Been watching for a while

Hi all,
I've been checking out the forum for a while, but finally registered.
I've been fishing from boats for a few years, but about 2.5 years ago the boats were having trouble getting out the local rivermouth, so a couple of guys went out on their skis to bring in the craypots for the boating crews. They found it so easy, they took them back out the next day! This made me think that maybe skis weren't just a toy...hmmm.
I'm based in Hamilton, and the family bach (& boat) is two hrs drive away. Quite a few of the guys where I work head out from Kaiaua on the Firth of Thames and do very well, so I started thinking about getting a fishing vessel to keep in Hamilton. I did a bit of research on the net, and in March last year I went for a 10min testdrive on a ski, and bought it a couple of days later!
I got the dealer to install a fishfinder before I picked it up, both myself and the dealer had some ideas on mounting it - ended up surprising similar to Andrews mounts (but way more expensive), which I knew nothing about at the time! The rest of the setup is pretty basic, but works OK. I think I need an Ultimate setup!!! I'll post photos sometime soon.

I have met a couple of the forum members, Andrew at the Mystery Creek boat show last year, and Ken(124) at Kaiaua in March (I wondered what was going on when this guy says "I've been waiting for you for 5 hrs" - first thing I did was check I hadn't blocked him in with my car!!)

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for posting on here. Will be great to get some reports from you and any other ideas or experiences you can share, as everyone starts somewhere and the more experienced can never learn enough!!

The craypots example is excellent!!!!

What area is your bach?? I am guessing Tairua?? There are a few jetski fishos that either holiday over that way or live there.

The bach is at Marokopa on the west coast (about 45min west of the Waitomo Caves), its only a small village with one small shop - if you want petrol, you gotta drive for an hour in any direction! I grew up out there, but most bach owners are from Te Kuiti or Taranaki. The kahawai fishing at the rivermouth is legendary - literally! (Maori tribes fought over it).

Great post, pleased you are enjoying how easy and practical jetskifishing is. Forums are new to many people and takes some adjusting before interacting with the concept. People like yourself that register and post, make the forum a success by bringing information to one place. Look forward to some reports and sure we will meet again soon.

Cheers, Andrew

yep Chris is right Marokopa is a great place .1 Minute from launching you can set ya pots (most times get ya limit) the fishing can be fantastic at times, marlin in as close as 500 mtr from shore,will targit them this year from the ski instead of the boat.If the sea is to rough to get out you can always catch a kahawai at the heads or take a half hour drive over to Te waitre catch a feed of flounder and dredge for scollops .Lets not forget the whitebait.
yes it is PARADISE.

salti 1 wrote:yep Chris is right Marokopa is a great place .1 Minute from launching you can set ya pots (most times get ya limit).

Sounds like I better spy on you when you set your pots! We normally drop ours towards the Halftide track, and do alright, but would maybe do better if we went out before 11am to pull them up (before someone else has).

YEP getting on the water by sunrise helps , not only from the pot pullers but also the grays can fined their way out in daylight. Have heard of some guys who placeced a remote camera in a commercial pot ,over the time it was set over a 100 grays entered the pot but only 20 stayed if they don't feel comfortable they can trash around till they eject themselfs out of the entry hole, the secret is to make them comfortable ,sounds like a crock of **** but it works.

What a fantastic sounding place!!. Keep that one a secret from us Aucklanders, would be the call.

As for the cray pots making them comfy certainly is true. Square pots work better than round pots and I have always covered our pots with thick shade cloth (exclding legal escape holes) to make as dark as possible inside. The square pots give them something to back into and feel at home I guess. Our biggest cray in a pot went 8.5lbs so they must work alright. Biggest problem is also others getting to them before light and stealing, which does my head in and I would be sure to have some "Water Rage" if I ever found anyone doin it.

I use bull kelp and teatree, even catches during the day. try it but don't tell any one

I LOVE the sound of that. Have you ever used the best rumoured bait ........ a dead pukeko that has been rolled through a fire?

That would be worth trying, could be something in it - a dead turkey thats been blowtorched works really well on eels.

No i haven't but my mate chummy used a rabbit that was frozen to the rest of his bait with no luck