Some days are pure magic...

[redsetta]

G'day all,
Had a gem of a day on the water yesterday, so thought I'd share some pics of the outing...
The spring weather has been typically windy and inclement over the past month or two, but it really turned on a taste of summer this week.
The wind was non-existent (forecast was 1-2kt), with light, high cloud and a bracing 12C (~50F).
We loaded up at 7am and headed to Westhaven marina (in Auckland city)...



We'd booked the charter about eight months ago, as Paul Senior (Wave Dancer: http://www.wavedancer.co.nz/) is generally in high demand.
I've done my dash with party boats and will only fish with friends these days, so it was just five of us - plus Paul (skipper) and Kyle (deckhand, aka 'Capt Jack Sparrow').



The boat is a Rayglass Legend 28' (stern drive) and cruised comfortably at 32kts.
There's no bait on Wave Dancer charters - soft plastics and jigs/lures (ie jitterbugs, bottom-ships, etc) only.



There's an array of beautiful, mostly NZ-made super yachts lining Wynyard Quarter on the way out of Westhaven.
A number of ship chandlers work along the Quarter, refitting and upgrading these behemoths.



This one was towed from Chile for a multimillion dollar fit out.





]

White Rabbit is a 61m trimaran with nearly 5500ft² of teak decking.
The refit included nearly 40,000ft² of painting!



Gotta love Auckland harbour in the springtime...



With about eight marinas across the region, Auckland's known as the 'city of sails'.



Looking across Wynyard Quarter towards the city...



...and 180 degrees around, looking out towards the Hauraki Gulf.



Ferries constantly crisscross the harbour.



We're just at the edge of the 'speed-limited' zone here - looking back at the Harbour Bridge and into the Waitemata Harbour...



...and across at a sleepy Auckland city.



Hammers down and we're away.



Brown's Island, to the east, is made up of five or six overlapping volcanic craters.
I fish out here (and further to the Motuihe Channel) on the paddle board and often stop in on Brown's for a swim or to run up the crater - nothing like having an island to yourself...



Rangitoto Island is the most iconic and most recent of our 60-odd city volcanoes.
It last erupted about 600 years ago and was watched by Maori living on the adjacent Motutapu Island.



Into the outer gulf now - this is The Noises...



...and the Aha Aha Rocks to the east.



Further out towards Great Barrier Island, we hit the first work-ups.
The fin in the distance is a Bryde's whale, which feed on pilchards and are a great indicator of the bait school locations.
We saw them blowing huge underwater 'bubble curtains' to compress the schools, then slashing through them.



We could hear their exertion as they worked the schools, huffing and puffing at the surface as close as 30-odd feet.
We even saw one laying on the surface nearby, just breathing normally.
It must've had a full belly as we heard it make a huge, satisfied 'sigh'.
At 40-50ft and around 20 tonnes, they're an impressive sight - there were eight or more working the outer gulf yesterday.



We saw huge numbers of dolphins, working in with the whales (as in the pic below).
Their echo-location is astonishing - when we had lines down, they were able to thread and weave through our light braid at speed, right next to the boat.





It sounded like a suppressed semi auto as the gannets hit the water in squadrons.
In one instance, about a dozen gannets dove in a coordinated group from maybe 80ft at about 50-60mph - awesome.



The bite was wide open, and we rarely got the lures to the bottom - often getting hit several times on the way down.
Here's a couple of mates hooked up...



I picked up my biggest snapper yet (around 10lbs) and fish up to 15lbs were boated.
After several frantic sessions, I decided to grab the camera and let the skipper and deckie have a crack.
Here's Capt Jack into a nice one:



And the skipper, Paul Senior, into one of the fish of the day:



A happy man! And look at that fish - so healthy...



The jitterbugs worked a treat...



They were feeding with such enthusiasm, they were even fighting over the jigs...



And here's our merry band of misfits, with some of the spoils of the day.





Looking back on the day, it really was spectacular.
We left the marina at 9am, steamed an hour out and an hour back, and had 30-45mins chasing work-ups.
That means we needed less than 90mins to have the one of our best-ever days of snapper fishing.
We had a debrief in the arvo over a couple of beers down the local pub and the grins said it all.
Needless to say, we'll be booking again next year

Righto - hope all's well with you and yours, and you're getting out on the water.
Cheers, Justin

[Alto Mare]

Fascinating, Justin. Yes, I would say that was a magical day, I wish I was there as well. I also got to go out yesterday, but all I got was some Catfish . I'm glad you had a great day, very nice.
sal

[Cone]

Thanks for the report. It doesn't get any better.  Bob

[Dominick]

Justin:  I felt like I was there with that great report and photos.  Add a photo of one of those fish on a plate.  Dominick

[alantani]

fabulous!

[Irish Jigger]

Great report Justin. Lucky you ,Spring and  fabulous fishing with a great crew,doesn't get much better. Bet those snappers tasted nice.

[HOLEINTHEWATER]

FANTASTIC POST. WISH I WAS THERE.Glad you took a break and took the pictures.

[harryk3616]

cheers   justin    all i can say is fantastic.  not only are you a great fisherman,  your fantastic telling a story and adding beautiful pictures.  those yachts were outstanding, real nice.   a beautiful day on the water with good friends,  doesn't get much better,  plus some brews afterwards,  nice.    my best to you.

[Westii]

Great post, Justin.  Looks like a fantastic place with a great fishery.  Visiting NZ is on my bucket list and I hope to get there sometime in the next few years.

Thanks for sharing the pics.

Rick

[Keta]

Thanks.  The next time I go out I'll take some photos of our volcanic history and post them.

[Steve-O]

Magic is right!, Justin.   What a crackin' good day on the water. Beautiful scenery and fish pics!  Thanks for sharing.

PS-we just had our first all the way to the valley floor snow. YUCK!

[Bryan Young]

Holy cow Justin, that was awesome.  that is one of my favorite eating fish.  Thanks for sharing.

[Clem]

A great day out pal, looked like a nice day out too..nice and smooth I think I'm getting spoiled up here with the sea conditions, Ranfurly might be a different story come Dec..

[Keith K]

Tight!  Great report Justin!

[Dominick]

Holy cow Justin, that was awesome.  that is one of my favorite eating fish.  Thanks for sharing.

Justin:  Bryan made a mistake, he meant to write "that is one of my favorites, eating fish heads."     Dominick