April 2010 - Part 2
Bay of Islands Fishing Report
9th April - We were wondering where we were going to try today. Fishing has been patchy and no two days have been the same. We are really having to work hard to produce some decent fish. Thank goodness for Terry's expertise. Today, we headed in amongst the islands. The first spot produced nothing but midgets so we moved in further. Our second spot started to produce a few decent Snapper, nothing huge but most were between 30-33cms. We were also catching very big Kahawai so everyone was getting a decent workout. Even 6yr old Klara Ohliu from Sweden managed one of the biggest Kahawai. She was struggling with it so her dad Frederik had to help but she did well even hanging onto the rod because these fish are really powerful. We had a school of very small rat kingis turn up and they chased every fish that we caught (even the Kahawai that were twice their size). David had a bit of fun targeting them for a while until one of them shortly after it's release got taken by a Hammerhead Shark. We tried another couple of spots in an attempt to find bigger Snapper but without success. So we headed back to the very first spot to see if anything had changed and this is where David caught today's biggest Snapper (2.5lbs). David also caught the biggest Trevally I've seen for a long time so he was doing very well indeed.
David Cheung was on board today with his friends Papaya Fang and Lulu Huang. David was in fine form today, scoring the best Snapper (2.5lbs) and the best Trevally. Papaya and Lulu did well too catching Kahawai, Snapper and Rat Kingi's
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Newly married Ella O'Reilly took her husband Brendan to the cleaners with this great Kahawai. Somehow I think there will some gloating going on. Our 6yr old Klara Ohliu did very well hooking up this huge Kahawai. Luckily her Dad, Fredrick, was on hand to give her a hand to get it in. The last photo shows my old buddy from my favorite competing business in the background. A couple of weeks ago he accused me of doctoring my photos. When he saw us arrive today and start taking photos he turned his back. I think his motto is "if I didn't see it - it didn't happen".
10th April - We had an 8hr charter today and were a bit worried about whether or not we'd be able to find enough fish to keep everyone occupied and interested. We've been finding the fish in shallow water but they are moving around all the time. Each time we revisit a successful spot, we find that the fish have moved.
So today, we moved quite a bit and checked out a lot of spots that we didn't normally need to check. We started the day with two pods of dolphins coming over and playing under the bow (not a bad start and we saved everyone from having to go on a dolphin watch trip.) Each spot that we chose produced reasonable fish for a while and then died. The guys on board wouldn't accept anything under 30cm (which is our recommendation as well) so we threw back a lot of fish. Every now and then someone caught a reasonable fish (3-6lbs) or something a little bit different. By the end of the day we'd caught a small John Dory (returned), a couple of Kahawai (returned), a couple more Kahawai (kept), a couple of Trevally (one 2lbs), plus a good number of Snapper from 30cm right up to 6lbs. It took 3/4hr to fillet it all so I'm reasonably happy that we did pretty well for the conditions.
These were the best fish of the day. In order we have a 5lb Snapper caught by Karen Sinclair, a 6lb Snapper caught by Ray Everson and a 2lb Trevally caught by Stuart Armstrong (the groups Scottish Master of Joke Telling.) Last photo was an attempt to produce of all a starry photo for the best fish (just playing around)
11th April - We had a good group on today and a few of them hadn't fished before. We took them to sheltered water where, although we were still exposed to the wind, the water was very calm. It was a day where the fish weren't spectacular but they were very plentiful. We imposed a minimum size of 30cm and it was still very easy to achieve sufficient fish for everyone (including the crew). We caught Gurnard, Trevally, Kahawai and of course lots and lots of Snapper. Our biggest was around 6lbs (caught by the skipper) but the best effort was our fishing star Soile Wesslin who pulled in the majority of the big Snapper today. Half an hour before the end of the trip she revealed that the secret was the bait - she was using Pilchard tails. Immediately I had a run on tails (surprise surprise.)
Mike Salter (left) had the misfortune of fishing beside fishing whizz kid Soile Wesslin (right). The picture says it all really, one decent Snapper slipped by Soile and gave Mike a chance.
12th April - We were expecting another windy day and the swell as we went past Tapeka reinforced our fears. However, once we were within the shelter of the islands, it became
apparent that there was no wind. In fact, weatherwise it turned out to be a perfect day. Customer wise, it was pretty good too. Everyone was prepared to bait their own hooks, take their fish of the hooks and generally get involved in everything that represents a good days fishing. I enjoyed the interaction between the two groups, there was a fair bit of humour and teasing - everything that makes a successful trip. Plus there was a heap of very good fish. Once again the crew managed to take fish home as well.
At first the girls out fished the guys and left them in the dust. Sophie and her mum (Victoria) started it with two Kahawai, then Sophie caught this great Snapper. Her brother was not happy (naturally.) Then Marie caught this Snapper which made it "females 100%" "males 0%"
Finally the guys started to get their act together. Elliott caught what was going to be the biggest Snapper of the day (6lbs), followed by Steve who caught this good Snapper and a great Trevally. The final word went to Elliott with the smallest Snapper that I've seen for a long, long time. Well done Elliot, you managed to get the biggest and the smallest today.
15th April - This was a great trip that was only marred by three no-shows. I have a new member in the Hall of Shame: Last night I received a booking from Tahere Murdock and his two sons. Apparently he'd been out on the Arline before I bought it and wanted to come out again. Unfortunately his word is worth nothing as he didn't turn up and doesn't answer his phone. Well, he managed to miss a great trip plus he's now banned from fishing on my boat again. All it takes is a phone call if you've changed your mind, then I can open that spot up to others. If people don't extend me that courtesy then I reserve the right to slam them here.
Anyway, back to the trip itself. We headed out to the same spot that has worked so well for us over the past few days. The initial Snapper were pretty small but we caught about half a dozen large Kahawai (kept 3 and returned the others) to keep it interesting. Gradually the size of the Snapper increased and we kept a few between 30-32cm just to ensure everyone got something to eat if nothing else happened. Then a couple of larger Snapper came aboard (around 3lbs) and then the biggie .... Joanna had not caught a single fish today and was wondering what she was doing wrong and then she got her first fish, a massive 8.5lb Snapper. It fought like a Kahawai and had us all fooled, it was a beauty and the best of the day. Her next fish was one of the biggest Kahawai so she could've retired undefeated right then and there. We had another couple of good Snapper weighing in around 4-5lbs but nothing as good as Joanna's one.
The sense of humour during the day had been pretty good, nobody was immune from a bit of ribbing but the fun really started when Rochelle and Kelvin's wife started their Steve Irwin imitations. We were almost in tears. As we neared the wharf, I was looking to see if there were any white coats standing there waiting for us (ever see "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" when the guys from the asylum went on a fishing trip? Deja vu)
Photos in order: This was Joanna's first fish of the day, 8.5lbs of pure Snapper. Her next fish was a large Kahawai. She could've retired undefeated.
Then we have Kelvin Hatcher, Alex Simpson and Rochelle Hardie with a selection of their best fish today.
Then we have, entertainment central. These ladies (Rochelle Hardie, Rowena Higginson and Kay Jackson) were the instigators of most of the hilarity on the boat. A lot of fun and kept us all on our toes)
Lastly, a close up of Joanna's Snapper. This was the best we've seen for a while
.jpg "Mike Salter with the 2nd best Snapper of the day (640x480)")
.jpg "Soile Wesslin with her best Snapper (640x480)")
.jpg "David Cheung with the best Snapper today (640x480)")
.jpg "David Cheung with the biggest Trevally I've seen for a while (640x480)")
.jpg "David, Papaya and Lulu with their best Trevally, Snapper and Kahawai (640x480)")
.jpg "Ella O'Reily with her first Kahawai (480x640)")
.jpg "Klara Ohliu with her best Kahawai (640x480)")
.jpg "At 5lbs this was our 2nd best Snapper (640x480)")
.jpg "At 6lbs this was our best Snapper (640x480)")
.jpg "Mad Scot snaffles the best Trevally (640x480)")
.jpg "At 6lbs this was our best Snapper with halo (640x480)")
.jpg "Sophie and Victoria Nuttall with the first fish of the day (Kahawai)")
.jpg "Sophie Nuttall with her best Snapper (640x480)")
.jpg "Marie Hunneyball with her best Snapper (640x480)")
 640x480.jpg "Elliott Nuttall with the best Snapper (6lbs) 640x480")
.jpg "Steve Perry scored a nice Snapper and a great Trevally (640x480)")
 640x480.jpg "Elliott Nuttall with the smallest Snapper (6ozs) 640x480")
.jpg "Joanna Pennington with her 8.5lb Snapper")
.jpg "Kelvin, Alex and Rochelle witha selection of their best fish")
.jpg "Rochelle, Rowena and Kay with their best Snapper")
.jpg "Joanna's fish deserves a closeup")