Day 1 Report
We got an hours sleep before we woke to a bacon & egg sandwich cooked on the BBQ as the first rays of sun lit the eastern sky.
As usual it’s exciting to check out your surroundings the next morning after you arrive somewhere in the dead of night and as dawn broke we were stunned at the beautiful countryside.
We boarded the minibus and headed 2 minutes down the road to the wharf and Carl arrived soon after. Maybs, Tim, Dazz, Lee and Adrian were fishing aboard Innkeeper, a custom built 42 foot aluminium fishing boat skippered by Peter who moonlights as the local publican. Iain, Ken, Greg and Paul were allocated to Carl’s 6.7m Stabicraft which is an outstanding vessel, NZ built to handle the roughest conditions with ease.
Those fishing on the Innkeeper were ferried out on Carl’s boat and before the remaining anglers were picked up and we headed out over the bar with a sense of excitement.
Seas were a couple of feet max, the sky was blue and the emerging sun was starting to take the edge off the cold - although having just arrived from Sydney it was FREEZING! The run out to the pinnacles took around an hour and as Carl slowed the boat the excitement was palpable as a years preparation and build-up was about to become reality.
Carl distributed the gear and attached jigs to rods. The deal is that Carl finds the fish on the sounder and on his command we drop to the stated depth using the coloured braid (colour changes in 10m increments) as a guide. The first call was 5 colours (50m) and lever drags and bail arms were released, knots rattled through the guides and jigs disappeared out of sight into the cobalt blue water.
For those that have never jigged all I can say is you wind like buggery while at the same time rip the rod up and down. On Iain’s second wind I felt the rod tip get pulled towards the water and could not believe that I was onto a fish already. Happy days!
“I’m on”
“Me too”
I looked over and Ken was also straining as a Kingy slammed his jig and tried to make his escape. My fish was a rat (in NZ terms – a good fish here) and was released. Ken’s fish was a bigger specimen of 17kg and was dispatched into the esky for tonight’s dinner.
WOW – What a start to the day.
Next drop I was onto a bigger fish and felt my arms being pulled out of their sockets – I honestly did not think a fish could be this strong. Every time I turned its head and thought I was making headway it would make a run and get the line back. After 15 minutes I had the fish at the boat and Carl traced a 20+kg model which ended up being the biggest fish of the trip.
Over the course of the morning the action was non stop as time after time our jigs were hammered. We were having the time of our lives and we could hear the whoops and hollers on the other boat as the lads were nailing plenty of fish.
An hour later Paul was onto a good fish and we heard a 'snap' as his rod broke. Pandemonium erupted as Paul had to use the reel as a winch and bring the fish in with no assistance from the rod. Paul laboured long and hard and after an incredible tussle landed a great fish under the toughest of circumstances. An outstanding effort he should be very proud of.
The fish was made to pay for his indiscretion and was dispatched and sent to the smoker and bought back home and smoked fillets.
As the day wore on we caught plenty of Kings and warm clothing was shed as we had the sun on our backs and the wind dropped to a zephyr. Our arms were feeling the pinch so we dropped ‘Cyclops’ jigheads with soft plastics attached for Snapper. I was having the day of my life as I nailed a great Snapper.
Meanwhile on Innkeeper Timpon, Maybs, Darryl, Target and LeeLee headed off with Pete out to the jigging grounds. We watched the other boys on Carls boat go screaming by as the seas were relatively pretty flat.
After the long drive out we dropped down. (guys that actually caught fish should put in here what happened)
Leelee had two successful drops that tangled the other guys lines. He then decided to change to a 300g jig as he was previously using a 220g and that stopped the tangles.
The boys on board Innkeeper manager in excess of 50 fish, with most of the boys in double figures. Although many of the fish were NZ rats (ie, about 75-85cm) a few nice fish were taken.
We then headed back to the Kingy grounds and saw out the day jigging more Kings as the wind picked up. There were no complaints as we called it a day and headed back to Tairua bashing through the growing chop.
The average worked out at 10 fish per angler that day meaning 90+ Kings were boated. It was the best days fishing I have ever experienced.
After fishing we went back to the houses and were euphoric after such an amazing day. A fish was dissected into cutlets which were cooked in butter on the BBQ. Simple is best and this fish was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.
That night 9 exhausted anglers slept soundly.
Epic Adventurers from Sydney Angler! 
Linear Mode
