22kgs. The next stop was we came for, "big kings", and it wasn't long before we had rods buckled everywhere on both livies and jigs. We all had some fun boating some good fish but unfortunately lost the battle with others when we either pulled the hooks or the fish found the bottom and busted us off. The biggest fish boated was 129 cm to the fork. All kings were tagged and released. This was a great session and the tough journey back to the anchor point at 3 kings did not dull the smiles. Saturday This was to be our last day fishing as the weather was getting worse and winds of 40 knots + were forecast to arrive on Sunday. Despite the conditions this day proved to be one of the best fishing sessions I have been part of. From our anchor point we headed to the Princess Islands for a combined session on big kings, big snapper and big trevally. The interesting part for me was this was all available at the one location. You either sent livies to the bottom for kings, used plastics or bait on the bottom for snapper or worked plastics (or fly) mid water for trevally. I opted to first send a livey to the bottom for a king. However after about 15 minutes of seeing trevs and snapper hitting the deck made me think strongly about a change. Thankfully I persisted and shortly after my rod buckled and I was locked in battle with what proved to be my fish of the trip. When the 135 cm 23.5 kg fish came aboard my smile was impossible to remove. I managed another 118 cm to the fork before I swapped gear and had a crack at the trevally and snapper. I did not manage any snapper but certainly made friends with the trevs and had a ball on light gear winning most battles but also losing a few. Best for me was a 6.5 kg model. We moved to one last spot but despite bagging a trev and getting tangled with a few sharks the deteriorating weather meant we had to pull stumps and commence our 8 hour haul back to North Cape. Now this was an experience and at times the movie "Perfect Storm" came to mind. Crashing waves caused by the swell and high gusty winds made this journey tough on all crew but more our skipper who had to navigate the boat. Being airborne in our bunks was funny at times but downright painful at others. We all slept well that night even though the anchor pulled a few times because of the winds. Sunday Our final morning and we were braced for a repeat of the night before for our long journey back to Manganoui. In the end while the trip was far from pleasant it was nothing compared to the night before and we were relatively unscathed when we docked at 3pm. Catch highlights for me as follows: 4 Kings over a metre all tagged and released bar 1. Lengths 1.05 to fork, 1.12 to fork, 1.18 to fork and 1.35 overall. Also managed about 6 – 7 trevally in the 5 – 6.5kg range. A couple of pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Looks like you went to the land of the giants , some great big fish there, congrats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elite Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 they are fat!!!!! check out the swell in the 1st pic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacer560 Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 farrrrkkkkkkk who fed those kings? Fat lil buggers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil D Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 how dare you tease us like that Holy crap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iggy Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 G`day ,what a great read well done ,looks like an awesome adventure,that 1st pic with the swell in the background is amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Hooker Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyt Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 you gonna need some physio after that trip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke K Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Awesome and speechless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrepin Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 What a trip. I love the never say die attitude. You'll never forget it. Well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogtooth Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Great report... And some ripper kings.... 4 months to go before i fish the Land of the Giants.... Cheers Dogtooth..... John...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yakka Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 (edited) That is what you call some fat kings... Nice effort mate that would have been allot of fun... If only i could cast from my house to NZ... Hahaha Edited May 12, 2010 by SquidKing Combo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robeebee Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 awesome fish mate if only we could get them over here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davegroves68 Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Some well fed Kingies there. I fished out of Russel in December and got some good kings up to 1.07m but nowhere near as fat as them. The water was flat then too, and the sun shining . Your keener than me Great fish !!! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeh191 Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Mate what can I say when your holding fish like that, bloody Awesome. Cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishmaniac Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Insane weather and great fishing to boot. Good read too, well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermofish Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Holy sweet mother of god. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FISHARK Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 now that 's some huuuuuge fish there mate well done boys and thanks for the read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdjnetplay Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 What more can I say - those fish are stunners! Don't think i'll be anywhere near the blue water when i visit NZ in august but i'll certainly be plotting a summer visit while im there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moro Mou Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 Thanks for all your posts. I am still smiling. tonyt - did my shoulder earlier in the year and finished physio a few weeks before the trip. Everything was in order thankfully. Dogtooth - enjoy your trip and given you have already had great success in Australia with big kings i am expecting some rippers from you. Welsh Dave - Russel is a great spot and i was often wishing for flat water . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightstalker Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Awesome kings, they just look so good when they get big like that. Cant wait till the ones in the harbour all grow that big eh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adjustedpete Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 I was over there a couple of months ago and didnt do anywhere near as well as you. But still its a ripper of a trip and everyone should do it once at least Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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