I'd had some good days and sessions on trout of late, but the weather had been against my plans to get out after the yellow-tailed beasts. The king tide had come and gone, the incessant winds not allowing any chance to take advantage of the higher tides.
Today I'd launched at dawn and set off on flat seas, thinking about the trips undertaken of late...
The previous trip had been a meat hunt, the family wanting smoked kahawai for Xmas and whilst I had taken the early option of hitting some convenient rocks looking for snapper and blooding the new Sage Salt HD #9 paired with an Abel Super 9, by mid morning I still had an order to fill. I don't really like the idea of fishing to order as it puts undue pressure on what to me is a calming pass time. I'd spent a short time looking for Mr Kingi and in the process had been lucky enough to see (twice!) juvenile snapper hitting small flounder swimming in the surface film. I had to double take.. I could clearly see the snapper but needed to get close to see the tiny flounder no larger than 4cm swimming just under the surface. Amazing. Leaving the estuary (no kings seen) my kahawai prayers were answered when a massive work up appeared, terns and mutton ducks dipping and swimming amongst the splashes created by kahawai slashing through white bait on the surface. A left over Crazy Charlie stripped fast just under the surface came up trumps and the #8 bent over as the line zinged out to he backing knot. Amazing fish - translated from Maori Kaha ("strong") wai ("water") the fish's more than apt name being "strong in the water" - the perfect fly rod fish. They hunt, they hit hard, they take line relentlessly, fight doggedly- perfect. And they are beautiful eating fish when bled, brined and smoked.
***
I was rigged, line stripped with rod in hand and exploring a point when Adam passed by, heading for he far side of the flat. His Wave Walk kayak is set up with a small outboard and makes pretty good headway. I chose a path around the near edge of the flat. The SW squalls and cloud weren't ideal. Far less than. My vis window was narrow, but I began to disturb rays which to me is a positive. It took over an hour to traverse the flat, by which time 6 people had began to wade out - given that 3 were dressed in day glow orange they sure weren't anglers. It took some time to figure that they were retrieving not just one but 2 large set nets, both unmarked and therefore illegal. I was drawing closer to Adam who upped sticks and moved and soon after I spotted a pressure wave. With Minn Kota in hare mode I headed towards where I'd seen it then hit the spot lock, scanning, scanning, scanning. Finally I managed to get my crease fly on an intercept course and the fish engulfed it, running strongly. It was not a large kingi but none the less was he first for the year from the flats.
Photographed and quickly returned, the fish powered away. I still had time up me sleeve so decided on a new course of action to explore some new spots. The first, a lone marker pole looked a good target to throw to. I did and a large kingfish followed the fly without eating. Next cast hooked the pole and in the process of getting my fly back I spooked the whole area.
Next stop was an old haunt and it faithfully threw me a small fish on the piper fly.
Then it was time to chart a course home. Roll on better weather.
No comments:
Post a Comment