|
Howdy All,
What a month of fishing we have just had!
The autumn fishing has been true to form with plenty of line peeling (and sometimes rod breaking!) kingfish to 30kg smashing up livebaits and jigs, and the snapper fishing has been pretty awesome as well. Our glorious run of weather has come to an end, but the fishing will get even better over the next month as the big fish congregate out wide. Time to pack the thermals and beanie and get into some of the best fishing of the year.
Check out some of the stories, pics and reports from the last month below, it has been a choice month!
Cheers...Carl, Toby and Belinda |
|
As far as jigging reels go, they don't get much better than the high quality Daiwa range of spinning and overhead reels.
We were therefore honoured to have the head engineers who design the reels, in Tairua with us to test next years upcoming releases.
They were joined by Alex Harris from Offshore Productions who shot all the fishing action for the next edition of 'The Fishing DVD'.
The first morning, Tobes called lines in and all three of the engineers were hooked up on line peeling monsters within the first few cranks!
There were some sore arms that night, about 50 kingfish were caught and released during the first day of filming - all on Daiwa rigs of course!
Their new upcoming range of spin jig rods certainly look the business.
Those in Australia will be able to check out some of the action on 'The Fishing DVD' later in the year.
Cheers to Bradley Sissins from Daiwa Australia and Pat from Brittain Wynyard in NZ for bringing the boys down.
|
|
The team from Boating Camping Fishing (BCF) were back for some more arm stretching action at the end of April. Over the course of the three days that they were here we caught kingfish on poppers, softbait, jigs and livebait.
  
Sarah showed the fellas how it's done with some of the best fish of the trip, including some great fish on poppers and softbaits on a very light 8 pd braid set up, and a 20kg fish on the last afternoon.
The G Spot out the back of the Aldies fired up big time on jigs on the last afternoon and we had an awesome session with triple and quadruple hook ups the norm, everyone doing the Aldermen tango to keep from getting tangled and busted.
Before that we had fished a bit deeper with livies and softbaits outfishing the jigs. It is amazing how the softbaits can produce the goods when the jigs aren't firing up, and they certainly produced for the BCF team while they were here.
For more photos from their trip check out the full report and more photos here |
|
Wilma Robinson from Te Aroha jumped on a shared trip on Sanity for the 25th anniversary of Grand Tavern's annual Hunting and Fishing competition, hoping she might end up with a fish to weigh.
Turns out Wilma is a bit of a fish magnet and she not only got a fish or two to weigh  but she cleaned up first prize in the kingfish section with a 30.68kg kingfish and third prize in the snapper section with a 7.56kg snapper. Wilma ended up with three rods and a fair bit of cash as the result. Check out the full story here - she's back next month to try and break 20 pound on the snapper front - stay tuned!
|
|
We had the pleasure of hosting our second annual Sydney Angler fishing trip in late April/early May, and this year the fishing action was even better.
Trip leader Paul nailed a 28kg kingfish which was the fish of the trip.
Some of the other highlights included Jerry snapping two rods and still landing both of the fish, Andrew Hestelow's 25kg kingfish on his own downrigger shop jig, fish on livies in the mid 20's to Jerry and Iain, Romano cleaning up the snapper on livies and softbait, and personal best kingfish for James, Allen, Bob and Darryl. As well as some awesome big fish action out wide we also had an insane session on the bait grounds one morning with most of the guys picking up a couple of kingfish in the early teens before we headed wide.
 
 
 
 
Lay day at the Lost Spring....anyone coming to the Coromandel has to check this place out!
We're looking forward to seeing the boys back next April. You can check out the full report from the trip here |
|
It has been the hot jig over the last month by a country mile.
The River to Sea spike jig pretty quickly sold out at YeeHaa once the word got out but I think the guys have some in stock now!
Green and Gold has been the colour working most consistently lately as the kingfish are working big schools of mackeral.
It got the biggest fish of the Sydney Angler trip at 28kg caught by Paul Justin, as well as plenty of quality fish in the late teens like this one opposite which James Meyer is holding up caught at the Aldies on our Saltiga Z40 and JM300 rod.
|
|
By far the most consistent fishing day on day over the last month for fish in the 16-25kg range has come on livebait. Mackeral aren't lasting long at all, and even big fat kahawai have been simply devoured. Here are a few more great pics of some of the fish caught on livies over the last month.
 
Ken Haycock - kingi devoured a 3kg Kahawai! Kim Honeybun with a solid mackeral caught kingi
 
Mark Reese with 22kg of Aldermen kingi caught on livebait Fiona from Dynalink smashes a PB on a livie
If you are keen to get into some of this awesome kingi action out of Tairua or Whitianga, check out our available dates here and book in for a trip in the next few months when the big fish congregate out wide.
We have casual kingfish spots from $250 for a full day with gear provided.
www.epicadventures.co.nz/availability.html
|
|
From the 300 kingfish we tagged through March and April we have already recaught 2 to date - a good result! The first recatch was originally tagged by Andrew Cox, the second by Marcelle Lourens.
Both these fish were re-released and it will be interesting to see where thy turn up again.
|
|
At the end of next month we are escaping the cold of winter for a week to fish the sunny shores of Vanuatu.
This trip is awesome - great food, insane fishing for GT's, yellowfin, Blue Marlin and dogtooth tuna, awesome scenery and culture.
Think pack attacks from big yellowfin, Blue Marlin going ballistic, popping the white water for GT's and jigging the seamounts for dogtooth tuna.
We are heading away on 24 July and get back on 31 July.
The all inclusive trip includes seven nights accommodation, five full days fishing, airfares (ex- Auckland) and most meals all for $4,500.
If you think this sounds like a good trip for you then let us know and we'll get you booked in.
|
|
Looking for some new, quick and easy ways to cook up your catch?
Cathedral Cove Macadamias
If you've been reading these newsletters for a while you'll know we're a big fan of cooking seafood with macadamia crumb.
The boys from Cathedral Cove Macadamias have just launched a new look website which is loaded full of new and healthy macadamia seafood recipes, so check it out and try a few here
We've usually got a good stash of their product as well so if you are after some just let us know in advance of your trip.
Fog Dog Beer Batter
For something quick and easy (and pretty bloody delicious too....) FogDog beer batter is well worth a try as well.
The team at FogDog have thrown a few boxes our way to give away as prizes on trips in the next few weeks so sing out if you are keen to give it a try.
Fog Dog is a simple beer batter mix which you mix with a bottle of beer (less a couple of mouthfuls for yourself of course......)
We tried it on some hapuku the other night, together with a quick homemade tomato sauce (whole peeled tomatoes pureed, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar mixed and heated through) with some homemade chips, doesn't get much better..... |
|
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 |
|
|
|
