Answering the call - save the lambs, shoot the geese!

Tony called me during the week, geese were raiding a chicory crop and the farmer wanted them gone so he could get his lambs in for fattening. Game on. We'd aim for 2 hunts, an afternoon shoot and then be back the following morning - I could do only the afternoon hunt owing to family commitments. At least we had some weather, finally the drought had broken and burning blue skies were replaced with drizzle and a neat little breeze -straight off the harbour. Good news as we'd be able to shoot away from the roost.

I met Tony & Chewie and we caught up while waiting for Richard to arrive. He soon pulled in and we got saddled up. Arriving at the farm we met the farmer who had just moved a few geese off one of his paddocks. Paradise ducks flew all over the place as we moved through a chicory crop and down to our chosen spot. The place was literally smothered in goose kak; the farmer hadn't been kidding that he had an issue.

We met Richard's dad and another of Richard's mates at the site and then set about getting ready - in the mid afternoon heat we were all soon sweating.

  

We got all set and then the perpetual goose hunting waiting began. Waiting, waiting.... then 3 geese appeared, flying towards us getting closer and closer... but setting down about 300m away. Damn. Surely not one of those days where they set out of range?

Then a ragged mob of 5 came into view, and with further ado set and came in right in front of Chewie and I... Chewie called it and we laid into them. First blood for 2015.

At that point Matt's ute appeared and he raced down, ditched his gear and turned around to go park. We got his blind sorted and tidied his stuff away - including his drone which he'd brought along.

Then came one of those head-shaking "I can't effing believe I did that" moments... with the drone zooming at us I launched a goose up overhead and they collided smashing the done to earth with a sickening thud. Matt was pretty calm as I stammered about how I'd buy him a new one, how it didn't look as bad as it could have, how.... anyway with a check over and a power up, the drone took back to the air. I was pretty damn relieved!!! But now we all know that when a goose takes down a drone its not necessarily terminal for the machine!!!

The next flight came from the harbour, where a mob of geese were sitting on the mud and that set the scene for the afternoon. The guys shot quite well, by my count only 5 birds escaped.

Drone.....

Over, Rover

It was a good shake down for 2015, may the geese continue to fly well.

Did I say there was kak everywhere?

Tony and Chewy with combined day 1 & 2 bag. Photo courtesy Matt McCondach

Wee westie visit

Long weekends call for fishing trips. I sent Andy a late happy birthday/Xmas/New Year text and he came right back with a weather outlook for Sunday. As long as his and Christa's second baby didn't arrive (already due) he had a leave pass. I'd make the 2 hour drive and be at his at 6am - we had to get to the ramp early as a fishing comp was being held and Manu Bay would be Disneyland popular.

I passed a number of cars towing boats on the way, and arrived nice and early, waking Andy up with a text. a quick coffee and we hitched the boat on and got going. Arriving at Manu at 5.50am we were about thirtieth boat lined up ready to launch. It was mind blowing, but I'd heard of over 300 boats being launched during the Xmas holidays. The Raglan Sports Fishing Club did really well, with volunteers helping to launch boats and park vehicles so the whole procession ran like clockwork. If only the local ramps were as well organised in busy periods - but they're not so I avoid popular ramps at busy times.

We set off with a slight breeze on the quarter, which combined with a crappy wavelength threw spray. I had my rain jacket on but water was soon leaking in the neck. But it would be a hot day so drying out wouldn't be an issue. It took longer than usual to get out to Gannet Rock, and we were about 10th boat to join the drifts over the reef. We were both jigging; priority 1 was to get fish for the table and smoker. It was harder than usual to find legal fish but I was fortunate enough to catch a couple of keepers which went into the bin. After that I grabbed the fly rod. With masses of rat kingfish chasing the jigs up in the clear water, it was just too good an opportunity to miss. As usual the fly rod got the attention of boats in close proximity, with other anglers giving me that "you're mad" look. On with a fly I'd tied up the other day and down it went.

One thing I've noticed is that flies will out fish jigs when the going gets tough [depending on circumstances], and the kingis were switching off the jigs. With a dozen boats flinging hardware around, perhaps that wasn't too surprising. I got hit after hit and for once didn't get reefed despite fish taking plenty of line.

I lost my fly when the leader knot gave when I'd cranked the drag right up, so on went a Flex Calamari. That got hit straight away and was the cause of demise of a number of kings.

After a few hours we called it and got set to troll back to base. With plenty of albies and skippies around we hoped to find work ups. I set the Tiagra with a large tuna lure and we got going.

Andy hit the first albie and we continued to work that patch, finding a huge bait ball just under the surface. This concentration of bait held our attention for quite a while as we regularly boated fish.

Albies really pull string, so every hit was the precursor to an enjoyable fight. By 3.30 we decided to head in. At the ramp we were met by a friendly volunteer who held the nose while I stepped ashore, really, I could get used to the royal treatment! Hats off to the club.

Back at Andy's we cleaned down the boat [blood everywhere] and fish and got them into fresh salt ice slurry. My evening was spent cutting the fish into chunks to cure overnight, ready for smoking after 18 hours in brown sugar and garlic.

The west coast has much to offer a fly angler, so every visit is treasured. Thanks Andy for hosting me. Ups.

At the beach

This has been a summer out of the bag. Blue marlin in record numbers are being caught and almost unbelievably we’ve seen the return of yellowfin tuna runs after an absence of almost exactly 10 years. Not huge numbers, but enough to warm the hearts of game fishers everywhere.

My main fishing focus over the holiday period has been tying flies for bonefish. As all of the Christmas Island fishing collateral says “there are no fishing shops on Kirimati” so you have to turn up prepared or really be wasting your time [and money].

In between there have been trips here and there, most notably a few days spent on the Coromandel Peninsula for my folks’ 50^th wedding anniversary. We had awesome weather in a fantastic location and a couple of early morning fishing missions in the company of my dad and brother turned up enough snapper to feed the extended family.

Evening fly fishing for kingfish has been very productive, I can say that I’ve never seen as many kingfish around as I have this season. They’ve been prolific in numbers, if not size.

The break culminated yesterday [am at work today…] with a rock fishing session. TT and I set out in a snotty SW wind to get to a rocky ledge with a decent drop off and berley up snaps. Despite my coat the quartering wind blew tons of spray and I got soaked; and with all the boat traffic it resembled a washing machine out there, so by the time we got to our spot I wasn’t getting any wetter  by dropping him and our gear off then anchoring the boat and swimming in to the rocks. The next few hours were entertaining – not for fish caught [zero] but for fish seen. Tons of piper swirled around as rays cruised through. Occasionally a snapper would scream into view but they really stayed down and away from danger. Very nice change of pace from fishing off the boat; I’ll do that again soon.

The wind turned to the West so our strip home was into a chop that slowed our pace somewhat. When we reached Rough Rock I threw a piper fly in and immediately hooked a decent 72 cm kingi that didn’t want to play ball and continually charged away from the boat before being landed. Next cast saw a rat inhale the fly deeply; he was bleeding badly upon release. Would’ve been better in the smoker than in some damn shark’s guts; but rules are rules.

Hope this weather holds.

Some photos courtesy my bro, Snuffit big bro

Working day 1, 2015

Swirling masses of kingfish, piper spraying, surface bust ups, double hook ups…. fly carnage. All of this on the first day back to work. With boss and uber boss still on leave, I was made temporary boss and exercised my temporary boss status to leave the office early under a still blue sky. Coch was a starter – he needed no prompting whatsoever. I’d heard that the naval base was holding hordes of bait and predators, but that’s very much an outgoing tide spot and we’d be starting at the bottom quarter of the incoming. None the less having launched and pushed the boat out, I decided to have a quick look down that way, but she was dead as a dodo.  With a few minutes up my sleeve I scoped a few spots around the harbour; all have good potential to hold a good cruiser from time to time. 

With Coch aboard we set off, first for another bypass of the naval base [no signs of life] and then we set off out into the channel. Plenty of boats were about and as we began to find plenty of birds. Mutton ducks sat on their fat asses [they are far from my favourite bird] in hundred square metre patches and terns wheeled around. Bait balls showed on the sounder…. Sooner or later there would be some carnage. We hoped for sooner. And our hopes were fulfilled. We rigged up and first cast against a channel marker saw Coch’s rod buckle and line scream off as a kingi ate the fly.
 

The ‘fishiness’ in the atmosphere was palpable; soon a slight breeze built up and clouds spanned the sky, making the fishing conditions better than perfect. Schools of kings slashed at piper on the surface and the bait fish took to the air in waves. Under the circumstances we were able to fish 2 up and double strikes were common.  We got crossed up and had to move around each other with line screaming off.  Netting fish single handed was a challenge I'm used to but what a hoot anyway... and with wind against tide we were held close to the action and as the sun slowly eased towards the horizon, and the workup intensified. 
 

Coch and I were able to change flies and test patterns at a whim; what better situation to test what flies work? I set aside my usual never fails and tried out flies gifted to me with some success and some abject failures. It was pretty special being out there as such carnage unfolded. No style of fishing would have been more suited to the situation than fly; and nowhere else in the world I rather have been. Our banter was minimal as we concentrated on hooking, playing and netting fish around each other. With twilight upon us we made the call to head closer to home and on the way just had to stop and fish the Rough Rock, scene of brutal hook ups and bust offs in the past. I reached for the fly box and settled on an EP Flex Calamari in bleeding colours. We jointly cast and Coch hooked up straight off while my fly was mouthed but not taken. Finally after several casts I got a good eat and set the hook on my last fish of the day. It was a stroppy little bugger and why he’d decided that squid was on the menu…. Well who can say?

Fly carnage

The short run back to base was easy on calm seas and my final blast back to the ramp was a pleasure as a full moon rose swathed in orange clouds. If only every work day could be so good.

Showing off, 2 rods, 2 kingis

More fly carnage

 

Chillin'

The hols have drifted by; and I've really had not much that 'needed' doing. Last couple days have been different - busy with pond spraying and then yesterday, the New Year's first foray to fresh water.

The stream was in perfect nick, although many of the shading trees had either been felled or fallen due to some of the winter storms. My walk down to the entry point took slightly longer than usual; I put it down to age. The 7'6"#4 felt like a twig compared to the kingi gear I've been casting of late and it took a while for the rhythm to return. On the way down I'd spooked a nice brownie at one of the crossing points [doh!]. The sky was overcast but I knew it would clear later in the morning; so for now spotting was difficult and as its sight fishing water I knew I'd be against it for the first hour. I missed or spooked the first 2 fish but the third was predictably hiding under the fallen willow that I jumped on and pushed through, climbing out onto a contorted mess of branches. I bow-and-arrowed a yellow Wulff into his window and he came up and grabbed at it but inexplicably missed. I dropped the fly in and again he rose but stopped short. From my perch I had to retrieve the fly carefully, cut the tippet and then tie on a nymph which I'd plink into his path. All cool in theory but that involved getting my reading glasses out while balancing on a tangle of weak looking branches over an 8 foot hole in which Mr. Trout lay. I managed it eventually, tested the knot and flicked the nymph n 5 feet up from the fish. As soon as he saw it he charged and ate. I hit him and he - thank the fishing gods - charged upstream. In commando [yeah right, more like clown] fashion I leapt from the branches to the head of the pool, landing in waist deep water and making enough noise for the fish to continue his upstream surge. After a decent battle in which the little 4 weight was hooped over I netted a spunky little 1.25kg fish and released him. Good stuff. Over the next 6 hours I hit enough fish to make up for the clangers including [doh! doh!] almost walking on a good 2.5 kg brownie that I should have known was there.

The fight of the day was from a rainbow rising freely 10m upstream of where I'd spooked the brown. As my fly was dropping he rose for a natural and then in a double take hit my fly and when the hook bit took to the air. He screamed up into his lair leaping like the proverbial bucking bronco, and jumped no less than 8 times in a series of somersaults and backflips. I really wished I could have caught that on video.

It was 3pm by the time I reached the car and by then I was chilled out. Fantastic day.

Happy New Year!

The night before Christmas.... Eve

Coch has had to work through to Christmas. We'd loosely said we'd catch up for a fish before Xmas and given it was the 23rd, we were running out of time. A couple of texts and we were set. I launched at Torpedo Bay for the first time this summer and drove across to Okahu to pick him up @ 1700. As usual he was punctual and there was little boat traffic so we didn't have to dick around waiting for boat ramp muppets, it was straight in to pick him up then away we went. We decided to make the relatively long haul [with excellent fly fishing available within 8 minutes of the ramp, a 'long haul' is 20 minutes] to Sargent Passage and work around structure there.

The usual haunts seemed bare and we tried each marker between Motuihe back to Rangitoto for no joy. Maybe the sun was too bright. Up the Rangi Channel we began to find and hit fish. Just rats but nice string pullers all the same. Our work took us slowly back towards the harbour. The call to have a look at a reef system was mine and I'm glad we did. Terns were hitting bait being pushed up from below. The current was fierce; the incoming ripping through. Fish bust the surface and at first I called them for Kahawai, but Coch's first hit turned up a nice rat kingi. We took turns hooking, losing and landing fish. I was on the rod when the surface completely erupted; terns where screeching and wheeling, bait was busting through the surface and minor eruptions blew out when predator fish charged up to hit the bait. The sun was dropping and in the twilight we had the perfect conditions for fly fishing. The fly dropped into a boiling mess of fish carnage and only half a strip was needed to get the hit - straight away line flew off the old Abel. That 'fight' lasted as long as it took the rampaging kingi to hit the reef.

That seemed the perfect way to end the day, with the fish having the final say.

What a difference rain makes

This time last year, we had a water crises and Matt's green pond was drying up. We are in one of the wettest Decembers in recent years and its just great for ponds/ducks.

Matt sent out a photo a couple days ago of our ducklings on their home. High water level and the scene is awesome. You can see our hide lower left, some of the vegetation has died back but it'll regrow over late summer/autumn.

Even better, The Reverend Mk II has come back!

That's him/her mid shot.

Pretty cool.

Christmas Island 2015

This past couple of weeks I've not got out on the water. The lead up to Xmas holidays has been pretty hectic; on top of which the boat trailer has a bad bearing. I checked it when we got back from the BOI trip and there was enough play in the bearings that the wheel could be noticeably rocked. Got that sorted yesterday, but the BIG news is that I'll join TT, Coch and a couple of TT's American mates on a trip to Christmas Island in the Republic of Kiribati in July 2015.

The list of stuff that's recommended to take is staggering, but to be fair there's only one flight in and out per week so being self sufficient is the watch word. There are staggering quantities of fish up there, and we'll be targeting bones, GT's and blue water species. I would have thought that with 20 something fly rods lying around or on loan I'd be sweet but... I'm going to need at least 3 new fly lines, and have a new 6 weight in mind too. I'll lug up a #6, #8, #10, #11, #12 and TT said to take the fourteen as well.... but...

Luckily there's a heap of Aussies who've made the trek and reported back on what to take. Most seem to tie 150 [bonefish] flies and only use a couple dozen in a week. Why should we be any different?

Anyway, I've made a start on my GT flies. A pattern called the GT Mullet seems to be the go. I've made a few flies that are similar in profile and design, just different colours.

Lots of tying to do......



Closest to original colour



Purple & black.... bit of red



Just dunno....

 



Good ol Deceiver

 







Pre Xmas trip 2014

TT and I had been blathering about where to go for our Pre Xmas trip this year, and to do something a bit different from our usual trout trip I'd put a big snapper trip on the agenda. I searched around a bit and found a neat looking place to rent at Rawhiti, spoke to TT and then booked it. we'd take a bunch of gear with us, as in the Bay of Islands the fishing options are pretty wide.

We loaded up, hitched The Booger on to my truck and set off. 3 and a half hours later we pulled into Rawhiti and found our accommodation - sweet!

Rawhiti - one of my favourite places

After unpacking the truck and setting the boat up we hit the water and immediately headed up to Cape Brett, to fish for trevally and kahawai near the famous Hole In the Rock. A stinky little northerly wind made the trip lumpier than the forecasters had predicted so it took a awhile. On arrival we quickly found the trevs and TT got his fly rod ready. I'd tied some krill flies and he put one on and almost immediately hooked up. The fish got away pretty quickly and despite fishing pretty hard was he only trev we managed to hook. After an hour we moved into the lee of Cape Brett - flat as a pancake in there. We moved into a reefy area and got set up to fish flies back into a rocky area. TT hooked up and landed a neat little snapper after a good scrap to set the scene. Despite working the reef over that was the sum total for our effort.

Rounding Cape Brett to head back in to our evening spot the sea had flattened appreciably so our trip back wasn't a long one. We got set up on our reef and got the berley flowing. The bottom was rough and soon we began to get small hits from baitfish, then smallish snaps. After putting a few back each, the sun dropped behind Urapukapuka Island and the moon peaked above the Cape... BOOM TT's rod went off. It buckled over and line screamed off; I just got out of his way and said "that's your 20lb'er bro". He fought it out of the rough and after a great scrap it lay beside the boat. I asked him what he wanted to do and he was a bit speechless so I gaffed it and iki'd the fish for him. A quick photo session ensued.

TT's largest snap in 36 years

The sun disappeared and the full moon rose, illuminating the ocean in front of us. It was beautiful. At around 9 and after no more bites we called it (really we could have fished the whole tide out until 11pm and may have done well). Back at base TT cleaned his fish and we got it on ice.

We had a bit of a sleep in the next morning before launching around 8am and heading back across to Cape Brett. With blue skies and flat sea we had high hopes for good fly fishing. Stopping at The Twins along the way, we found schools of maomao and trevally on the surface. I had a solid hook up on a krill fly almost immediately and the fish sounded. After a torrid fight, the hook pulled {would be the story of my trip...} so we moved on to fish the World Record Reef. TT found a solid snapper straight away which fought doggedly before being netted.

We moved to Piercy Island [Motu Kokako] to fish amongst the acres of trevally and kahawai. The trevs were fixated on krill so very difficult to catch even with the tiniest of flies, however the kahawai were more than happy to switch of krill when a Clouser was ripped past their nose. We had great fishing for several hours before being joined by a pod of dolphin which slowed the fishing somewhat but gave the tourists on boats a thrill.

We decided to move on and fish the coast line back to the bay. Mid afternoon it was time to escape the sun and get the boat sorted for the evening fish. Along the way we met Simon and his mate Dan who I'd invited up for a fish. It was great to catch up with one of my oldest mates. Simon is a snapper catching machine, he's definitely the finest salt water angler that I know. With the 8kg line class world record [14.3 kg] snapper to his name, his knowledge of when and where to catch a horse is unparalleled. We sat around in the shade catching up and having a few beers before calling iit time to get out.

We'd decided to fish a reef in 35m to begin, so headed off in tandem. We dropped the anchor, got berley going and I put down a dropper rig. Soon the banter on the VHF got going, but the fishing didn't... there was almost no current out there. I lost a big fish that wrapped me around the anchor rope and soon after landed a school shark. Too much, time to go shallow. We each headed inshore. We anchored on a knoll while the other lads moved in to a headland. I liked our spot but TT seemed antsy so we soon pulled the pin [I wish we hadn't] and moved closer in. As the sun dropped away and the tide peaked the fish began to bite. TT caught a nice 3 kilo snap, I landed another damn school shark. TT caught a carpet shark. The boys on the other boat were killing it. Simon had put them in a great current line. As the evening wore on we caught smallish fish and ooglies. By the time we called it off I knew this wasn't going to be my trip.... Simon and Dan had landed a dozen snaps including one horse that Simon took on his 8kg gear. It was massive and at close to 11kg a real trophy. He'd had a lean year on big fish so this one was pretty memorable.

Freakin horse

Dwarfing the fuel tank

We cleaned fish well into the late hours and got everything on ice before showering and eating dinner. By now the boat was a stinking mess, scarps of bait, blood and guts all over. I hoped for rain.... it didn't come. {I also hoped for a fish of note, which wasn't exactly forthcoming either!!!}.

Sunday and our final morning. Dan was keen to fish the outgoing at last night's spot. Simon was too stuffed to come along so Dan would ride single handed. We fished for several hours for nothing of note, so decided to head into the harbour where we anchored above a reef on a corner where the current swept into a deep hole. Almost straight away I lost a good fish into the reef. Whodaguessedit? The scenery was stunning and the place so peaceful that i really didn't want to leave, but at 11.30 we needed to get back, clean up and distribute fish. We got the house shipshape, gear cleaned and stowed and the fish sorted and then hit the road.

Another freakin awesome Pre Xmas trip. Next time, I'll smash a huge snap. ;)

Dolphins just off the rocks - awesome