2012 surf catches Spring/summer

My Rig was from Marlborough, but I believe shark slayer is getting his somewhere around Banks Peninsula.

I arrived at Spot S shortly after four, there was gentle but cold wind blowing and the current was running quite strongly around the point.

Fishing was tough to start with, the current kept pushing my line onto the mussel covered rocks while the peckers made short work of any bait I threw out.

A pod of dolphins brought a moment of excitement as they cruised within meters of the rocks, but they were gone before I could get my camera.

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Snapper1 [1024×768] by Thomas J. Walsh, on Flickr

Day slowly turned into night and the little pickers left my bait alone. Then nothing was happening, so I took advantage of the low light to take a few photos.

Was hoping to get a 30 second exposure of my rod with a boat in the background, at about 15 seconds in my rod starting to move, then it bent over and line started to scream off… I thought that could make a good photo with the moving rod… then I thought thats big I better grab the rod. Maybe I would get a few blurred images of me fighting it.

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Snapper2 by Thomas J. Walsh, on Flickr

The fish was powerful, it pulled a lot of line, and my reel nearly malfunctioned but I quickly had it under control. There was no head shakes, so it did not feel like a Snapper, but it was moving about much to actively to be a Ray and was much to powerful to be a Kahwai. I was thinking it could be a shark when I got the first glismp in the headlamp. A long silverly thing, maybe the underside of a rays wing. But the fight was not powerful enough to be Ray. Got a second look, still uncertain then third. Damn thats a big Snapper and surprisingly quickly had it onto the beach. I left it stranded in just a few cms of water, when the panic started. I sprinted back to my pack grab the measure, diverted to get my camera and quickly put it onto auto while lifting the flash. Now, where in hell would I find flat ground to measure the fish…

Picked him, damn he is long. Onto the measure, is that 90cm… ummm no he is not touching the end. A flapping fit and he was now calm pushed him to the end, first photo, to close, missing a tail, the second missing less tail. The third had all the fish. Been out of the water long enough already, no time for another reposition. By now he had spat the hook so back into the water it went.

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Snapper3 [1280×768] by Thomas J. Walsh, on Flickr
I continued fishing until 8pm but saw no further action.

Thanks, I do try and target the big ones. Its been a very good start of the season.

Should I push my luck and try for a Moki next

Ward is one beach I hope to fish more, but never get around to it. I think it was the second place I ever fished once I started Surfcasting, I drove across the Flaxbourne then walked to the start of the long beach just before the needles. Was early September from memory, and during the day. Did not catch anything.

Since then, I only go there if I find Clifford bay is to rough for fishing, I have a good knowledge of the forecasts now so never go to Clifford when its rough. These times I normally just fished right in front of the Car-park, always blanked. The last time was just after a large flood so was more rubbish then usual in the water. Once years ago I fished the guts around from Chancet Rocks. Back then was completely unprepared for such fishing so the trip was a disaster.

Speared fish it a few times, sometimes see good numbers of Butterfish, use to be a few big Moki. Saw a massive stargazer once.

So any advice regarding Ward would be great.

went for a fish at birdlings last night, the fishing was crap as i expected.Caught a large skate just after dark, then hooked up on something biggish, got it right in close but my braid must have got buried by the swell and it rubbed through and busted me off.Its really annoying losing gear, especially when you lose your leader to.Went back tonight, two doggys was my lot…still to early for the surf beaches boys and girls.There were a few others fishing just south of the aerials and the trawlers were out there.I have been seeing them coming past peraki bay for the last few weeks.there has been fresh ele on sale at new world for the last week, i wonder were the bastards are trawling them from?

Thanks for the advice, would certainly try and fish there at least once this spring.

there seems to be a lot less guys on here than normal, its kinda boring.i met birdlings flat (ian) a few weeks ago and he was saying that him and a bunch of guys left because of spammers???anyhow,been busy whitebaiting but i went out last night with this result..
“>17lb,female,returned.

Its a bit strange why they are so small. Are you uploading them in such a small size.

Try hosting them on a alternative site such as Flickr and see how it goes.

The spammers were only a minor nuisance, and Alan had his reasons why he was not able to concentrate on them during that time period.