KEY POINTS:
When the going gets tough, the tough get going, is a quip that might have been made for mid-winter fishing.
On the Ranfurly Bank last week there was a two-metre swell coming from the south and another coming from the east, winds gusting to 35 knots and torrential rain.
After leaving Whakatane at 7pm, arriving at Lottin Point on the East Cape at 2am, then fishing for live baits until 4.30am, we had two hours' sleep before bashing into the swell for five hours to get to the bank.
Fortunately, the fish were biting.
While three of our charter party on board Pursuit were laid out in the cabin seasick - two of them green on the floor and another buried in his bunk - two of us landed 25-kilogram kingfish on live mackerel, and hapuku up to 28kg using squid baits.
Seasickness can leave people weak and disoriented, as one of our fellow fishermen proved. The first time he wet a line, it was nailed almost immediately by a big fish. He slipped backwards, fell to the deck and his brother's brand new $2700 rod and reel flew over the side and into 140m-deep water.
You need serious tackle for this fishing: Penn Internationals, Shimano Tiagra 80Ws or similar are standard once you get into 100m-plus, where there is the chance of nailing bottom-dwellers up to 100kg, kingfish to 30kg-plus and big sharks.
It's good fun using lighter gear with strong drag, as in the Avet or Blue Heaven reels. But they still need robust clips and you need an A-grade gimbal belt, not a cheapie.
The locally produced Black Magic belts have been refined over seasons of testing and provide the best value. The shape of the thigh pad has been changed, with padding added to prevent side-slipping as well as bruising. The bum and back straps are wide, padded and comfortable. The belt is easily adjusted.
A gimbal like that makes it much easier to bring up any fish of more than 20kg when you're fishing at depth. Set the clip belts at a length whereby the rod is forward at around 45 degrees off your body. Instead of busting your gut and pulling tendons in your arms, you can lean back to raise the rod, using the power in your legs. If there is swell, lean back and lift with it as it rises then wind as hard as possible as the boat drops.
It's critical to get even one wrap on these fish whenever possible after the bite. The bottom-dwellers like hapuku and bass are "suction feeders", basically inhaling the bait when they open their huge jaws. Their habitat is rocky drop-offs and pinnacles, so there is always rock, holes and caves handy where they will dive to cut the line. Kingfish, meanwhile, hit the baits higher off the bottom but do it at speed. When they feel the hook they will use that momentum to propel themselves powerfully downwards.
So getting the fish off the bottom is more than half the battle.
Then it's a matter of having tied your knots properly.
We tagged kingies over one metre long and released all bar some that were nailed by mako sharks at the boat - great action which had the lads hooting and hollering.
We moved three times but still had makos turn up once kingfish were hooked, a brief screaming run on the reel ending with lightened weight and just the twitching of the dying kingfish. But the sharks did us something of a favour, bleeding the fish nicely, and, after cutting out the bite marks, the remaining mid-section and shoulders of the fish, which were in the 20-25kg range, were smoked and came out A1.
The size of the bottom-dwellers was down on previous years at this time, perhaps further continuing the late season. The bigger hapuku and bass may still be yet to come in to spawn. But the bulk of the charter boats that fish Ranfurly, including Pursuit, are now into survey and maintenance. So anglers may miss the best catches available this year.
Around many areas, dirty run-off from heavy rain continues to hamper inshore fishing. Whitebait are starting to turn up, encouraging some kahawai schooling, with the season for the little fish starting mid-August.
The Manukau and Kaipara harbours continue to produce good catches of gurnard.
Rock fishing has produced good results in the Far North after the big blow passed. The persistent have been nailing some big snapper up to 11kg.
