A tale of two woes

I was heading over to Waiheke and I had a good feeling about the day. I was keen to get myself into another Kingfish. 

I got there and realised the tide was fuller than I thought and there was no way to get to my  spot but could get down to my second but it is a bird nesting area so I had to work my way through birds squawking and dive bombing me before I could get to the water. I manage to have a go at a few kings cruising but they keep turning away at my offerings. I managed a small snapper but that was it before I moved back to my other spot. I was having trouble trying to keep a straight line as the tide was pushing it round and I'm sure I wasn't near the bottom. I had plenty of fish coming up close before turning away and only got another under size snapper at the bottom end of tide as the current slowed. 

I decided on one last go at spot number 2 but as I got there I slipped on a rock and managed to break my rod tip, smash my reel and scrape up my arm. ARHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Not again. Second time I have broken my rod and to crack my reel double whammy!

So now I'm contemplating going back to less dangerous rock hopping for a while before venturing out. 

I have always found snapper fishing hard during the day especially during the middle of summer so will look at a new plan 

That being either fishing a lot earlier in the morning or in the evening.  Especially when there are no swimmers etc out.

The one that didnt get away

Having had a late night the night before I was tossing up as to whether to head out for some fishing. I wanted to check out a spot on the Manukau Harbour that was tide dependent and it would be another 2 weeks till I had another chance to have a look.

The wind has been dying off way to late this year and conditions looked good so I headed out.

Conditions were great but I couldn’t get round to where I wanted but managed to get a good rock ledge.

I threw in a few pilchard chunks and got to fishing stripping hard to see if there were any kahawai then slowing it down. I changed flies to new untested fly and had a few snapper in the bag. They were undersized so threw them back. Then something big hit. As I was fishing for snapper that’s what I thought it was but after the first good run into the backing I thought maybe it was a kahawai. But I was struggling to get it back under control. Every time I got some line in it would be back out again. Finally I started gaining some ground and then I saw a flash of a yellow tail near the surface. Kingifsh! Whoo hoo!!Holy Freakin c#@P!

I managed to get it close to the rocks but it was so heavy I was still struggling a bit. A bait-fisho next to me(yes you heard that right) helped bring it onto the rocks and also had a camera to take a Kodak moment before releasing.

I have been wanting to catch one of these but never would have thought I would catch one on a size 2 Clouser blind fishing an area I have never fished.

I am absolutely stoked and now looking forward to doing it again!

Waiheke -most bizarre catch

I headed out over the rocks at 8am looking forward to a good days fishing. I have a new 9 weight reddington rod and sage reel set-up so was looking forward to giving it a good workout.
The wind was a little strong and I struggled to get a touch. I did get a few follows from some 30cm kahawai and later in the morning managed to raise one. I had moved to a gut were I had caught my last big kahawai and had the most bizarre thing attach to the end of my line. A squid! I managed to get it all the way to shore before it let go as I lifted it from the water. I probably would have been able to scoop it out if I had a net. next on the most bizarre. I thought I had a big fish on the line only to see a shag come out of the water with my fly in its mouth. lucky for me it popped out.
A very slow day. I had even put some bait on the hook at one stage just to see what may have been there but it was a long time waiting and even then it was soft touches.
There are certainly plenty of reports of fish around so maybe I was there at the wrong tide/moon or something as normally I have been there on a fuller tide.

Designing Salt Flies

I have been tying trout flies for years but when it comes to salt flies I have found things a little different. This is because there are now a whole lot of different factors to consider when tying flies that you don't need to with fresh water. Here I am going to cover some of these factors and some insights into what I have found.

Casting
This is mainly to do with larger flies, deep water and casting distances. Trying to cast big heavy flies all day can be tiring and different materials also have weight when wet. e.g. rabbit will hold more weight than Slinky. Most synthetics don't hold water and will be easier to cast. I mainly fish shorelines where water is under 2 metres so I weigh mine lightly even when I am tying a bigger fly as I don’t want to be getting hooked up on bottom all the time.

Ease of use
The ease of tying a fly with a material can be a major factor as you will then enjoy tying it and also cut down on the time it takes. There is nothing more frustrating than spending hours just to tie a couple of flies especially if you lose a few each time you go out.

Movement
This is critical as this will effect the amount of fish you will catch. There are two main factors here and that is movement and bulk. You need to decide what material you want to use to how much movement and the action in the water. Mainly I will use softer materials for the tail and stiffer materials at the head therefore gaining both movement and bulk.

Shape
There are two main things here and that is bulk and also hold shape. Some materials look great when you tie them but need maintenance to keep the shape. EP is a classic example of a material that needs work to keep its shape. Also how it is tied will determine how it stays in place.

Tail wrapping
Clousers are designed so that they do not tangle and hold their shape . Tying the belly down the length of the hook is important to keep the materials from wrapping round the hook. the stiffer the material the less the wrapping but the less movement you get.

Weight
Weight is required to get your fly into the right area especially for snapper but this will also mean your fly will be harder to cast. This may just mean you need to be closer to where the action is or tying the right weight for the depth of water you are fishing. Generally in estuaries and flats I keep the flies light and deep drop off's like Waiheke I will use heavier flies.

Over time your will find works for you but even then you cant help but getting more creative.

New setup

Well i finaly did it. I got my new saltwater fly setup. I purchased the Reddington 9 weight predator rod and sage 2100 10 weight reel with rio outbound line. I got it out on thursday to give it a bash and although i didnt catch anything i did get to give my setup a good test and hell what a set it is. I had tried the rod at home and struggled on casting a bit but as soon as you put a heavy fly on that all changes and you can chuck line like a master. I decided to see how much line i could throw and I was just shy of casting the whole line. And the reel is smooth as silk. My only problem is that on the last part of my day I slipped on some rocks and fell with my rod landing on the rocks. My first thought was did I dent my reel but as I inspected it I realised the tip wa broken instead. There were a few profound words that were utered before I left for home. Just as well these rods have lifetime waranties.
Once I get it fixed I will be looking to get out and catch some good fish and plan to try and catch a kingfish.
Bring on summer fun.

Cornwallis

I have been spending quite a bit of time on the Manukau harbour as i am now closer to here than the Waitemata and I have been finding it difficult to find areas not so muddy. I have found that to get the cleaner water you really must be past Cornwallis. there is some good looking water here but once again needs a bit of time.
I headed out last week on the high thinking i would head round the rocks but found they were a bit too high to navigate so with no other option headed onto the wharf to see what's happening. after some talk with a guy there I headed back to the car to get my rod with the idea of jigging my fly. I cast a couple of times out with no success as I found I was not getting the depth required so added a bit of bait. yes I know sacrilege as this is not really fly-fishing. the bait disappeared pretty quick but what was left was a number of fish busting all over each other to get my fly. why this should be I am not sure but the first one I hooked fell off soon after but the second took off for the end of the wharf and three quick wraps of the pole I was stuck. one of the guys had a look and confirmed the fish was still on. now what! the same guy declared he would go for a swim to try and catch or untangle the fish but after about 1/2hr to 1hr the fish finally broke off. I went back to fishing but couldn't wake another and i tried other techniques and flies to no success.
as the light started to fade a couple of guys came down to fish off the end and within minutes one of them was on a brought in a 50cm trevally. it goes to show there are a lot of fish around here and what may be needed is a kayak

After this I have some ideas about adding some extra weight to jig my fly closer to the bottom or looking at what other areas around here that may be more suited to fly-fishing. after seeing the bay at low and full I think half tide may be best although when the fish came on it was right on high. not sure if there was something in this or just dumb luck.

Waiheke Re-Visited

I headed off to Waiheke again last weekend on different tide so i wasn't sure how the fishing was going to be compared to last time. The first spot i didn't spend much time in but the main point I did. At first it was quite slow but as the tide changed and started coming back in I managed two snapper with one being legal. I moved my round the ledges but came back to the first one. I switched flies to an interceptor and immediately got another 2 in quick succession then all went quiet. There were quite a few work ups going on but just out of casting reach. By one o'clock it was almost time to go but decided to head round the bend a bit. there was nothing at first but i could see the water was deeper so i put on a larger heavier fly and got a small snapper then just as i was about to finish for the day something solid came on and started screaming off. my reel has problems with start-up and usually end up in a birds nest so i kept my fingers around the line to control the drag. this worked well but i was soon in the backing and getting worried. I held on tight and managed to get in some line before it peeled off again. i reeled in again and this time got some decent amount of line back on the reel. By now I was getting confident that i had it in the bag. I saw the fish take a leap and there was no denying it was a kahawai of a decent size and when i got home and weighed it, it was 5lb.

The day was certainly a learning experience and i learnt a bit more on using heaver weights and larger sizes. i was using a size 1/0. my flies have been getting larger every year. To think my first flies i caught fish on were size 4 clousers.

I have been experimenting with the weight of the dumbells i use on my flies and I have found if i am fishing the inner harbour lighter flies with smaller dumbells work best if not just because they hit the water lighter but in open side of sea with deeper water larger dumbells to get down deep are better.

Here is a rough guide to my fly size to dumbel ratio
inner harbour. clousers in size 2 with small to med dumbells and size 1 to 1/0 interceptors with small to med dumbells
open sea with deeper water size 2 clousers with med beads and 1/0 interceptors with med to large dumbells.

having the same fly with a couple of different weights give the options for different water.