Fishing For Kingfish at Tairua, New Zealand on Epic Adventures

Sneak preview!
The report is finally here after a long wait...

I first got the glimpse of the Yellow Tail Kingfish when I saw one of Mark Berg's Fishing Adventures shows. That episode i watched was fishing at New Zealand with Epic Adventures... We were craving for a fishing + rest relax holiday somewhere not too expensive i.e. Europe and not too near i.e. China... so NZ was an excellent choice. Only 800 SGD away by Jetstar budget airlines!

We rented an MPV and drove to Tairua while visiting many other locations including Hobbiton film site also known as the "Shire". They're building up a new site now for the new Hobbit movie...

Well, you saw the food pictures some blog posts back and now it's the fishing part!

We booked a 2 day fishing trip with Epic Adventures Carl but unfortunately the first day was cancelled due to bad weather! What a bummer for us to go during winter! 2nd day was fine and Carl put us up with Toby for another day so we still had two days! Great service!

The weather was extremely cold and we had to wear extra layers of clothing. I was not used to fishing in the cold and after jigging for baitfish, I was DOWN. I had my first sea sickness in my whole life... oh no... But after a few berleying for the fishes, it was fine.

Jigging was slow but Jamie still hit a good number on jigs. We are using 200 - 400g jigs. Our boat was the Sanity and it came equipped with Jigging Master rods, Stellas etc. so we were there for the kill! Kingfish weren't responding, snapper weren't responding but we still managed to enjoy ourselves over the 2 days. Jamie hit one close to 20kg and it gave him a tough time!

I have new found respect for the Kingfish after this trip. I was probably fighting with at least 12kg of drag with the fighting belt and when the fish took out line, it was hanging on till it stopped running. The reef is theirs! Awesome fish with awesome power!

Here's the pictures of the fishes we caught... great stuff...

Jigging for baitfish...


I got my first "ang moh" snapper!


Yes this was one of our baitfishes!! wtf!! Kahawai...



Pesky barracouta



One of my favourite shots



Me having a go at a small one...




Well it was THAT choppy...



Another small one...



Jamie nailing one...


Notice the duck!?



Jamie nailing one of Evergreen Marine Metal



And another 1



One of Jamie's biggest!





Jamie trying to tickle me



The fish finder... we jigged at where the fish were... so we had to use jigging PE line



Filleting a Kingfish... we brought back only one :)


A parting photo...



That's it folks! I don't really know what to write so hope the photos do the trick!

If you want the link to the videos on youtube.... just search below. The video is posted under my account... icebombfk

Comments

Paddy Pike said…
Thats great blogging and great fishing, Mainly for Jamie by the look of it, How good is that picture with the fish and the Duck, Thats great,
All the best,
,,,Paddy,,,
October 6, 2011 at 5:05 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Basic Introduction to Prawning: Simple Tips & Tricks

Image
Foreword and Disclaimer My first encounter with prawning dated back to 2002. Back then, I hooked up my first prawn near the prawning ponds beside the Downtown East chalets at Pasir Ris. Back then, it was something like beginner's luck but after prawning for awhile, you'll realise that you will need skill as well as luck to have a good prawning catch. Through hard work and observation, I improved my prawning strategies and tactics and after some sessions of almost 70-80% hookup rate, I somewhat graduated from newbie stage to amateur stage. I would like to share with you guys some very basic prawning tips and trip. But a fair warning though. Prawning is addictive and it can only get worst once you get more prawns. When you are a newbie, you want to hook your first prawn...you want to get your first 10pcs... when you graduate you want to hit 30 in an hour...next is 50 in an hour... This post has since been updated and refreshed as of 25 March 2017. Prawning Equipmen
Read more

Marina South Singapore Fishing Spot (Eging and Shore Jigging Recce)

Image
Marina South has always been a favourite fishing spot in Singapore. In the past, we would go settle our dinner at the Marina South buffet steamboat and then head off to the water breakers to crank deep diver lures. In fact, I remember a memory of having my popper being taxed from me one of those times we went luring there! Another fairly famous fishing spot were the freshwater ponds just next to the saltwater side. Quite a fair bit of haruan (snakehead) and tarpon in there! Ok back to the topic. I finally had time to go for a full recce of the Marina South fishing areas. It's quite amazing that there are no restrictions for fishing almost the entire Marina South coast and it makes shore casting, eging, ajing and microjigging so much more fun. We explored three spots today and I think we sort of regretted not bringing some bait... Below are some of the areas with Google map pins and what I think of the spots. Marina South Pier Fishing (Beside Marina Bay Fire Station) Google map:  ht
Read more

What is the difference between the Kurau (Indian Threadfin) and Senangin (Blue Threadfin Salmon)?

Image
This post is meant as a supplement to this Batu Pahat catch report . Information and pictures taken from #fishidlessonsbydavidho. Did you know that the Kurau and Senangin are totally different? This post aims to enable you to know the difference. Name and Terminology Kurau is known as Indian Giant Threadfin salmon/Kurau/黑午鱼/Orh Ngor Senangin is known as Blue Threadfin salmon/Senangin/白午鱼/Pek Ngor/Ngor Soon Eating Quality Kurau is known the more premium species and is a popular fish for maternity purposes as it is believed to boost milk supply for new mothers. It is rare and big sized fish are hard to come by these days. Generally costs more than Senangin. Senangin is less premium and is readily available in the market in various sizes. I have also seen that farming for it can be quite successful.  Size Differences If you do a Google search, you will realise that both can grow quite big. However, this is not a good comparison as geographically, there are differences in s
Read more

Top 10 Common Fishes to Catch and Eat

Image
Every angler and fisherman in Singapore has a favourite fish to catch and eat. Here's 10 of the most common fishes you can catch in Singapore and general information on how to eat them. Tips are general and according to the best practices here. Tastes can differ. e.g. Some of us thinks its atrocious to make curry fish out of a nice coral trout. 1. Snappers Snappers are just about the most common fish in Singapore that you can find. The most common fish in Singapore is the Golden Snapper or Ang Chor but other snappers such as Red Snapper, John's Snapper are also in the mix. Snappers are generally a one fish cooks all type of fish. Larger snappers such as the Ang Kuey are used in curry fish head while the table sized ones are steamed. One can even make fish and chips out of large snappers! Versatility 10/10. 2. Tengerri Batang or more generally known as Mackeral The mackerals in our water are usually good for fish soup and any good old aunty will tell you how delic
Read more

Gills Fishing Pond (Singapore) at Punggol Marina Country Club

Image
Gills fishing pond also known as defunct swimming pool pond I seldom visit fishing payponds in Singapore. The fishes are smelly, the rates are expensive and very often, it is crowded. Fishing can get really predictable too which really kills the joy of getting a surprise catch. So, be very surprised that I am blogging about a fairly new fishing pond - Gill's fishing pond. The pond is located inside Punggol Marina (Marina Country Club) and is built on swimming pool foundation! I always scoffed at the pond as I came back from fishing with Jimmy. How could someone enjoy fishing here - the pond was shallow and the high up build meant that the pond level was at about your waist level. This makes fishing rather awkward. I scoffed and scoffed until one fine day, our bunch of kakis had not much choice but to go there for a gathering and do some fishing. Then, I realised that Gills fishing did some things differently - they would release threadfin salmons (ngor soon), coral trouts
Read more

7 Recommended Fishing Charters and Cost Sharing Boat Fishing in Singapore (2022)

Image
Yes yes, I know there are so many articles and posts now recommending you places to go fishing in Singapore. However, when you go read them, most of them are just fairly descriptive and is probably adapted from somewhere else. No personal snippets, no personal tips and are just plain click bait-ish. So, I thought why not just write about recommended fishing charters that I have personally went on before. That makes things a little more personal and it’s these nuggets that really do help people make decisions. Below recommended fishing charters/boatman in Singapore are not ranked by order of preference but alphabetical. Abang (Southern Islands Area) Abang is one of the most experienced and cheerful skippers operating in southern Singapore. He specialises in night fishing for golden snappers. If you want to try night fishing in Singapore, you have a pretty good chance with him. Optimal for 4 pax. Departs from Republic of Singapore Yacht Club. Fishing styles: Bottom fishing fo
Read more

Five ways to cook and enjoy your golden snapper (ang cho)

Image
Most of know the golden snapper (also known as ang cho, jenahak) and this fish is exceptionally good eating but also offers a great fight on rod and reel. Over the years, golden snappers have been targeted using more novel fishing methods like slow fall jigging or light jigging. That said, the traditional way to fish them (at least in Singapore) would still be at night using squid bait or mantis prawns . Here’s a handy list on how to cook these wonderful eating fish. Remember that if you can bleed the fish or eat the fish on the same day (without freezing), the quality of the meat would be much better. This fish also doesn’t suffer from meat stiffness or the “lor kor” effect. For bigger fish, you can slice steak cuts of the fish for steaming or frying. 1. Steamed fish Steaming the golden snapper is one of most recommended ways to enjoy it. You can choose from many different ways of steaming (Hong Kong style, Teochew style, Assam steam) as the fish is quite versatile. My favou
Read more

Fishing at D'Best Fishing (also known as Pasir Ris Main Pond or PRMP) with Rubber Lures (Luring)

Image
Black Proberos soft rubber. Maybe I should buy in bulk, rebrand it and sell at 4x the cost. Maybe I'll call it sticky lake rubber. @baktao Went for a short trip at D'Best Pasir Ris Main fishing pond. #fishing #sgfishin #luring #singapore ♬ Oh no, oh no, oh no, no no - Hip Hop 15 years ago, fishing here was free I was 15 years old when I first fished at Pasir Ris Fishing Pond (back then it was just called as such) at Pasir Ris Town Park. I went there with a few of my secondary school friends and we caught dozens of huge tilapia. It was when there was no operator at the pond and you could simply fish for free. There were also a few pieces of the odd leftover fish and I remember catching a mangrove jack on bread. Introduction to D'Best Fishing Now after years of being run by different fishing pond operators, the pond now goes by the name of D'Best Fishing by D'Best Recreation. Old timers to the pond just simply remember it as Pasir Ris Main Pond (PRMP) for t
Read more

Fishing at Barelang Fishing Pond (with trip itinerary and tips), Batam

Image
It's never easy for angler-couples with kids to go fishing. You bring the kid along, it doesn't really feel like quality fishing together. You leave the kid at home, you're basically confined to one day trips which can only mean fishing in Singapore. But... there's Batam too! At the now very famous Barelang Fishing Pond. It's a fairly inexpensive fishing venue, surrounded with nice restaurants, massage parlours, shopping malls and you bring rupiah. It's definitely easy to arrange too. I detail below three steps on how to arrange an affordable one day trip to Barelang Fishing Pond. 1. Pre-book a trusted driver with car for your one day trip There are many operators and drivers around. Just search around in Facebook and you'll find plenty. It is always a good idea to pre-book one as you'll be assured you have transport on that day! My driver was Aan +6281268187673 and he has WhatsApp. The fee to book Aan is $60 per day. Note that there are cheaper o
Read more

Bad Tanjung Pinang Elly Kelong Trip

Image
Excitement lasted for the whole morning. Instead of working, I am on msn with momok and sms with TT & the rest. Finally, our wishes came true. Elly can take us for a 3 days 2 nights trip instead of the original 2 days 1 night trip. Faster forward to 20-Aug-2008, I met TT & Sticko at Beach Road for tea drinking session and to collect my reels from Sticko. Sticko was helping me service my reel. 9pm we all set off for home, to do last min packing for the TP trip that is happeneing the next day. 21-Aug-2008, everyone arrived by 730am at TMFT except Momok and his brother. Reason -they forgot something. By 8am, we have gotten our ticket and preparing to check in the ice boxes and luggages. "Falcon 3 to Tanjong Pinang ready for boarding at Berth 3." announced the system. And we happily boarded the ferry, not knowing what is prepared at TP for us. Non of us were prepared for that to happen. Momok checking the ice boxes and rod tubes. We didn't really enjoyed the
Read more