Picked up locals Lesley and Nathalie from Russell wharf this afternoon for a quick snapper fish. Conditions were comfortable with a short half meter swell and small sea on top. The girls got a nice bag of pannie snapper to take home for Christmas lunch as well as a couple of Trevally and nearly somthing big on the live-bait which bit through the trace so probably are good snapper.

Picked up David and Lawrence this morning at a.m from Paihia and Russell for a kingfish section. Bait catching was slow like yesterday but we managed to get a few livies in the live bait tank and headed for Cape Brett and the hole in the rock which was alive yesterday. It was soon obvious that the current had died off at Brett and it wasn’t firing though we did try for a while. We moved on to another location and risking barracouda we switched from Live Baits to Mechanical jigging where David had his first taste of New Zealand kingfish – with a lot grunting, moaning and a sore arm a nice 10kg fish came to the boat. Lawrence so followed with a slightly smaller yet still powerfull kingfish. There was also a small Kingfish landed as well as several Barracouda.

Conditions were a little choppy so I headed to a sheltered but less fishy area to begin with to see how the crew would cope with the sea state. A nice kahawai was landed and dispatched ready for the smoker and the crew seemed to be coping well so we headed out to less sheltered grounds for a serious go. It wasn’t long before the guys and girl were hauling the snapper out left, right and center (port, starboard and amid ship). Some nice snapper were caught up to around 3 kg and everyone had a great time with no sea sickness despite a slight easterly sea.

Took Ian from Bay Of Islands Resort – formery from the same area as me – Tikipunga in Whangarei – kingfishing this morning. Ian bought along his two daughters and his son. Catching the live bait was slower than normal but we still managed a few – daughter Elizabeth taking honours there. The fish were boiling on the surface at Brett at around 10:30am but unfortunately the 15 knot easterlies were making things a little uncomfortable. With Hamish Faire on the helm – we slow trawled for about 10 minutes before a nice kingie was hooked Mechanical jigging in close to the dog and Ian pulled in a nice 12kg yellowtail kingfish. We then left the uncomfortble conditions and headed back early to stable ground.

After a hardish trip last night I spent longer on the sounder before doing a test drift over some reasonable sound that I was 50/50 on being snapper. When 3 out of 4 of the test lines hooked up instantly with nice pannie snapper I put the pick down and went to chop bait and unook for fish for three hours of snapper mayhem for the group of 8 out for their end of year function. A couple of the girls were a little sea sick – perhaps the alcohol wan’t helping but they still insisted on keeping fishing – pulling in fish between regular burleying sessions! Over 100 pannie snapper were landed – nothing huge but 1 or 2 around 4 or 5 pounds. The vast majority of the fish were released and the team had an absolute ball!

Conditions were a little uncomfortable forcing me to turn back from the main location I had wanted fish. The guys and girls did managed a few fish but only four reasonable sized snapper amongst a lot of smaller ones. We tried hard but fishing being fishing – things arn’t always as hot as I would like!

Took 2 friends of mine out this evening along with locals Mark and his 10 year old son Guy. Had a great fish, spent the first hour sounding new territory out of the wind then as the wind eased a little we hit some foul I have marked. My mates Steve and Moose were soon both hooked up and landed and release a nice 16 pound snapper each. Shortly after Mark followed up with his personal best 10 pounder which again was released. Son Guy had a good time bringing in himself a couple of nice pannies to take home with the few other nice 2 – 3 kilo snapper the guys caught to keep.

Picked up Shchalk Hugu plus wife and brother from Paihia Wharf at 12:30 for a snapper fishing session. The fishing was hot to begin with but tapered off shortly after high tide for a while. Shcahlk’s brother landed the biggest of the trip at 8 pounds which we released and the guys kept a few nice fish around the 2 kilo mark to take home and eat. All of the snapper were caught using Berkely soft baits.

Took my good mate Johan Kok and some of his friends from MAF out for an evening soft bait session in the Bay Of Islands. The fishing was excellent with the group taking home a nice bag of snapper in the 2 to 4 kilo range. We let three of the biggest go which would have been around the 10 pounds mark

Picked up the Roadrunner team from the Paihia wharf at 5pm who were ready with all their equipment for a good social evening fish. With smokes and beers – and people on board we headed out to the islands.

I think it was Carons 3rd take on her first cast that landed her, her biggest for the day of 15 pounds. What a great start – I love it when that happens. The fishing wasn’t as fast and furious as it has been but was still OK with several pannies caught and Vaughn adding another nice 15 pounder. We tried for several minutes to release both of the 15 pounders but had to re-net them and give up eventually and both were unfortunately destined for the smoker!