This time of year Stevo and I like to start targeting carrots off Muriwai on the kontiki. Still being in the month of June I knew there would also still be good numbers of snaps for the taking as well, but we were there more for those tasty little morsels. Come late July/August is when we mainly head up for the carrots as they take over in good numbers. With a good looking weekend swell and weather wise out here on the west coast, it was time for a meet up with Stevo for a day out on the coast setting the kontiki. The great thing with the snaps still in residence I knew Stevo would get to take home a good bin of reds and carrots - it's a long way for him coming from Tauranga but I told him it would be well worth it fish wise.
We meet up in Kumeu around 7.30am then made our way out to the coast, the tides weren't great for us surfcasting wise as the low was around then - this is when I love to surfcast Muriwai so today was all about the kontiki. I did have my surfcaster with me, but this was for catching our favorite kontiki bait - fresh kahawai. Stevo did have a few frozen fillets that would get us started on our first set then it was up to me to catch a couple kahawai for our second. Knowing this time of year we would probably only need to do 2 sets if that, sometimes it's all over in the first set. What we do on our first set is a short run and short soak time to see if the gurnard are there. If we get a couple we normally short our run time once more with a little longer soak.
With the tide on the rise we made our way up the beach, we like to go at least 15k's up before we start to look for a spot, most times our spots are chosen for our surfcasting involved but with us just there for a kontiki sesh once we found a decent spot we parked up and set up for over the high tide. With Stevo already having a couple kahawai fillets we just concentrated on get the tiki set up and on the soak, once done I would then gear up the surfcaster and try for some fresh bait for our second set if needed. We unpacked the tiki, baited up and dropped her in. After about 15 mins and all hooks on I left Stevo to finish it up and on the soak. It was an 18min run and it was going to be about a 20-30min soak for the first one.
I set up the soul surf with a double flasher with the mutsu suicide hooks so I could leave it to do it's thing and catch us some fresh kahawai for our next set. After 10mins I looked over to see the soul surf buckled over and we had our fresh bait on the sand after a few mins. I was fishing into a little hole but knew it was probably only going to be kahawai for me on this trip. A few more mins later Stevo had cranked up the tiki and our first set was on it's way in. Our first couple hooks had nothing but from then on we had a fish every 2-3 hooks and even 2-3fish in a row. We ended up with about 8-9 snaps, 3 carrots and a kahawai - which would help us out with our second set.
With Stevo up all the way from Tauranga and staying at his Bro's for the night he was keen on a bit of fish for the bro and to take home so a second set was on the cards. This time we set the kontiki on just a 10min run to sit just on the outside of the breakers in hope for a few more carrots - we also dropped back on a few hooks so as not to catch to much more fish. We were hopping for just 3-4 more snaps and 5-6 more carrots which would make for a top day. We set up the second set and after on the soak for about 15mins we had here cranked back up and on it's way back in. Our second set was just about what we asked for with 4 snaps and 6 carrots to add to the bin. Stevo was going home with a good mixed bin of snaps and carrots. All up we ended with about 12 snaps and 9 carrots. It had been a magic day and once again Muriwai produced the goods for us.
Lets hope Muriwai stays excess able for us all for a long time and we really need to look after this magical place.
Tight lines