Fishing at this very spot a couple 
of years ago, I was spooled by a 
massive shark that I simply couldn’t 
stop, and it headed out to sea 
against the incoming tide after I 
walked nearly a kilometre down the 
beach trying to get my line back!
After spooling up the Tica reel with 
the Hyperglide, while glancing up 
and checking my other rod sitting 
in the holder often, I then tied on 
my go to ledger rig with KLT 6/0 
hook and 4oz breakout sinker.  I 
then tied on another different bait 
which I have never used before 
but thought might work well and 
will discuss more on this later.
SLOW BITE
Walking down to the water to 
cast out with the freshly spooled 
Hyperglide, Brian indicated he 
had only had a small touch on 
this kahawai bait, and my line also 
hadn’t received any interest.  I 
dipped the toes in the cold water 
and swung the rod for a big cast as 
the line ripped off the spool, while 
my sinker and bait sailed out into 
deep water about 80-90m out.
The cast felt good and I wound up 
to keep the line taunt and hold the 
rod to feel for any bites, you just can’t 
beat braid for this and can feel the 
smallest of touches by fish and is why 
I spool all my surfcast reels with braid.
We both couldn’t believe the amazing 
conditions, with the warm late arvo 
sun on our backs as the low tide was 
nearing but we only got a few small 
nibbles and after nearly an hour of 
fishing, rebaiting, recasting and not 
catching anything, we wondered 
if it was going to be a dud day?
I had rebaited my other rod that 
I had left sitting in the holder and 
recast, checked the drag and left it 
again, then wandered back to the ute 
to get some food. Just as I reached 
the Tasman and looked back, I saw 
the rod get a big hit and bend over!
The Tica surf reel respooled with new 
Black Magic 30lb Hyperglide 13x braid.
The 2.5kg fish was well hooked 
on the KLT 6/0 hook.
Feature
12  FISHING IN GODZONE MAGAZINE

View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.