Anyway, just casting around the rocks I managed to hook up on a great size kahawai, which was a great fight, having to dodge the rocks and run up and down the beach. I managed to land this and we released it. Though we really should have kept it and used it as burley and bait!

We headed back to the Wairaka rock and still the tide was high, but only about a foot deep so we decided to cross over and see if we could work out how on earth you get around it. The wind was really strong, which didn’t help, and a good swell was crashing through the area. Once we got across we looked virtually straight up and it didn’t seem possible to climb Wairaka Rock so we didn’t bother trying. Getting around the rock seemed to hard as the waves were large and tide was to high. So we instead gave the rock to the left of it a try – it’s a lot smaller and was nicely sheltered from the wind.

It had quite a good ledge however I think its possibly just to shallow as we didn’t have much luck there for the day, just caught another kahawai and also some smaller reef fish. We however didn’t have enough burley and we used most of it within an hour.

We did see a huge ray glide past into the shallows and once the tide was really low we left our gear and decided to have a quick look to see if we could get onto the rock.

Sure enough it had dried up between the shore and the rock and also the tide was so low we could climb around the right side (Later we found out you go around the rock and don’t try to climb it, it’s virtually impossible to climb). Once we walked around a bit of the rock there was a natural place to start to head up and then over and I think we saw where most people fish – there seems to be two channels. One straight in front of you – its a nice looking channel, just felt a bit dodgy standing high up looking down. The other a bit further out. With it being the end of the day we decided not to fish the rock and instead headed back. It was good to have a look around there, however I can see that the wrong step would lead to falling onto some sharp rocks. My digital camera which is apparently shock resistant ended up cracking its lcd monitor. It’s a place you want to have quite a bit of experience of edge fishing as it does take a bit of effort to get around the rocks and there is climbing if you do end up fishing the rock. There is some great fishing spots around the walk to the rock with some nice gutters around. Take care fishing around Wairaka Rock as it can be unpredictable and if you get the tides wrong you might find that you are stuck on the rock till low tide. Also watch out for waves as they are quite unpredictable there and you wouldn’t want to fall into the sea around that area.

Tight lines and shall see you all at the next weigh in.

Sherppa

We headed out slowly and started to see the obvious reef bottom with jagged reef structure and obvious seaweed on the fish finder. However there wasn’t much sign of fish. After driving around for about 20mins we decided to find a spot just of the reef with sand bottom. It was about 13m of water so we burlied up the water using cheap cat food and waited. And waited. We didn’t get any bites for about 30 – 40 mins however we did see quite often fish at about 5m and even bringing our lines to this height didn’t bring any takes. So frustrated we moved in closer and onto the reef. As soon as we dropped our lines we started to get nibbles. The first fish we brought up was a small Snapper, which was undersized and therefore released. Soon after we got several more of the undersized Snapper. Once these smaller snapper stopped biting we started to get undersized Blue Cod. Though a bit annoying at times it was good to see such a healthy abundance of smaller fish, I would have imagined Pukerua Bay must have got fairly depleted in fish when netting was allowed – especially around these precious reef areas and it’s good to see there is a ban on, with only hand lines allowed.

Small Pukerua Bay Snapper

Pukerua Bay Snapper

After an hour or so of this type of fishing another boat came by and asked how we were going, telling them we hadn’t had much luck they told us they had caught 4 Snapper at about 20m deep and also they had caught two large eels, obviously they didn’t like catching the large eels by the sound in there voice. Getting a little bored with this spot, plus the fish stopped biting, we decided to drive around and have a look at the contours a bit closer inshore. We saw several Kayakers out there who seemed to be having quite a bit of fun paddling around the rocks with a line out the back. We were quite surprised how flat the bottom showed up around by where SH1 comes into view and at a depth of about 9m. We decided to head out after a short time exploring and parked up about 18m. It felt like we were right in the middle of the ocean as you have to travel fairly far out before reaching this kind of depth, almost outside of the bay. Well we sat there for about 30 mins without any takes and also very little sign of fish, so again we moved on.

Our Garmin 300c

We headed around to the left of Pukerua Bay (south) and tried our luck there. Just around the corner it was more rough as the swell was starting to build. We had tried this area on a previous occasion and hooked onto something really large however this was in 50m of water and this time we were just checking out the shallower area closer to the rocks. The depth we checked out ranged from about 9m – 20m and the bottom contours were more extreme with small drop offs and holes. We first tried a spot which had a large pinnacle as we had heard this was the type of bottom to look for when fishing on reefs. This Pinnacle was quite extreme going from a depth of 13m to 5m and was located straight out from where the car park ends on shore. We had some great fish signs down there and a school of fish must have come through at one point (thought we didn’t catch whatever they were) as our fish finder went crazy, however again all we caught were parrot fish and the odd undersized blue cod. After sitting there for an hour or so we decided to move and try and hunt for obvious fish sign. Interesting we didn’t see any sign at all and we started to think that to be successful at Pukerua Bay you need good local knowledge. It seemed no matter where we parked up all we caught were smaller fish. There were several boats around however we did notice that they would park up for 20mins then drive off around the corner or off down back towards Paraparaumu Beach, so maybe the fishing just wasn’t that great. The swell was getting abit larger and the sea was starting to get rough so we decided to head back towards our first spot where we caught the undersized snapper and cod.

There was some great action here, again catching the undersized blue cod and parrot fish but also we got some larger takes. By this time the tide had switched so we were keen to see if the fishing would change. My brother did quite a large strike on what he thought was another blue cod, however it was solid. We initially thought that it might have been a large snapper as it was keeping down, however that changed to maybe a shark as we saw the shape and dark body. But it turned out to be a HUGE conger eel, this must have been the same type of eel the people earlier in the day had caught. We brought it closer to the boat preparing to release it and I got a couple of quick photos. My brother grabbed his 80lb leader and pulled it closer to the boat and that’s when his line snapped. So we would have to estimate that eel to be around the 80lb mark, either way that was the largest eel I had ever seen.

Pukerua Bay Conger Eel

grabbing the leader just before the line snaps, you get an idea of how thick this eel was

My brother also got a barracuda which snapped his line and I also caught another conger eel which I had no chance of pulling up on my light gear. All in all it wasn’t a bad trip checking out what Pukerua Bay contours look like and even though all the fish we caught were undersized it was still a great sign to see so many. Perhaps the populations still need time to grow and recover from the previous netting that use to go on, or maybe we just aren’t very good at reef fishing (this was probably only our second time out on a reef so it’s all learning). We did go home empty handed however nothing the local Raumati Fish and chip shop couldn’t fix…

I do like Pukerua Bay however when I look at how many legal size fish we catch just of the beach at Raumati and Paraparaumu (you are almost gaurenteed Kahawai) I think we will wait awhile before heading back down there. Living up in Raumati it does take some time to get everything in and out of the car down there, so you really need to make a decent trip out of it. I think Pukerua Bay does offer reef fishing especially for smaller boats like ours who can’t get to Kapiti Island. Our biggest issue is that we need more experience in finding fish on a reef and also the types of techniques to be successful. However the big difference I do notice at Pukerua Bay is that you are always catching something – even if it’s undersized. Fishing on a beach you can spend hours without even a bite.

I felt so much better about launching the boat here, even if it was just a 8ft Zodiac. Incredible there were hundreds of cars lining the beach and the club tractor was very busy launching all the boats. But where were all these boats that belong to all these cars. We could only count about a dozen around Kapiti. My brother mentioned that there was some channel out deeper and we should try there. Having no idea where this channel was we headed out and watched as other larger boats powered there boats to get off the sandbar – quite a good way I thought, revving the motor to full seemed to work well. We shot out to what we thought was deep and in line with other larger boats. We assumed we must have been in the channel as it seemed deep from the different colour water. With no depth sounder it was hard to tell whether there were any fish or even what depth we were. We stayed well away from the marine reserve as we knew this was the one place you weren’t allowed to fish and also we didn’t want to drift into this area. We again got even more excited because now we were fishing truly deep water – well from our perspective it was. At Pukerua Bay we were fishing at a depth of perhaps 4 – 5 m whereas out at Paraparaumu we must have been about 15 – 20m. We baited our hooks and because it was a sand bottom I put on a large sinker to get to the bottom. This time it was a good idea and my line easily got down there without any snagging. We tied the burly bomb to the anchor to get that right down to the bottom – a good idea I thought. 50mins pasted and not a single bite. Then out of the blue a pod of dolphins surfaced briefly before diving back down. I have heard bad things about catching fish with dolphins around but i think it was kinda cool to see them up close. After a small discussion over whether Dolphins do scar away fish we decided to head south towards Raumati Beach, we also headed into shallower water (about 5 – 10m). The chop started by now about an 1 hour into fishing and we hadn’t caught anything. Trying our new spot towards Raumati I soon got into a small Kahawai. It was a lot of fun to play and bringing it to the boat it was about 40cm long, a nice young one. We decided to let it go even though it was probably the best eating. Not to long after my brother also got a large Kahawai. We decided to keep this one for dinner. On the same line we decided to head out a bit deeper as there were workups happening out deeper and when you see a workup you know there are fish around. We went to a depth of about 20 – 30m and by now the chop was picking up, it wasn’t dangerous it was just the odd small bit of chop would splash us – a problem with a small boat. We didn’t get any bites for about an hour, even around this workup and it always seemed where a work up was we would got there and then a work up would occur just where we were. We really were chasing our tails. We saw hundreds of birds on the water not active so we decided to anchor amongst them. Its quite amazing been amongst these large birds as you can get quite close to them. Dropping our lines we started to get tugs and excited I made the comment I don’t think these are Kahawai, they must be another fish like a Snapper (hoping comment I think). Then before we knew it we both had fish on our line and they felt a decent size. My brother got his up first and it was a large Kahawai, I think were were slightly disappointed yet he had to net his then give me the net for me to land this one. A bit of fumbling with the net in the boat and eventually mine got off. He kept his Kahawai which was a nice size. We had read that Kahawai also make good bait but it needs to be fresh. We decided to take a fillet and use it as bait to test this out. Sure enough we dropped our lines down again and I got another Kahawai, this one we let go as we had plenty for dinner. But as soon as this fishing had started it was also quick enough to disappear. We must have hit a school of Kahawai from the work ups that had just occurred. For those who have no idea what a work up is – its basically a school of smaller fish been chased by larger fish (quite often Kahawai), you can tell a workup by the large number of birds hovering over the splashing water. After a few hours of not much activity we decided to head back into the chop, because we would have to go slow we decided to do some trolling on the way back. We used a silver coloured Kahawai lure and just puttered back. we didn’t get anything till we went a little shallower and I got into a small Kahawai. It wasn’t a keeper so I decided to put it back. Nothing else was caught that day but I felt the area between Paraparaumu and Raumati was a really nice place to fish, I rated it better than my earlier in the day experience at Pukerua Bay.

Conclusion
I learnt a good lesson early in the day today and that was to trust your instincts when out in the sea. If it doesn’t feel right then turn back and head to shore. There will be other days to fish and as I found out there might be a more calmer spot just down the beach. I found that Paraparaumu was a great place to launch a boat, it didn’t feel dodgy like at Pukerua Bay and was a nice sandy bottom, so bring the boat in was easy – not to mention you can drive the car on the beach right to the water. There is a lot of sea to fish around Kapiti and finding good fishing spots will take some new equipment (like a depth sounder/fish finder). Also I think we might have to get a chart to see the different depths and make up of this channel that runs through Kapiti. Considering we were fishing with out any equipment to find fish I think we were quite productive getting 6 Kahawai – keeping 2 of them. I would like to have caught a different specie however the more I sea fishing the more I realise there is a lot of sea and catching targeted species, without luck, will require a lot of research into techniques and also finding good spots – there will be trail and error. I realise that this will take sometime to get a good fishing chart together from our own experiences and also what others around have to say. I do know of a spot around Waikanae which I will try out one of these days that apparently never fails for snapper. I was told about this spot and it sounds really great if that’s the case however I do know that in my experiences with trout fishing that everybody has there own spots and techniques that suit them. Often if you try to copy them you aren’t as successful. I think what tends to be lacking when someone does work on advice is the ability to know that spot so well that if its not biting here then it may be biting just around the corner, what I guess I’m saying is that often those who have great knowledge also have a great ability to read and adapt to the different situations that may arise. I take on board all advice and will try it out, but I also have to learn about situations and built my ability to adapt and work out what works for me.

Pukerua Bay looking back towards the boat ramp

My First Day
I own a small 2 person Zodiac Boat, it has a metal haul with blow up sides and a 15 hp motor. It gets us around nicely on lakes yet we haven’t ever tried it out on the sea. So this was going to be an interesting test. My brother was going to be the other person trying this out with me, he had a small amount of sea fishing experience and also some general knowledge from watching a few of the fishing shows. We were sussed, we had the large tackle rods equip with 15kg line, hooks, sinkers, UHF radios, life jackets, yes we had everything. Using some of my brothers knowledge we decided to find some shelfish (apparently an early sea fishing boat ride with his friends they caught heaps on shelfish). It was the Thursday just before Waitangi Day we decided to head out at 5pm down to Pukerua Bay. Pumping up the Zodiac and putting the motor on we were on our way to our first sea fishing experience. We filled our boat with allour gear and the little space we had left we jumped into it. I took the oars and we headed out. Bang, we got stuck on a submerged rock. Knowing that every person in there beach homes are staring and laughing at our very amateurish mistake, i did some quick back paddling and decided to launch just of the boat ramp. Now there is a marker out of the boat ramp and coming from a lake fishing background we decided it must be marking rocks. So we headed slightly away from it and out to the left… I paddled out till it was deep enough to drop the motor. With a couple of tugs on the motor we managed to get it going. Heading out we noticed that the water seemed to get shallower and shallower – well it felt like that. We dodged rocks and had seaweed hit the motor attempting to workout how the other boats get out. I questioned whether the pole was in fact showing a possible boating channel but by that stage the water got deeper and the rocks disappeared. It was a eary feeling been out in the sea, the boat seemed to shrink and this is a boat which wasn’t large in the first place. This still didn’t stop our eagerness so we puttered around till we found a spot not to far of the rocks, there seemed to be a lot of kelp around so we thought this must be a good place. We put on the largest sinkers we had and baited our hooks, which were these really sparkly snapper rigs. I got mine onto the water first and decided to cast just of the back of the boat. Straight away my line sunk to the bottom and whack I had what must have been the biggest fish ever. Well that’s what I thought. After a few big tugs it was obvious that my line was stuck in what I can only assume was kelp. A few seconds later my brothers line also found the same fate as mine. After some big pulling our lines snapped off and so did the snapper rigs and large sinkers. I must admit at this time we were feeling just a bit downbeat. We started questioning our tactics and actually how much we knew. We decided to move from this spot, only problem was that the anchor was also wedged into the kelp. However withsome boat manoeuvring and muscle we managed to pull it up. Our conclusion was that if we get the wrong spot in the sea, we are in for an unforgiving time. With the sun starting to get low, We moved away from the rocks and the kelp and decided to try a spot that was more towards the boating channel. We decided to use the smallest sinkers we had and try just letting the bait do a lot of the work. This spot felt much better, so with higher hopes we dropped the anchor and baited our new rigs, which consisted of two plain hooks and a small sinker. We burlied up the water using a lot of the pippies and also some cat food. Dropping our line it felt much better, there was no snagging and I could feel the sea bottom and best of all I got bites. Whack the rod had a slight bend in it however t must be a large fish – were my thoughts at the time. So I pulled it up, winding and winding then WHACK, my swivel hits my top eyelet. On the hook was a brown reef fish of some sort, it had dark brown strips on it, no longer than 25cm. Been a kind soul I put it back and started thinking perhaps this is all we will get in water that would be no more than 5m deep. Time past and quite a few small reef fish including a scorpion fish of some sort, it was orange and spiky, but all were small.

Orange Spikey Fish

We started getting some smaller nibbles which felt different from the reef fishing we were catching. I managed to hook one and pulled it up. It was a small blue cod. We were so excited with this catch as this was a target species which are great eating. However this one was well under size so we put it back and it swam off quickly… we got so excited – finally something other than these little reef fish. An hour went past and the sun was getting very low on the horizon with little activity our excitement had turned to boredom. We started concluding that there wasn’t much down there and this wasn’t working – we started to question why we were even out here… but I think there is something inside of us which keeps us fixed to our fishing rod – just one more cast, just another 10mins. Not saying it to each other but knowing that we are both feeling it – perhaps its time to call it a day. I know we haven’t got a fish for dinner but we did catch a few small fish and did get a cod… with this in my head my brother suddenly gets a large “Whack” and his rod started darting in all directions – under the boat, around the boat, over my line…. panicked I knew this was more than just another reef fish so I winded my line up and got the swivel caught in the eyelet again, but there was no time to think about that. I threw my fishing rod down with no regard to the fact it had hooks on it and we had air filled pontoons on our zodiac which were waiting for a puncture. I grabbed the net and with all my knowledge of netting trout we eased the fish into the net, not rushing it. In hindsight I think we could have just lifted it into the boat, however this was our first fish of any size. Getting it into the bottom of the boat it flapped around like anything – is it a king fish? I questioned…. No it was a Kahawai. This is a very underrated fish and from our trout fishing background I can’t imagine a more fun fish to play – Well that’s what I have concluded so far. We quickly put the Kahawai out of its misery and were very happy with ourselves. We had a fish for dinner. Our first real sea fish caught all by ourselves. This really made our day – I know its not a big fish to catch first up such as a snapper or trevally however it really made our day and also more importantly gave me the boost to really push and master sea fishing. We read somewhere that you need to bleed the Kahawai straight away, so we took its head off virtually straight away and filled our fish container with sea water. We also read somewhere that sea fish need to be kept in salt water and not fresh water. Later for dinner we had the Kahawai crumbed. It was overly large in size so it was a nice side dish. It was very tasty and I can’t see why not more people eat this fish its really nice. From our background in trout fishing we also talked about releasing the larger Kahawai which are the breeding stock and only keeping the smaller ones. I always believe its good to think of how to enjoy fishing sustainably – I know it sounds a bit green but its more something which I believe in to maintain and keep populations high for the future.

Conclusions:

It was a pleasurable few hours we had spent on our first sea fishing trip, not hugely productive yet fun enough for me to want to continue. It will not be as easy as I first thought, catching targeted species such as snapper and cod will take some experimenting. What I have learnt from today’s fishing is that pippies and shellfish really stir up the reef fish. You get Kahawai on reefs and that launch a boat at Pukerua Bay is not easy for beginners never been out there before. I will always just give myself that extra 10mins in a spot rather than moving when i feel there aren’t any fish. Where I can see real skill is learning how and where to fish different areas for different species – something which will be a huge challenge but something I’m looking forward to. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings, with my first full day of sea fishing. We are thinking of coming back to pukerua bay – weather permitting.