After the mayhem and the hi-5ing had stopped, we then recommenced the fishing. I was too buggered to jig so I threw a popper around on 12lb braid into a massive bust up of big Kings. Landed the popper right on a boil and within a few seconds I was hooked up after a massive take and Carl was backing up hard trying to get back some 80m of line that I already had lost. The King went straight back to the bottom, but palming the spool slowed him and we patiently worked this fish back up top. Finally saw colour after a solid 20-25 minutes and we nailed him. An 19kg+ King on 12lb gear and a popper plus we got to see the bite is such an awesome capture. We were all absolutely stoked!
This is the difference between a 19kg fish and a 36kg fish.
Day 4 (15th October 2010) - Expectations were high after starting off so well on Wednesday. Out we went in search of more fish that could punish us. We were all a little tender, but the jigging actually got easier the longer and harder we went. I guess the only way to prepare yourself for jigging, is to actually jig!
We started well with Rob picking up fish on the first few drops, then Bash got stretched by another good fish, then I followed up with another. We were on a real roll during the most of day 2, with action that was very reminiscent of day 1, with one of us hooked up at most times, sometimes two of us and during some crazy times, all three of us! Surface eruptions were the norm and Bash's cast of a popper into the school to have it engulfed 10ft from the boat was something we will all never forget! I wish I had gotten that on camera, it was special!
We played with soft plastics as well as the poppers, and there was the odd bust up as well to keep us entertained.
The real highlight of the day was when Bash was up to his old tricks and decided to hook another BIG King. To cut a long story short, Bash did the hard yards, got him to the boat when the hooks just popped out (all of the bigger fish were generally quite lightly hooked), Carl being the die hard fisho he is, dived in after the fish after it was sitting there almost taunting us at boat side a little confused about the whole ordeal. Diving in after a stray king and trying to bear hug it was dedication and commitment if I've ever seen it! A shame to not be able to get pics, but we were stoked to nail a second fish over 30kg.
On the way back home, we managed to kick Carl off the boat and force him to go for a dive in order to get us a few Crays. He came back up with a few after all of five minutes underwater (it actually took him longer to suit up than it did to secure the catch) and we coaxed him into cooking us a feed for the night. Fresh Kingfish fillets, Crayfish and Sashimi was to die for. Words cannot explain how awesome this meal was! Worth coming to NZ for alone.
After dinner, we laid out stuffed and all looked forward to day 3 on the water.
Day 5 (16th October 2010) - Woke up still stuffed from last nights dinner, but we had an early start teed up with Carl and off we went over the bar by 6:00am. We were again expecting another cracker day, but we would now have to contend with boat traffic due to the word getting out through local radio and the game club
