We had a break in the weather yesterday and decided to re-stock our fish reserves after a very expensive xmas. With a SE 7-8 knot wind predicted early in the morning and high tide at 04h19 am, we decided for a later start. As conditions would improve as the day progressed, no need to suffer... water temp at the dock was 23.7o C....
At 06h10 we were in the water and went straight to the northern grounds. The sea was chopy and prevented us from going faster than 17 knots. We carried on and had lines in by about 8h15itsh.... it started raining almost immediately.... not big fat rain, just that intermitent "Forrest Gump" rain that's aimed straight into your eyes and freezes your bones!!!
Oh well... we did a few passes and got 2 rat couta and missed a few... things got quiet and we explored deeper waters and the area I got the big couta last time. Had a few double strikes and managed 4 nice couta of between 6-8 kg.... perfect for the table!!!
At about 12 o'clock things went dead quiet and we decided to move into even deeper waters to target tuna, dorries or even a billfish... did the 8 nm to Poco with my hi-speed trolling setup... maybe we would be lucky and get a 'hoo... nothing...
When we got there (the water temp was 24 5o C or so), we switched to rappies and almost immediately got 2 football sized yellowfin tuna.... not the largest, but hey... it has been 4 months since I had sashimi... so those were released into the tuna tubes and bled properly....
We rigged a Okuma Makaira 50Lb setup with a 20/0 circle and put 2 rappies and 2 small feathers out. The next tuna would be bait for a bigger fish
Not long and we had a double strike.... one turned out to be a nice 5 kg kawakawa and the 2nd.... well we'll never know.... it took line like crazy and never stopped.... my guess?! A big
I fought the fish the best I could, but even before I could gain any line, it went slack!!!! The leader was cut clean and the fish gone!!!! Oh well!!!
I rigged the kawakawa quickly and sent it on its merry way to greatness! To run away from the taxman, we went off the main Poco area and trolled around the 60 m mark, then 100 m, all the way to 200 m!!!! Nothing!!! Eventually the fish broke free from the cable and we went back to trolling, en route home, with 5 rods swimming big konas and strip baits, etc.
By 16h15 we had nothing so decided to head back with the wind that, by this time, was blowing at 12-13 knots at our favour.
In the end, a tough day at sea where we fished hard and tried our best. Got about 33 kg of fish, on 106 L of fuel and did 92.8 nm.
A good way to end the year I'd say!
