The board has been dead of late, almost stagnant, so here is a post I placed on another site with a few of my pics from a recent trip. May post more later on, kinda saving the better ones up.


You cant help but get a real appreciation for the outdoors here in New Zealand. Within a short drive in any direction in the north island there is something to do in the outdoors, whether thats taking the rifle for a walk over the hills, or taking the rods for a spin over the water, the options are endless, and the locations are simply fantastic.

On my last trip up north, it was quite slow, small tidal flows made things quite difficult for snapper in close and prevailing winds in the wrong directions just poured salt in the wounds. However spending up to 2 mouths of the year in the north, you soon work out where a feed is located even in the toughest days. That may be a 2 hour walk over the hills, but the views and rewards on offer make it worth while.

First up is a forum member by the name of Jim, I took him out on one of the morning I had free. It wasn't the best day to go fishing but we still had an amazing time and some decent fish where caught. The fish only make part of the trip however, the other parts are made up with great company and a decent sense of humour. It only took about 30 seconds after meeting the poor bugger before the first British accent was attempted in poor fashion, but like any good bugger, he shrugged it off, and gave it back.
Jim with a pig fish, and below that he's hooked up on a nice sized pannie ! Great stuff.




Before any serious attempt at snapper though, its really important to get fresh bait to chase decent snapper. We headed to the wharf and target the prolific amount grey mullet. These bugger don't really take to bait very well so the only way to get them apart from on fly. Without wanting to spend to much time catching bait, out come the trebble hooks. There is a little bit of skill required to get them in good numbers but generally not allot of sport in it. It works a treat.

Below is a grey mullet with a trebble hook whacked just behind the head which is a good place to hit them as there scales are like armour plates.



Chris holding up a prime snapper bait, the buggers asking to be smashed by snapper. This was one of a dozen



Once the fresh bait is caught, its time to head out and catch the fish. Once about 30kg of burly has hit the watch, it doesn't take long for the fish to show up.




Even the small buggers like this don't take to shabby pics at times


The unfortunite thing is that great fishing and good times don't just fall on your lap, there is allot of slog up hills and grind along beaches to reap the benefits of this fantastic country we live in. Its not really until you are half way back up the hill, catching your breath and striping the clothes off that you turn around and realize just how amazing it really it ! This places a higher appreciation on the fish being caught at the time.





Above, forgetting the waders in a cold southerly is not recommended.





Just flicking lures off the rocks is so much fun, you never know what you are going to catch. It always pays to have between your party as many differant tactics and options as possible, it brings out those special moments.






Above is a huge bend on the plastic rod created by a solid 12 pound snapper off the rocks, just amazing fun !


A trip is never complete without surfcasting and enjoys sand through the toes.



The trip as always was fantastic. The highlight for me, was for the first time in my life I watched hundereds of snapper smashing the krill off the surface at our feet, like shoals of kahawai, these snapper had there backs out of the water and took to the krill with veniom running through their veins, most impressive. I took over 650 pics from the trip, at some stage I may share a few more. If you pick where these spots are, keep them to yourself, please don't advertise it as such.

Chur.