SnpperWhisperer
05-11-2008, 10:32 PM
Four of us paddled from Matauri Bay on Saturday morning, arrived at the DOC hut at the Cavalli Islands, offloaded our gear, then pushed on to the north. Long John and I headed to my best snapper spot, which I expected to be getting a bit of calm water away from the northerly swell. A bit of a swell was wrapping on to the reef when we got there, and the vis was maybe 8 metres. Our plan was for Long John to shoot video as he clung to my fin tips like a limpid, and for me to shoot some snapper. Yehaaa!!!!:cowboy:
A quiet approach to the edge of my favourite reef revealed just a few very small snapper drifting along the precipice. No big ones anywhere. Damn, I was disappointed. Anyway, we dropped a burley of crushed urchins and some cut up fish and headed out over the kelp bed where the koheru were acting like baitfish schools should –scared.:(
A couple of kingies zipped around us. Not bad. Then a bigger one – oh sh!t we might have to get one of those after we have snooped the area. Back to the burley spot and I got rolled in a swell and stuffed up my approach, getting washed over the top of the rock directly above the fish, which all just fled. Oh well, back to the point and out to the kelp beds again. There were no big snapper there yet anyway.
On to the nearby point. Just very small snapper lurking around. Back to my burley spot, and I picked up a small snapper as Long John filmed it. Just a small one of about one kilogram, but big enough for my dinner that night.
Back towards the outside reef edge, a few kingies cruised through. I dived a couple of times and they were a little weary.
I took a long shot at one but hit it low. It zoomed off into the current taking my float line with it. Following my spear, I found it hooked into the kelp, with no fish attached. B’gger B’gger b’gger !! Very disappointed about that – I hate losing fish. It only happens when you rush a shot. :bashhead:
After another dive or two a few big ones swept past, but out of range. Another circled around, and as I sank down towards the bottom he swung around and made a bee-line for me. I waited as he kept on swimming at me, and he turned just on the limit of my range – maybe 2.5 or 3 metres away from my spear tip. Long John was behind me catching it all on video.
I was using my new pole spear from Aaron Crist. It’s an 8 ft long aluminium tube with another 1.5 ft of spring stainless and a Riffe icepick sliptip, driven by a lop of ½ inch rubber. It packs quite a punch:gun: My floatline clips on to the rubber.
The spear penetrated high in the back below the dorsal fin. I was very worried about the placement. The fish took my spear and float line whizzed through my glove fast. It was game on!
Once the fish had pulled me out ahead of the reef, it was just pulling straight down towards the sand, and I kept gentle pressure on it, making ground for a minute or so, then it would pull down hard and I’d give it another 10 metres. I dived on it and soon realised it was well secured by the sliptip, which had toggled through the other side of its back. Still, there’s no point in breaking gear. It had a big thick back. This was a fat fish in good condition. I kept the pressure on for quite a few minutes, making ground slowly, and eventually it came up. The fish was pretty tired out so I easily flipped it over to sink a knife into its brain and end the fight. The fish weighed 21.5 kg – my biggest so far with a pole spear. I was stoked!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/reidfish/0508Image001.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/reidfish/reid21.jpg
Paddling back, we bumped into Steve McDonald and the boys who had come over from Kerikeri on Steve’s olds’ new 7m tinny. Their day had been a bit more subdued, with a couple of panny snapper speared.
We stopped on a weedline and did a little more filming but decided to pack it in as it was dead. It was a bit of a hell paddle back into a 25 knot southerly, with wind chop, for more than an hour. :bang: All I can say is that we made it back eventually. For long John’s first serious kayak mission he did well, only abusing me occasionally. The wind did obscure most of the whimpering.
Sam and Mark Jones arrived on their kayaks just on dusk, with Sammy having taken the cross-country sledging route rather than loop the south-eastern peninsular of the large island. Mark, who is a seasoned kayak explorer, looked like he’d just had a stroll around the block. It turns out they had both cleaned up, with a heap of snapper between them, both getting fish of about 6 kg, and several slightly smaller ones. A superb effort!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/reidfish/0508Image003.jpg
Day 2 had knocked the top off the swell, so we headed around to an easy snapper spot and burleyed up a storm for some snapper footage. I switched to my 3 prong pole spear. It’s great for smaller fish. Approaching a reef, a small snapper drifted around and I whispered it in for the video, but not close enough. I took a long shot when he stopped, and it just bounced off him. There were plenty of kahawai and koheru around, and we soon had small snapper drifting around the front of the reef. I dropped down the side and across the current face of the white rock wall. Small snapper were swimming along the face, and then larger one just popped out above and in front of me, so I let him have it and locked him up midwater. Those are the best moments – when it all just works out perfectly! It was only 1.25 kg, but I can assure you, it was most excellent eating.:thumps:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/reidfish/0508Image004.jpg
We were a bit over the death and destruction by then, and headed back to check the first burley one last time, only to spook a couple of reasonable snapper away from a bungled approach again. We packed it in and did a relaxed paddle back to Matauri Bay in just under an hour, enjoying the warm sunshine of the early autumn afternoon.
A quiet approach to the edge of my favourite reef revealed just a few very small snapper drifting along the precipice. No big ones anywhere. Damn, I was disappointed. Anyway, we dropped a burley of crushed urchins and some cut up fish and headed out over the kelp bed where the koheru were acting like baitfish schools should –scared.:(
A couple of kingies zipped around us. Not bad. Then a bigger one – oh sh!t we might have to get one of those after we have snooped the area. Back to the burley spot and I got rolled in a swell and stuffed up my approach, getting washed over the top of the rock directly above the fish, which all just fled. Oh well, back to the point and out to the kelp beds again. There were no big snapper there yet anyway.
On to the nearby point. Just very small snapper lurking around. Back to my burley spot, and I picked up a small snapper as Long John filmed it. Just a small one of about one kilogram, but big enough for my dinner that night.
Back towards the outside reef edge, a few kingies cruised through. I dived a couple of times and they were a little weary.
I took a long shot at one but hit it low. It zoomed off into the current taking my float line with it. Following my spear, I found it hooked into the kelp, with no fish attached. B’gger B’gger b’gger !! Very disappointed about that – I hate losing fish. It only happens when you rush a shot. :bashhead:
After another dive or two a few big ones swept past, but out of range. Another circled around, and as I sank down towards the bottom he swung around and made a bee-line for me. I waited as he kept on swimming at me, and he turned just on the limit of my range – maybe 2.5 or 3 metres away from my spear tip. Long John was behind me catching it all on video.
I was using my new pole spear from Aaron Crist. It’s an 8 ft long aluminium tube with another 1.5 ft of spring stainless and a Riffe icepick sliptip, driven by a lop of ½ inch rubber. It packs quite a punch:gun: My floatline clips on to the rubber.
The spear penetrated high in the back below the dorsal fin. I was very worried about the placement. The fish took my spear and float line whizzed through my glove fast. It was game on!
Once the fish had pulled me out ahead of the reef, it was just pulling straight down towards the sand, and I kept gentle pressure on it, making ground for a minute or so, then it would pull down hard and I’d give it another 10 metres. I dived on it and soon realised it was well secured by the sliptip, which had toggled through the other side of its back. Still, there’s no point in breaking gear. It had a big thick back. This was a fat fish in good condition. I kept the pressure on for quite a few minutes, making ground slowly, and eventually it came up. The fish was pretty tired out so I easily flipped it over to sink a knife into its brain and end the fight. The fish weighed 21.5 kg – my biggest so far with a pole spear. I was stoked!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/reidfish/0508Image001.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/reidfish/reid21.jpg
Paddling back, we bumped into Steve McDonald and the boys who had come over from Kerikeri on Steve’s olds’ new 7m tinny. Their day had been a bit more subdued, with a couple of panny snapper speared.
We stopped on a weedline and did a little more filming but decided to pack it in as it was dead. It was a bit of a hell paddle back into a 25 knot southerly, with wind chop, for more than an hour. :bang: All I can say is that we made it back eventually. For long John’s first serious kayak mission he did well, only abusing me occasionally. The wind did obscure most of the whimpering.
Sam and Mark Jones arrived on their kayaks just on dusk, with Sammy having taken the cross-country sledging route rather than loop the south-eastern peninsular of the large island. Mark, who is a seasoned kayak explorer, looked like he’d just had a stroll around the block. It turns out they had both cleaned up, with a heap of snapper between them, both getting fish of about 6 kg, and several slightly smaller ones. A superb effort!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/reidfish/0508Image003.jpg
Day 2 had knocked the top off the swell, so we headed around to an easy snapper spot and burleyed up a storm for some snapper footage. I switched to my 3 prong pole spear. It’s great for smaller fish. Approaching a reef, a small snapper drifted around and I whispered it in for the video, but not close enough. I took a long shot when he stopped, and it just bounced off him. There were plenty of kahawai and koheru around, and we soon had small snapper drifting around the front of the reef. I dropped down the side and across the current face of the white rock wall. Small snapper were swimming along the face, and then larger one just popped out above and in front of me, so I let him have it and locked him up midwater. Those are the best moments – when it all just works out perfectly! It was only 1.25 kg, but I can assure you, it was most excellent eating.:thumps:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/reidfish/0508Image004.jpg
We were a bit over the death and destruction by then, and headed back to check the first burley one last time, only to spook a couple of reasonable snapper away from a bungled approach again. We packed it in and did a relaxed paddle back to Matauri Bay in just under an hour, enjoying the warm sunshine of the early autumn afternoon.