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Howdy All,
It's been a wee while since our last newsletter! It has been a busy time on the water!
If you've taken a look at our homepage over the last few months you will notice we have added a new page with photos of most of the fish caught on board every week, so keep an eye on it to keep up to date with all our fishing action.
We thought it was time to fill you in on some other exciting news, reflect on an awesome season of marlin, kingfish and snapper and also a let you know about a few special trips coming up. Enjoy!
Cheers...Carl, Toby and Belinda |
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This time last year we made a commitment to donate $5 from every full day fishing trip to local coastguard services.
We've just finished our annual season to 31 March and done a tally up of the trips we've done and are rapt to announce that we're making a donation of $1000 to Whitianga and Tairua Coastguard services, that's 250 full day trips over the last year. Phew - it has been busy!
Thanks to every one who has made the donation possible.
The radio operators (volunteers) do an outstanding job of taking ours, and everyone else's, trip reports on departure and arrival back at port each day, and it is reassuring to know that the local Coastguard boats are there in the event of an emergency on the water, so it is a great cause to donate something to. We will continue to donate $5 from every trip in the future. |
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We're stoked to announce that we have another skipper/ guide who has started with us in the last month.
Toby Kemp ('Tobes') has lived and breathed fishing since he was a young fella and his career has spanned the commercial fishing sector, boating industry, marine chandlery, fishing charter and recreational fishing industries.
We've been pretty careful to choose someone who we think will provide a top quality sportfishing experience and get on well with our existing client base and Tobes has slotted right on in to the Epic team. You can check out Tobes bio here |
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It has been an awesome season for marlin off the Eastern Coromandel this year with heaps of Stripeys and Blues being caught by those out there targeting them. While we still spend most of our time chasing kingis at that time of year we've still had some great action on the marlin front considering the little time we've had lures in the water for them.
There is nothing at all that beats seeing a marlin come up in the lure pattern and then the carnage that unfolds as it takes off and dances all over the ocean. In that instant you are hooked - marlin fever has taken hold!!
One thing we really wanted to do this year was to catch a marlin on a jig rod. It was going to be interesting to see if this gear was up to the task of the long powerful runs of a marlin! Michael Bonnici did just that with us on his wife Hayley's new Jigging Master Three Kings 350 rod and Jigging Master PE5 reel. It was a crazy day that none of us will ever forget which saw us tagging plenty of kingis as well and coming home with some nice snapper for dinner too! Check out the photos from the day and the marlin on a jig rod here
Shane Udy bagged one as well in similar fashion, although on conventional marlin gear this time, a Tiagra 50W, when his mate Jeremy spotted a stripey feeding on saurie near the boat while we were setting up the first kingi drift of the day. Two lures in the water is all it took and we had a marlin peeling line off the reel and putting on an awesome show for us!! If only every day chasing marlin was that easy! We've got some more photos up from that day here
The one week we did devote some time to chasing marlin was the New Zealand Nationals and we managed to take out the best Billfish in the 15kg line weight, and third Billfish overall with a Blue Marlin of 137kg on 15kg line. Brad Burden also fought an estimated 300kg Blue that week which died on us and on 15kg line we just couldn't raise it. For more photos from an epic week fishing the Nationals check out the diary of Nationals week.
All of our marlin action, including a few others that were dropped earlier in the season was on one lure - the Black Magic Freedom Grand Slammer. The last two marlin were caught on this lure, but this time rigged with 300lb Berkley fluorocarbon line and with a jig hook!! - a 10/0 Decoy Jig Hook which has done the job with an awesome hook up and it has held strong too.
You can be sure we'll be chasing a few more marlin in late January, February and early March next year, and with a pretty small window to catch them in, make sure you let us know if you are keen to give it a crack in 2011.
For those that are keen to give it a crack catching one on their jig rod....we've done it once lets go do it again!
Maybe on a Stella this time ... |
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We're stoked to announce we now have another boat in the Epic Adventures fleet. Sanity is an 8m Pontoon and Tobes has spent a lot of the last two months setting it up as the ultimate jigging machine!
Sanity will be based out of Whitianga, 30 minutes north of Tairua, and home port to Cuvier Island and the Mercury Islands, providing a few more options with fishing grounds.
Having two boats gives us the ability to cater for bigger groups as well, and we will be able to cater for groups of up to eight people out of two boats and still provide a quality sportfishing experience with the best gear available on both boats.
You can check out more photos of Sanity here
Our first week with Sanity in the water we had a four day trip with a big group from Australia and the two boats worked a treat fishing side by side. Check that report here |
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We're right amidst the prime time at the moment for big fat kingfish in the shallows.
For the last month or so we've been having some great fun on kingfish in the shallows, mainly on livies but last month we had a bunch of keen lads from Singapore armed with an array of popping gear - no livies for these staunch lure fishermen!!
Each morning we got a great run of fish on poppers in close before we headed out wide for some insane jigging sessions.
There are some great shots of kings caught on poppers from Kim, Stanley, Chuan and John's trip in their gallery here. |
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Last year top New Zealand fishing programme, the ITM Fishing Show, joined us to chase kingfish in Tairua and shot some awesome footage with us. If you missed the shows on TV, you can check out some of the action, including the rest of their trip through New Zealand by getting hold of the DVD from the ITM Fishing Show's online store. To purchase a copy for $34.95 just click through here
We also have a few copies for sale in Tairua if you're down fishing with us and want to buy a copy just let us know. |
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Just after our previous email newsletter in early Sept last year we had the wildest stretch of action on big kingfish - with ten or so over the magic 30kg mark, and two fish weighing in at the Tairua clubhouse at 36.5kg, including this monster pictured opposite, caught by Devlin Hill.
When a kingfish this size hits it is downright scary! There is one direction they are going and it is straight down to the reef! Good gear, good angling and the odd dose of good luck saw plenty over the 30kg mark stick in the last four months of 2009.
One of the one's I'll remember for a while was Brad Burden's 33kg fish which he hooked on the very last day of spring, a whopping fish which he released after a few piccies....
Brad was in some serious trouble as the fish slammed him to the side of the boat and then got him in the reef - it was an epic fight but all held together.
Each of the months August through to November last year saw a few fish over 30kg, here is hoping they return this spring - we've already got plenty of bookings over that time so if you are keen to get amongst it let us know!
You can check our availability for both boats here
Once you have picked some dates, just head to our booking page and we'll look at some dates for you for when the monsters are around!!
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Devlin Hill and a 36.5kg on 15kg mono!!
36.5kg of Aldermen Is kingfish!
This 30kg monster was released! He might be closer to 35kg this year..... |
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We've had another photo reach the cover of NZ Fishing Coast to Coast mag recently. The cover photo for issue 52 of Fishing Coast to Coast magazine was shot from Epic Adventures. A nice fat snapper caught on a Nuclear chicken which gave writer Tony Dawson an epic battle in 6m of water at the Eyebrow at the Aldermen Islands.
Articles written by Carl over the last few issues include:
Issue 51 - Taking your chances - Landing that big kingfish
Issue 52 - Fishy Buggers and Fish magnets (reflecting on those downright fishy buggers!!)
Issue 53 - Berkley Big Game Fluorocarbon leader tested
Issue 54 out now - Epic Nationals Fishing Diary and Marlin on a Jig Rod |
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A huge thanks to Tony at YeeHaa who last October put two new jigging rods on the boat for us courtesy of YeeHaa Fishing tackle.
The new JM400 and Stella 20000SW is a treat to jig with (it nearly always hooks the most and biggest fish on the boat) and has slayed an endless line of big kingis in its short time on board, likewise the JM350 and Talica 12ii has proven to be a great rig as well.
I'm continually blown away by the punishment the JM rods take day in day out, they're a pleasure to fish with and a pleasure to watch others loaded up on too!!!
As well as knocking over hundreds of BIG kingis, we got to see just what the JM400 is capable of recently when we played an estimated 400kg Mako Shark on it for 7 hrs - the JM and Stella both held up to the blistering runs of this giant amazingly well.
Gazza Johns hooked up to Jaws on the JM400 and Stella 2000SW!
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Another 30kg kingi on the JM400 spin!
Thorsten Traut in a whole lot of trouble, attached to a 25kg kingfish on the JM400 folded down the side of the boat - doesn't get much better!!
25kg fish on the JM350 |
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We were honoured in the last month to have Pony Liu and the boys from Jigging Master in Taiwan join us aboard Epic to film part of a new DVD they are putting together on jigging from trailer boats.
If one man has revolutionised the world of jigging then it is Pony, as anyone who has fished our Jigging Master rods knows they are so easy to jig with and they are virtually indestructable! Their rods have helped us put so many clients onto great fish so it was awesome to have the boys themselves out for a fish!
With the pressure on to find fish - only one day of filming with us, Tairua came through with the goods and the boys released about 30-40 kingfish in the day. A few of the bigger ones eluded us on the light 100-150gm rods they were jigging with - yep there were a few smokings and the sharks got a couple of kingis, but all up it was a great day, where we learnt a lot from jigging with the masters!
The guys were also using some interesting new rigging techniques including the new Jigging Master Figure eight rings, that we will be able to share in the next few months.
There was also a new model the boys were trying out that might make it our way soon....
Thanks to Tony at YeeHaa for arranging the trip |
The man - Pony Liu showing an
Aldies kingi to the camera
Tobes and Carl with the JM crew
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Last year we splashed out on two new rods especially for livebaiting in the deep. The Tica Magnum rods have a VERY light action in the top half of the rod, which helps present the livebait naturally in the deep with the reel set at strike drag and simple to set the hook when the kingis are messing around the livebait, but loads of grunt when you're into a big king on 37kg braid.
  
Both these rods are set up with Kilwell bent butts, making it real easy to set the rod in the holder away from the boat, and the bent butt also makes playing the fish a breeze on the angler. We got an awesome line of kingfish over spring and summer on these rods, they are well worth having for anyone who is into livebaiting kingfish, and we've found it doubles as a great light tackle 8kg rig when going back to mono, you can really spring the fish up on the light mono. |
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If there is one thing that has revolutionsed how we fish for snapper in the deep in the last six months it has been two new rigs that have hit the market.
2-4oz Lumo deep water softbait rigs help us get the softbait (or at times fresh dead bait) quickly into the zone where the snapper are feeding, often this is while we are jigging at the same time, and the action of the boat helps work the softbait.
We fish two types of rigs, the first is the Cyclops rig which is a lumo ball sinker attached to an Owner Worm hook, we picked up an awesome line of snapper on them at the tail end of last year. They come in pink and lumo green, the pink is a favourite....
 
The second is the new Berkley Deep Water rig which has just recently been introduced by Pure Fishing.
These have been designed specifically for fishing Gulp softbaits
The lumo weight itself is more cylindrical and they come with a more traditional softbait hook which holds the softbait on to the hook. We've tried these out recently with both 7" softbaits and smelly dead bait and got some awesome snapper on them too.
We've been catching plenty of fish on both of these rigs, it is amazing at times how high up in the water column these rigs are getting hit, and there are a good bycatch of kingfish on softbaits which is always great fun too!
We've got a stock of both rigs on the boat for your use.
Having a big snapper nail a softbait cast in the shallows is still a little more exhilarating in my mind but you can't turn down some of the awesome snapper action available out in the deep! |
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It has been great to see some young up and coming fishos get hooked into some big fish lately. Both are local Tairua wharf rats who are always at the wharf to see what we've brought home and they got their chance to catch the big one themselves.
Karl Atwell got a trip out for his 12th birthday and Shaun Cawley spent a lot of time cleaning our boat over summer to earn his time on the water. Both guys handled some average sea conditions and went hard on the jig rods to earn their fish!
 
Well done fellas, look forward to seeing you catching more in the next few years! |
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There is an old sailors tale that it is bad luck to bring women on to a boat. We've seen how that tale originated recently - it is because they always catch the biggest fish and show the guys up!!! This season you can guarantee as soon as a lady steps aboard she'll take out the fish of the day honours.....check some of these pics out......
 
Sally Gamble with a 25kg kingi caught on livebait at Slipper Angela Williams with a 20kg fish on the last drift!!
 
"Better than skydiving" - Karen Hackett and a 20kg fish Monique Charteris and a 20kg fish on a livebait
 
Kaite Kilgour waited for the last drift of the day before she blitzed the guys with this fish of the day |
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We did our first Salt Water Fly Fishing charter back in December. I told Mark Joseph when he contacted us up front that we were in no way specialists in salt water fly but we could find some kingis for him.....he got plenty on the fly with us, the biggest going 11kg. Mark also mixed it up with some jigging and nailed a 25kg fish on his jig rod.
 
Kim Lock Pang brought his salt water fly gear along with his popping rods and jig gear, and he too nailed a nice one in the shallows. We can't wait to do a bit more of this, there is nothing like seeing a fly reel screaming on a good sized kingi in the shallows!!!
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We have an availability calendar live online if you are interested in booking a trip with us out of Tairua or Whitianga.
Check out:
www.epicadventures.co.nz/availability.html |
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We're heading back to Vanuatu in the last week of July to tackle once again with Dogtooth tuna on the jigs, GT's on poppers, and of course Vanuatu's famous Blue Marlin and Yellowfin.
These trips are an awesome experience fishing remote parts of the tropics, eating freshly caught mahimahi and tuna every night, staying a few nights in local villages along the way, not to mention the opportunity to get into some mind blowing tropical fishing action.
We're finalising numbers and flights by mid May, so if you want to come along on this years trip get in touch and we will send you some more details.
We're away for a total of one week, with five full days fishing, and the package includes meals, flights and accommodation.
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Carl is off on a trip to the Three Kings on one of New Zealand's top liveaboards in the last week of May. There is one spot left on this trip, so if you are interested email Carl for details |
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Next year we will be fishing several of the Coromandel's best gamefishing competitions. These dates will book up quick so if you are interested being in one of the teams then let us know. We'll be mixing up some kingi fishing with the gamefishing in each of them and when there are hundreds of boats fishing these competitions the hot areas and bite times become evident pretty quickly so it is an ideal time to be targeting the marlin. |
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 Earlier in the year we volunteered to take part in a six month project that Blue Water Marine research are undertaking.
We are tagging every legal sized kingfish we release and supplying the heads of the fish we keep to Blue Water Marine Research. From the heads of any dead fish they will be able to determine our local kingfish's growth rates. Likewise we will be able to see the fish movements and growth rates from any tagged fish caught.
There is a fair bit of paperwork and time involved but it is going to be interesting to see the results. The first 300 tags did not take long to go and we are only a month in to it!
Blue Water research have provided us with some interesting information on the kingfish growth rates already so if you are interested in it just let us know. |
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Remember if you are keen to get some dates booked in, out of either Tairua or Whitianga, check out
www.epicadventures.co.nz/availability.html
All the best
Carl, Toby and Belinda
EPIC ADVENTURES
THE COROMANDEL
NEW ZEALAND
You can get back to our home page here
www.epicadventures.co.nz |
