[JB]

No story fullas, sorry about that. One of the regulars on our NZ fishing site posted these two pic's today. Wasn't a nice day but what a good result.
Just thought I'd share a few pics to be that little ray of sunshine for the day.
enjoy........... 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

 

[Scott]

JB, reds and a cray, what a seafood feast. Thankyou for sharing that with us.

Catch ya Scott

 

[Squidder]

Wow, great catch. I wonder if he was drop netting for crays or whether it was a lucky catch on a line.

Go the Fish n Dive!

 

[hairymick]

:shock: :shock: :shock: Great fish mate. awsome haul of snapper from a yak.

 

[JB]

the cray was on a ledger rig I gather... some fullas have all the luck. He also got a 6 foot shark that "entertained" him at the yak for a bit.

The snappers look typical of west coast NZ with the silvery look generated from living off generally sand bottom vs those that hang around a kelpy environment. Caught on a reef in secret spot X, known only to a few yak fishers.
the biggest snap I think went 16lb.... :shock:

 

[troppo]

Either you NZers are midgets with little yaks or those fish are seriously big. Nice haul of fish. Is the cray leftover bait?

 

[Blaen]

NIce Fish JB well done,

Kiwi land looks more enticing every day....nah just kidding :twisted:

 

[JB]

troppo-- you may jest about crays being used for bait - a complete waste of a great feed if you ask me. However a slice of cray tail has been known (by those in the know) to be seriously tempable as bait, snapper love them. In fact the main reason snapper have such might jaws is to crack hard shells such as crays, sea eggs (we call them kina) and hard shells like mussels etc. They also use them to eat live bait- yes big snapper (20lb+) are well known to nail a live bait - sometimes a by catch when targeting kingfish. A well known and recently released snapper fishing DVD in NZ(ITM fishing for snapper) had under water footage of a estimated 30lb+ snapper taking down a 25 - 30cm kawahi (aussie salmon) in 2 gulps, then smoking the fisher into a reef. they don;t get that big for no reason. The footage was amazing and I think I've seen it 20 times and it still makes my mouth water...

 

[fishtales]

Great catch JB. How I envy the amount of snapper you have over there in kiwiland.
As far as I know they grow bigger than the aussie variety too???

Chris

 

[JB]

blaen - not me unfortunately - another fisher from my boyhood home town. Everytime I go down there with my yak the weather kicks up a storm and I don't get you fish that region. probably the reason they grow so big there.

I think it was the spot dogfish caught a snapper nearly twice as big (i kid you not not far of the 30lb mark :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: )
I'm swann to seceracy not to mention its location on threat of being enrolled as the scrum coach for the wallabies
regards

 

[JB]

Kiwi land looks more enticing every day....nah just kidding

Funny thats what I thought the mainland Aussies said about Tassities :lol:

 

[PoddyMullet]

Hee hee, to fill up a Fish'N'Dive like that would be a big day out :shock: JB, I imagine a lot of NZ conditions give deep water not far from shore....is that the case :?:

 

[Milt]

Quite simply put a sensational haul. Ahhhh one day I'll venture over that way!!!

Milt,

 

[Davey G]

I'm swann to seceracy not to mention its location on threat of being enrolled as the scrum coach for the wallabies
regards

:lol: :lol:

yeah, I was waiting for one of our kiwi mates to throw out a rugby joke.. very funny JB.... :roll:

nice citch of snipper though bro, did your cuz put the suxty sux centimitre one in the chilly bun and then have it as fush und chups for tea??

:wink:

 

[JB]

poddymullet,
at this time of year when the water temp drops snapper in NZ tend to go deep or shallow mainly around reef structure.

Yes there are a few spots arounf NZ where the water depth is reasonably deep close to the shore. Arounf the location of this photo 70m of water is about 6k out. These were caught far closer in shallower waters on secret reef X.

During mid winter on the east coast of NZ big kingfish sometimes also haunt deep offshore reefs. Too far for us humble yakers. However there other main haunt during winter is close to shallow reef structure around kelpy, rocky locations. Often spots where $100K glass boats don;t want to go - the home of winter yak fishing.

If any of you fullas are over here I'm sure someone could hook you up for a fish and borrow / hire a yak.

regards

 

[troppo]

My bro-in-law is in Christchurch. I visited him in Nelson years back, only for a week. Beautiful country. Berry fruits were on - yummy! Around Nelson I can understand great yak fishing, but what are the waves like around where you go fishing? Many quieter waters or lots of swell?

 

[PoddyMullet]

JB, Cheers for the invitation. NZ is one of my fav countries, the scenery being one of the main reasons (but there's a heap of others)...although I could never admit that to ya here or elsewhere :wink:

 

[Dodge]

...although I could never admit that to ya here or elsewhere :wink:

Poddy glad you showed restraint; I also have kiwi mates but there are some lines we musn't cross :lol: :lol:

 

[Blaen]

Funny thats what I thought the mainland Aussies said about Tassities :lol:

:lol:
They do and we gladly let them think that way.

BTW Tassie broke the 50cm Bream Mark last month and from a Yak too :shock:

I will post a copy of the story from our local Fishing rag tonight, the monster Bream measured 52 cm and wieghed in at exactly 6 lb (over 2 kg I think)

But shhhh don't tell any of those Mainlanders :wink:

 

[JB]

Troppo, Yes there are sometimes a nice swell running. West coast more than east coast normally. A natural protection from overfishing on the west coast. Sometimes west coast swell can be huge. It comes from the deep south up the western side of NZ and around the top sometimes.

The east coast is generally more sheltered however can get a reasonable swell from the north east. Howver fishing out of Auckland means we can ususally find a spot to get too. Swell of the east coast is generally not the main barrier - its wind. Oh yes its winter now so its very cold with a southerly wind.
If you don't know how to surf launch - you soon will.... either way its generally worth the effort.