Tackle Tactics Surfcasting Message Board
[ Message Archive | Tackle Tactics Surfcasting Message Board ]

    August surfcasting Archived Message

    Posted by Jase on 5/8/2012, 12:46 pm

    Got out yesterday for a quiet fish. Finally managed to catch the cold the kids have, so just a lazy beach fish. Weather looked good for north, but rain in Kerikeri, so north I went. Parked up on the beach as the tide had started its outward flow. Low tide was 3:43pm so I wasn't expecting much to happen for a couple of hours.

    I set up one rod, which is all I usually use and looked at the water. It was flat calm, with just a half foot wave lapping the beach. My first thought was gurnard. It had been a mean swell we had had for the past week, so the bottom had been stirred well. Conditions were too good so I set up my second rod as well.

    About 2pm the tip on one rod quivered. It didn't do much so I waited. Then it quivered again and bent a bit. I retrieved a nice little fat, very well conditioned 30cm snapper. As I wound it in a local came down towing his runabout. He had been out all morning and had no luck at all, but seen Stu and I on the beach last weekend and wanted to see what we were doing. As I was talking to him my other rod went and in came another 30cm snapper, and shortly after a 29cm which I released.

    The local had told me about how few fish they were catching from the boats, but he had seen guys in kayaks in close doing well. Some other locals had a net out 800m on the edge of a reef and were getting some big snapper in it, so the fish are around. The main difference seemed to be bait. He was using big baits from his boat, and I was using smallish baits to get some distance from the shore. "Food for thought maybe?" he remarked. We talked for a bit then he left and I rebaited both rods and made a cuppa.

    The tide hit low and began to come in. About 4:15pm My rod bent well and the line went slack. Classic gurnard bite! The fish had a head shake like a snapper, so i was a bit confused until i saw why. It was a goodie! Despatched and measured it was 52cm. Sweet! In the bin on ice with 2 snapper. My partner loves gurnard, so that will be hers I thought, unless I can get another one? You bet! Sure enough the very next bait and off we went again almost straight away. This fish was 49cm. I was stoked at the size and condition of these fish.

    That was where it stopped. The darkness encroached with the tide and the cold, moist air and biting flies. I got one more snapper after dark at 29cm and decided to keep it to top up the bin to feed the family. In between all that 2 little kahawai and a little snapper attempted suicide, but were quickly returned to get bigger, or become kingi fodder.

    The tide was rising fast now and almost at my truck wheels, which was parked as high as I could get on the beach, so I packed up and headed off the beach having caught 5 snapper (3 kept), 2 gurnard, and 2 kahawai (released).

    I decided to have a look at Mangonui wharf on the way home and had a fish there for an hour before fatigue and cold took over. A 45 min drive home in what turned out to be a really foggy night had me home just in time to watch NZ take bronze in the lightweight double sculls.



    Two of the 3 snapper I kept, and a 49cm and 52cm gurnard caught 04/08/12.


    Message Thread: