Photo Gallery for Mark Joseph - December 2009

Salt Water Fly Fishing for Kingfish, Snapper, Kahawai, Trevally

and Vertical Jigging for Kingfish

Mark Joseph called me back in September wanting to come over from Australia and chase some kingfish on the fly here in Tairua.  I told Mark straight up that while I could put him on kingis and tell him what they would be feeding on, I had no idea about salt water flyfishing - but it sounded like great fun and I was up for it if he still was!! Mark said he would bring some of his top of the line jig gear as well and if the kings weren't on on the fly he would resort to jigging for them. I recommended December as an ideal time as the kingis would be on the Coromandel coast by then, and also up high out deep where we might be able to feed them a fly in the deep as well around the Aldermen Islands. It is also a time when kahawai are krilling around Slipper, Shoe and King rocks.

Mark arrived from Australia on Tuesday night and with a perfect forecast for the three days we were out and at them.  The first morning we had a surface bust up of kingis, they didn't stay up high for long but Mark cast into where the carnage of squid was left on the surface....

Didn't take long and something smashed the fly....a nice snapper on the fly to kick things off!!

Seeing the kings around Mark was keen to get some runs on the board and pulled out his Saltiga Expedition and Saltiga jig rod and didn't take long before he was hooked up to his first NZ kingi!!

Pretty stoked with his first NZ kingi, caught on a pink 300gm jig brought over from Global Tackle

The next drop we had some kingis follow up a fish that Mark hooked, the rod was promptly handed over to the skipper to finish reeling him in and a pilchard was mushed up and a fly was dropped to the kings, with the take metres from the boat - awesome!!

Not a huge kingi but awesome visual take and good fun on the flyrod!!

They got bigger on the jig!!  Same jig of Mark's!!

The afternoon session on Day One was just wild, with kings smashing up saurie, mackeral squid, anchovies and all manner of bait on the reef, Mark was loving the jigging and glad he brought his jig rod too!!

A solid kingi to wrap up Day One!!

The next morning we again had follows on the jig and by now we had our technique down pat and every time we were on to kings, again just smaller kings but we were both a bit new at hooking kings on fly in the deep and bu now had it nailed!!

Mark had been wasted by a big king the day before and today was out for some revenge!!  He wasn't letting the next big one to come along get the better off him, and when his Saltiga came up solid on a monster did everything right and the epic battle ensued.....the result a beaut 25kg kingi which was weighed on the scales, photo'd and went back to fight another day!!

More fun on the fly in the afternoon

Last jig caught kingi for day two before we went to look for a few other fly captures

We found four huge schools of krilling kahawai and while they are tough work for most anglers to catch when they are on krill, they are suckers for a fly...!!  If there is one fish that is tailor made for catching on fly it has to be kahawai!!

Mark's casting was a joy to watch

Kawahai stripping line of the floor

Check out the belly on this fat as kahawai!!

Loaded up again, kahawai heading southbound!!

Digging in round the boat!

Another fattie!

Mark caught a long line of trev's as well

On our final morning the ocean felt alive!!  Dolphins everywhere, and a pod of Orca guided us out to the reef

Once again the kings were hot on the follow in the morning and we hooked a few on the fly

Nice one about 75cm on the fly on Day three

This one was jig caught about 22kg

This was one of a dozen caught on the fly that morning round Red Mercury

Finally we had out fish on the fly!! Mark had a huge take that peeled line off the reel and it was all on!!!

Mark pretty stoked with this fish that we called for 11kg, close to a metre long - awesome mate well deserved!!

We couldn't help but finish off round some of the kahawai schools on the way home!!

What a way to finish off three awesome days!!

We sat back over a meal and a few beers at Punters Bar and Grill and reflected on a great three days and what we will be doing when Mark returns with his fly fishing buddies next year!!

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