Taupo Fishing Report

Took David from Taranaki out for his fist Kinfish today. Yet again the fishing was fantastic. We managed to hit a good school of blue mackeral and koheru just off the beach at Russel on the way out and loaded up the livebait tank in a few minutes. I had David on the livebait rod all day since we had plenty of livebaits and there was no shortage of action. It wan’t long before david landed this nice fish of a around 30 pounds - which was the average for the day. This was Davids first ever Yellowtail Kinfish and he soon followed up for more - landing 5 out of at least a dozen hookups for the day. The fishing only slowed for David after a lunch where he ate a banana - and never landed another fish - coincidence or not?

Met Simon and his group of 5 from Wellington this morning staying at the Copthorne Hotel in Waitangi near Paihia. At around 9am we headed out and tried to catch a few live baits which unfortunately was a little slow so we only ended with four mackeral in the live bait tank. The kingfish however as with all recent trips were fortunately on fire! I helped put the first livebait down for one of the group then moved to a jig rod and in the first 10 meters of water quickly showed Simon the art of Mechanical Jigging. Simon got the hang of it quickly and dropped to the bottom. On his first retrieve to the surface he hooked and landed his first ever Yellowtail Kingfish - a rat of around 5 pounds - however on his next drop he hooked and landed this Kingie of 25 pounds. I moved over to help show the techique of using the gimbal and harness on the live bait rod and as I taught the movement the rod loaded up and the fight was on - for around 30 seconds until the monster Kingfish took the 80 pound gear to the bottom and broke us off. What ensued for the next few hours was nearly chaos with 3 rods hooked up simultaneously at one stage. We lost a couple to sharks - unfortunately one of these was Karens and was the biggest - the 3rd hooked on our 4 livebait!

The group were stoked - they had never caught Kingfish before and had hoped to maybe just get a legal sized fish or 2!

By 3pm the group was exhausted from fighting fish and we dropped them back off at the jetty and in front of the Copthorne Hotel and joined them for a celebratery drink!

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.

A little late getting started again this morning, but we still managed to hit the river - this time the Tongariro - shortly after 8am. Reports from all other fishermen were that the Tongariro was still fishing a bit slow with a lot of people spending the whole day out without even a touch - even spoke to a few people who had been fishing a whole week without anything. Needless to say we wern’t expecting a lot, however the fishing wasn’t actually as hard as everyone was saying. We fished handy to where we parked and basically just fished one little lye that we could see some some trout in and Phil managed to get bust off by a good trout pretty early. By around midday Phil had managed to land 1 of 5 hooked which wasn’t a bad effort. I would guess that Phil would have hooked a similar amount the afternoon if he had continued fishing but our plan was to head to a trophy lake near Rotorua for a try before Phil headed back to Auckland for his flight out tomorrow. The trophy lake unfortunately didn’t produce - it was freezing cold and a little windy so I guess the trout just wern’t feeding agressively or wern’t in our part of the lake. In all the Tongariro certainly wasn’t fishing as fast and furious as it will in the coming months but it was still pretty good by all accounts. There also seems to be a general consensous that fish size and condition is gettting better and hopefully but the end of this season or at least next season at the latest things should be back to normal for Taupo.

Guided Phillip Norman from Brisbane in the back country again today. We briefly fished the Tongariro in the morning but struggled in the windy conditions so moved out of the Taupo area for the afternoon. Phil had a great afternoon landing 4 out of 11 trout hooked in the 3 to 5 pound range which inluded one Brown trout and the rest presumably Rainbows.

Conditions in Turangi were a little rough weather wise this morning so rather than battling to cast heavy flies in strong winds I took Phil out to a back-country spot that he has fished with me before in the past.

The fishing wasn’t fast and furious but was still OK with Phil landing 7 out of 11 Rainbow Trout hooked in the 3 to 5 pound range.

Flies of the day were Hare & Copper and Flasback Pheasant tail.

Guided regular client Phil Norman from Australia today and attempted to find Phil his first trophy. Conditions were good for most of the day so we took advantage and fished a local Trophy lake. We didn’t crack the magic 10 pound mark but Phil stil managed to hook 5 nice trout of which the biggest landed was 5 and a half pounds. Two got away and one was a very solid fish - so who knows!

Went for a brief fish with past clients and friends Glen And Theresa Good on Saturday morning. By the time I dragged myself out of bed and caught up with them on the river they had already landed 4 Rainbows. Glen added another to that talley and myself a further 1 before the wind got up and we moved to find a less windy position. We found a less windy position but the fishing wasn’t all that hot which was expected given the conditions and time of year. Later in the afternoon I had a brief flick out in a back-country spot and landed 2 nice browns in the 3 - 4 pound range and lost a good Rainbow around 4 pounds also.

Have basically been focused getting the new boat ready rather than fishing the past couple of weeks but am pleased to say that hopefully the boat will be on the water and ready for chartering within the next couple of weeks - so I can get back to fishing and earning some money rather than spending it! The goal is to have this boat offering sportfishing options out of the Bay Of Islands (including salt-fly) during the summer and to have another smaller center console boat ready also for October 1 to give an extra option based out of Turangi/Taupo when conditions don’t suit fishing rivers or lakes from the shore. The boat in progress at the moment has been modified to be virtually snag-free and completely walk-around to suit fly fishing but is also incredibly sea-worthy and is offshore rated to get to get fishermen safely and comfortably out to the good fishing. We hope to be offering fly fishing tours in the near future that involve pick-up and drop off from Auckland airport and then an on tour fishing trip fishing and sight seeing around the Central North Island for trout and then sea fishing as well in the Bay Of Islands as well as a couple of other North Island locations. We are also considering at some stage adding hunting if required into these packages.

Finally a chance today to sit down and write a blog. Haven’t been out on the Tongariro now for a few weeks - had a wee issue with not being able to get down there without my license until 3 days ago when I finally got it back. Will be back down Taupo in the next couple of weeks - can’t fish this weekend as duck shooting opening weekend.

Have been fishing, fishing and fishing - though not much fly fishing in the past few weeks. My friends Kevin, Sam, and Aaron came up north a couple of weeks ago for a couple of days fishing with me which resulted in some great fishing. For the first two days we had great success on the Yellowtail Kingfish in the Bay Of Islands and then had a great day livebait fishing off the Mangonui Wharf after a great night out in Mangonui with my Uncle Mike and Auntie Madge.

A few days later Aaron invited us down to Waihou Bay to go out in his charter vessel “Rampage” - a fantastic 12m Senator. What a Trip!! We left Waihou bay in the evening and were around at Hicks Bay catching livebait an hour later. After Sam filled the live bait tank we hit the hay and woke to a fantastic morning and after a quick breakfast we departed for Ranfurly.

The trip was short - I think it was around half an hour from Hicks Bay before we dropped lines in the water. While Aaron was sorting out the gear for Sam and myself, Kevin dropped a jig down and within 30 seconds was hooked up to his first Hapuka. Sam and I soon followed with dead baits and within 10 seconds of hitting the bottom we were both hooked up and cranking our fish to the surface. The fishing was insane with Hapuka in the 10 - 15kg range coming up every drop. I once had a period of nearly 20 seconds after hitting the bottom without hooking up and feared that Aaron had missed the spot! Needless to say we soon shifted as the massive fish bin on Aarons deck was getting full fast and we were getting close to our limit of hapuka!

We decided to jig for a few Kingies. We went to a Kingi spot of Aarons and hooked up every drop but with nothing over 20 pounds coming in we moved again. As we were motoring Aaron spotted a school of kingfish attacking baitfish on the surface so we stopped near them and tried to jig. Unfortunatly there were too many small rat kings and we couldn’t get a jig down more than 20 meters without hooking the smaller kingfish so we left again for another kingfish spot. This time the fishing was a little slower and within 15 minutes I had managed to only get two brief hookups which I lost a Kevin had managed 2 fish around around 15kg so we moved to target King Tarakihi.

At the King Tarakihi the fishing was a little hard - for the Tarakihi that is as unfortunately we kept catching Hapuka. Eventually Sam managed to catch our first King Tarakihi and after that fish we moved to try Trumpeter. We trolled lures over to the Trumpeter spot - hoping for a yellowfin tuna - while Kevin and Sam slept. When we arrived, Aaron and I dropped down and soon had a bite. Aarons line bent over double shortly followed by mine. Mine broke but Aaron managed to land a 45kg Bass! This got Sam and Kevin out of bed and after a few a couple more puka Sam landed a Trumpeter. We left for the next spot to try for bluenose.

On reaching the bluenose spot we dropped two lines down to over 300 metres and within seconds started to get bites. We kept the lines down and then started to wind. They were very very heavy and even at 300 meters you could feel the head shakes. Aaron says in that spot the bluenose are normally around 20kg and judging by the weight on the line I would say we had a couple of these on each rod. After an eternity of winding and nearing the surface Kevins line went solid and then started to peel out in an unstoppable manner - shortly followed by mine. Needless to say probably sharks. We each lost everything. We kept fishing but the wind was swirling around making it difficult to get a good drift over the spot but we eventually did manage a couple of bluenose just after dark.

A memorable bit for me was watching a blue shark swimming around the boat under the deck-lights in the evening as we were fishing for bluenose. At one stage under light the blue shark cruised slowly over to an albatross not far away from the boat and just under the surface. The was a splash and the Albatross was out of there - not sure if it lost a leg or not.

We cooked a meal of fresh bluenose while we slowly cruised back to Cape Runaway. We woke to a slightly windier morning and started jigging. It wasn’t long before we had landed a few more kingies and then headed the short distance back to Waihau Bay to clean up and celebrate a great couple of days fishing.

For anyone wanting to do the same trip then call Aaron on 0272827810. Aaron used to co-skipper the charter boat “Oracle” for 5 years and before that “Cascade”.

Just to show we do have the odd day from hell in amongst all the great days of fishing in a year both around Taupo and in the Bay Of Islands, this report is on yesterdays events starting from a few days previous.

I finished guiding repeat clients the Wartons from Australia down Taupo way on the 22nd and drove the 7 hours up to Waitangi arriving in the middle of the night in order to fish the next two days in the Hoppin fishing tournament with my uncle Mike.

On the 23rd, got out of bed at 6am and went to the boat moored in Opua to go fishing. Same process on the 24th but with a few social drinks afterwards to celebrate our victory in the Kingfish section of the tournament - where we were team 2 or 3 for the Mangonui Hotel. On the 25th got out of bed again at 6am to go game fishing with my co-skipper Stephen Rowe. 11am land the boats first marlin caught on a pacific lumo. 6pm weighed in the Marlin. Half past midnight got to bed. 26th got up at 4am to drive to Taupo where I was to be meeting my mate Ross and his old man Ian to do our annual Heli-hunting trip. On reaching Welsford and stopping to go to the loo the engine of my Landcruiser stalled while I waited for the Turbo to cool down. I started it again and it staled immediately so I called up Ian who is a diesel mechanic working out of Keri Keri in the Bay Of Islands. Ian had me check the fuel filter and then the linkages to the injector pump and then asked me to see if I could get into gear without dropping the revs back which I could so I continued on my way. A short while later at the Albany off ramp on the motorway the phone rang (it is still legal to talk on cell phones in vehicles in New Zealand) and Ian said that he had thought about it and I should pull over as the vehicle might suddenly just stall on me - as he said this the cruiser cut out and I had to put the phone down and pull over. As a member of AA Plus I was able to organise a free inspection and then tow equivalent in length to getting my vehicle home so after talking to Ian on the phone then postponed the helicoptor from 2pm to 4pm and AA organised a tow to the landcruiser to Hamilton where I would be able to get my vehicle fixed while I was away hunting and then pick it up on the 1st and only be an hour and a half away from Taumaranui where I am due to guide from the 2nd. The tow truck driver - a great fella turned up at 10:30am loaded up my crippled cruiser bound for Hamilton. The towie was an ex governent deer culler and was happy to pass on a few tips for my trip and did everything he could to get me to Hamilton ASAP - despite hitting several sets of road works one of which held us up for 15 minutes. AA Plus had arranged a rental vehicle to be waiting at the mechanics workshop and I was back on the road just after 12:30 heading for Taupo after leaving a couple of slabs of smoked kingfish with the towie (am a fan of catch and release but we needed to weigh in fish for the tournament).

At 2pm After 20 sets of road works I was just south of Tokoroa with around half an hour left to Taupo and on the phone in the midst of receiving a hurry up call from Ian - not paying attenting to my speed in the peppy little corolla in 5th gear heading downhill on a straight with clear road and no vehicles ahead nor road works for the first time in the journey when I saw a police vehice following a truck on the opposite side turn its lights on and do a U turn - I slowed down and pulled over thinking of leaving the road clear so that I wouldn’t obstuct the police vehicle on its journey or chase but the police vehicle just pulled over and stopped in front of me. The policeman came to my window with a look on his face remarkably resemblent to the look of self satisfaction and achievement on my mates face the previous day when we boated the marlin. He said in a calm confident and deeply satisfied tone “do you realize you were doing 142?” I was stunned and in complete fear of the imminent speeding fine when he informed that anything over 140 is instant license confiscation for 28 days!

The policeman took the keys and then dropped me off at the bus stop back at Tokoroa where I booked a ticket back at 3pm. The bus that was meant to arrive at 3:25 unfortunately the driver must have forgotton to take it out of stealth mode or had a cloaking device on at the time it passed because it never arrived and I had to wait till 5 for the next one. At midnight I arrived home and had my first decent nights sleep for 3 weeks. Here I sit on the computer now typing this report rather than hunting with my mates.

I have had to organize the other guides I work with to do my guiding for the next 28 days which means no income for a month. I feel it unprofessional to turn up with a driver and know that the other guides I work with are fantastic guides and can easily do the same job for my clients as I can so felt this was the best option. For the clients that have booked everything will continue as per normal except on the first job the clients will refer to the guide as “John” rather than “Andrew”. For the second and 3rd jobs the clients will still call the guide “Andrew” as the guide will be Andrew Christmas rather than me (Andrew Blake).

The speeding fine of $500 is nothing in comparison to the thousands that my injector pump is going to cost as I have been told that it is self destructing from the inside - the mechanics found metal parts on some solenoid at the back of it or something. Evidently extremely rare in a Toyota Landcruiser and any parts are horrifically expensive due to there being very few Landcruisers that ever have this problem.

On the bright side - I get to go fishing - hard core for the next month and complete the boat survey.

There is a channel marker bouy in the Bay Of Islands with a few kingfish hanging around it in the mornings that followed but refused our popper flies the other day and are due for a dust up. The marlin are also going to have a few more choices of lures to eat. I wouldn’t mind getting my first blue and I am sure that Steve is keen to get his first on the new boat.