The Barry Stott sole charter group (on a Top Catch Mechanical Jigging special rate) had a good day today with Barry Stott Christening his new rod first up on a nice 10 kilo kingfish. Another of 15kg and 2 more were released at the boat made up for the 10 bust offs! One nice snapper was also pulled as a bi-catch.

Departed Paihia on at 6:30am on a Kingfish mission out into the Bay Of Islands. The fishing wasn’t hot but there was at least some action with Terry Wylens and Raymond Howeath both landing there first ever Kingfish using the Mechanical jigging technique. Terrys fish was quite reasonable and was kept to give everyone a feed along with a couple of frostfish that all succumbed to Mechanical Jigging. Darren Gribble from Australia was unlucky to miss out when his hookup came free after a short battle. The fourth on the trip John also managed a smallish Kingi, but it was his first also for Mechanical Jigging and I think he was as stoked as me a few years ago when I caught my first rat king Mechanical Jigging.

We tried few Puka out at Main rock in 220 meters on a couple of new marks I have been given but we only did two quick drops as we couldn’t locate much on the sounder and the wind was making it difficult to get a slow accurate drift.

Just got back from an over-night trip to the Cavalli Islands with my soon to be brother in law. Rather than the traditional stag night of getting drunk and handcuffed naked to a flag pole, Mike opted for the more exiting and less embarrassing option of a fishing trip. Conditions were a little windy overall but we managed to locate several new pins holding fish. North of the Bay Of Islands the water was alive with kahawai schools today. We hooked into several nice Kingies over the two days, landing 2 of around 15kg and one of 20kg plus numerous smaller ones. Mike also managed a good snapper whilst Mechanical Jigging. In the evening anchored up in the lee of an island we were stunned when without berley and just one bait over the side and the rum and whisky just opened – Mikes line screamed out and he managed to pull in a nice snapper of around 8lbs. We thought this was a great omen of things to come for the evening when we deployed burley, but with phosphorescense in the water after dark the fishing slowed and when managed only another half dozen nice pannie snapper and 2 or 3 bust offs.

Been fishing the Bay Of Islands again for the past week and experienced some of the hottest kingfishing I have ever had. Well to correct that statement my friends and family and anyone I know who wanted to go fishing have experienced some hot fishing with me as I have been using everyone and everyone as guinea-pigs to iron out the kinks and smooth the systems on my new boat ready for chartering from October (actually doing the odd charter now working in with Justin Smith of Oakura Bay Fish Dive & Cruise). On four days out of four this week the boat has hooked over 20 kingfish per day i.e. probably over 100 for the week and this is mainly introducing beginners to the new technique of Mechanical Jigging as well as experimenting with various live bait techniques and rigs. We could have easily been doing 50 – 100 fish days if anyones arms and bodies could handle the beating the 20 – 40 pound kingfish have been giving them. Three experienced marlin fishermen but relative kingfish novices rated the fight has harder and more physical than fighting a marlin due to the type of gear and manner in which these are played i.e. harnesses and gimbles don’t work well with the jigging rods we are using so far and the fish fight deep and dirty.

I have discovered that a badly hooked livebait will pull the big kings up from 80 meters deep without being hit – generally get 3 or 4 or more following a badly hooked livebait to the surface. This should be a great technique for teasing kingies up to take a fly when they arn’t around on the surface. Will experiment with this over the next few weeks.

Have been mucking around all summer with various different knots, and leader systems for the Kingfish and have between us probably lost thousands of dollars worth of jigs but we are finally getting a system that lets us put a lot of weight on the fish with less and less breakoffs.

As a bi-product of this weeks fishing we have been pulling a few nice snapper foul hooked in the head and one nice one in the mouth that have been hitting or 370 and 470 gram knife jigs. On one of the days this week my mate Muz who was exhausted from the kingfish took a break and dropped baited ledger rigs down which wouldn’t reach the bottom before being hooked up on snapper.

My mates are all chomping at the bit to get back out but with a gale warning in force I have taken the boat out of the water for 2 or 3 days to make some modifications to enhance if fishability.

If anyone reading this wants to book a charter then just contact me to book on 021 481 737 or 09 433 2676 or email enquiries@newzealandfishing.com. We are not starting the advertising until September but we are open for business. Not sure how long these kingies will hold in their current position. As the water temperature drops they should move off out deeper. We now have pretty much have a no kill policy on kingfish – or rather a one fish per charter policy over 1 meter in length. Our game is sportfishing and not meat hunting with regards to kingfish unfortunately for those who are wanting to fill the freezer. We would like to preserve the fishery and don’t wan’t to become part of its demise.

We are happy however to allow customers to take their limit of snapper though only one over 10 pounds per customer if you are lucky enough to catch such a creature. We do recommend catch and release as much as possible though.