The NZ Kayak Fishing Group’s regular mother-shipping trips to Great Barrier are usually oversubscribed for good reason – the fishing’s so bloody good.
Speaking to Jason Kemp, the late July Barrier Mission on the charter vessel Bounty Hunter, was no exception.
Weather condition for this expedition saw the focussing on the Eastern side of Great Barrier, where a number of the crew achieved PBs on snapper and kingfish in what Jason described as an extremely solid bite by medium to big fish.
Fishing five to 40 metres of water a significant number of snapper over 20-pounds graced the kayak fishoes, with many released in good condition. Lures of choice were either softbaits or 100g to 200g jigs like Jason’s favourite Double Trouble – a 25-pound snapper on the 100g version being the highlight of Kemp’s trip.
Accurate fishing of sounder sign proved key to most successful drops. In Jason’s own words, it was impossible to keep track of the number of eight to 12-pound fish, the bite was that hot!
A few very impressive kingfish also showed up with a 20-kilogram fish for one lucky kayaker the absolute stand-out.
Jason would like to extend a shout-out to Alister Munroe, Cam Robinson and Paul Roundtree, who all caught PBs on the mission.
The NZKFG heads out on one of these three-day fishing missions again this Thursday. We look forward to another inspiring report!
You can find the NZ Kayak Fishing Group on Facebook.
