Why Did I Start JETSKIFISHING....?

Well here is a short summary, and I mean short !! If you call me I could talk for hours. Anyone out there considering this form of fishing platform/transport consider this:

- Cheaper to run than a boat (especially at the moment)
- Quicker than most boats and definately faster than a YAK (and no sore back!!!!)
- Quicker to clean at the end of the day. My wife loves this. I am home washed and parked in garage all within 10mins.
- Easy to manevore, hook up and launch/ retreive etc
- Shallow water running for stealthing around wash areas, reefs etc and if you get too close in calm water just push your self away.
- 3 Seaters are so stable I can stand on the back left corner or on side and it wont flip or sink.
- HUGE amount of storage in these PWCs
- My kids are all under 7 and LOVE the PWC and want to come for rides all the time (far more than the last 3 boats I have had) Wife even likes it better than the boat... the only boat she wants next requires several millions worth of lotto winnings !!
- Less intimidating for the kids if pulling a tube or teaching to ski. Big boat and motors is scary!!!
- When not fishing great for waterskiing, barefooting, wakeskating and wakebording(wake a little small)
- 4 stroke reliability... can't beat it really.
- also how many times with a boat have you had the opportunity to go for a fish and no one can make it or they leave you waiting at the ramp at 5:30am because they are hungover or have just got home !!!!
- Could easily fish two people off if you had to.
- When fishing in cuurent/wind or if fish runs in a different direction you have 360 control of moving your rod around the ski in one movement. Ain't many boats that you can do that on.
- Also most buy skis for the fun and thrill of riding. Using them to fish from means you have all the fun and excitement riding to and from your fishing location !!! Just awesome.
- my list could go on and on........ but do I need to say anymore. As the great Nike Corporation would say "just do it".

I decided once we purchased and had the ski for a few weeks that there is no reason for not going out and catching fish. There is a boat in our family but it is always an effort to get it out, plus getting us all organized.
Once the soft bait was introduced I was even more keen to get out there as the bait would go under my nails, plus I am not a fan of bait smell and who wants to chop up bait!!!
As I was retired for 8 months I had the opportunity to head out any time I could. After a few adventures with Andrew, I thought I am sure there is no reason I can't go out on my own. After a week, I was out doing it on my own, and even remembering to put the bungs in
I was heading out 3 times a week, taking my 11 year old son for some one on one quality time! There is no way I would take a boat on my own let alone 3 times a week.
I would be at my spot in 6 minutes, 9 fish and home in a couple of hours. Seeing the smile on my husbands face that his wife can go out and catch him a meal priceless.......the only problem he has is filleting all my fish, thats not my department!
Back in the begining there was only 1 or 2 skis around fishing, and its now great to see how may are out fishing on ther PWC's.
I know there will be alot of women out there soon to be joining my experiences and cant wait to see you out there.
With the pink range of fishing rods, and the clean soft baits, the book of how to tie knots there is no excuses!!
Lets not forget the handy "Ulimate Rod Holder".

The boat was proving to be nothing but trouble, difficult to tow, a pain to launch and at 10 years old it was fingers crossed when you went to start it. To be honest, I guess the end came when we had to borrow the jump leads from the Matakana ferry for another jump start!!! With the money from the boat ,we were able to buy a brand new Yamaha FX Cruiser with the 4 stroke engine and guaranteed reliability. Towing is easy and I can launch it on my own and be out in the harbour in minutes. Perhaps the best thing is the ability to clean down the ski in under 20 mins allowing you head back inside and start filleting those fish.

My daughter (9) and I headed out on saturday for the first time with the soft bait rigs and managed to catch 5 snapper and 1 John Dory. I dropped one snapper when trying to get it in the Chilli bag and one down side of the jetski as there's no second chance when you drop a fish but, this didn't spoil our day and we managed another 2 fish on a bleak Sunday morning. In fact Sunday was another reason to love jetski fishing, the weather turned crap so we just started her up, had a little blast around the harbour and then headed home, something you'll loathed to do when you've spent ages getting the boat in the water.

Jetski fishing is so much fun and to have a 9 year old jumping out of bed at 6am on Sunday for her second fishing trip says it all.

Julian

P.S. Big thank you to Andrew for all his help and advice on getting started

Nice post. Just wondering how much it would set you back to get set-up for this? I'm only young, prob another good year or 2 till i can think about it but a boy can dream . Looks like a good, cheaper option over going for a boat.

Hey there, all depends on where you want to fish and general conditions in your area. You could start with something simple but I can assure you, you will soon out grow it and want to have something bigger with more reliability so you can travel out wider for longer and in various conditions.

You can get setup from anything between $8K and $30K dependant on budget.You will find plenty of posts in this forum regarding options etc, so best of luck and keep us posted and feel free to keep asking questions.

Cheers

Ok thanks heaps. I was looking at a yak for the near future, but might be worth it to save up for a ski. You get the joy of powering around on one and then fishing aswell! Would mostly be harbour fishing, venturing out further when i felt more comfortable.