A day in my dinghy

My first trip out in my dinghy for 2017, a 9am start for 1-30 pm high tide, this early, a bit muddy on the chanel edge. First off I tried a 4m hole in "ships chanel" so called as that was the way the sailing ships were towed in by longboat in the early days of kauri timber exports. from Helensville in the mid 1800s, but a major storm late in the century carved a new channel through the mangroves, now the old channel is a dead end.



First off a feisty small hammerhead shark, not much happening so back to a known 6m hole in the sand/mud banks, plenty of snapper, mostly under the 27cm size limit, though the odd 30cm one.




Then a great scrap from this eagle ray




followed by one of 2 small bronze whaler sharks. By 2pm all had gone quiet.


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Then a fat kahawai



Then one of the 5 snapper I kept.
By 2pm all had gone quiet, so home time, a very hot day, with no breeze to cool theis poor old fisherman down.
I will enter these in the species hunt soon.

Well done some nice pictures. Some different fish there.

Wow a Hammerhead Shark must be a first on here not to mention the others

That's certainly a different days fishing some nice fish there well done fella

great pics and an interesting post

Some nice fish, would love to catch a hammerhead

Great to see you've entered the species hunt too Rhod!

That`s a bit different from the usual reports, oh how you must miss blanking in the rain at Splash Point Rhod.

Yes Terry, an experience I dwell on when I get too confident. Though I would do it again!

The harbour is a nurturing area for many sharks and other fish, I have never seen a large hammerhead in the harbour, but there are plenty of about that size.
The bronze whalers and tope pup in the warm waters of the harbour, and up the kaipara river you can catch loads of 12 inch tope, the big ones are a pain, during the summer you can lose a lot of terminal gear when after proper fish. The only large hammer head I have seen was on the east coast, a head about 15 inches across washed up.

Well done rhod super report

Some great pics Rhod,the weather sounds great.
So what's your Dinghy like,what motor have you got on it ?
Have you set it up for a particular purpose,or is it general purpose ?
From what you posted previously the bar sounds tricky,will your dinghy handle it ?

The dinghy is a 13ft Fyran aluminium open boat, with a 25 HP Mariner outboard, (there is a sticker on the front of the cuddy , maximum HP 15) but it was bought and set up this way when new in 1995. I bought it 2 years ago to replace a 12 footer. It was tiller steer but I have fitted remotes but not hydraulics.
I don't tend to go too far, as with strong currents a breeze can make for a choppy sea in the channels. I do not go near the entrance, as that is about 25 miles from the nearest ramp. We are mostly after snapper in the summer, but winter is mostly kahawai and what we call red gurnard, more like your tub gurnard.
I only use the boat for fishing, i think it only saw the water twice last year, I am hoping for more this year.
Thanks all for your interest, next time some better photos I cannot do the selfie shots you lot do as my arm is too short for the size of fish we get here, skite skite!!

Sounds like a nice little set up Rhod.
I've got a 14ft f/glass open boat with no cuddy,it's got a nice planing hull.
I've not had it on the sea yet,it's got a 18hp evinrude on it.
I'm toying with the idea of putting a 30hp yamaha on it.
I took it on the weaver last autumn and it wouldn't plane,I think the prop was too big.
I've put a smaller pitch,smaller dia prop on it because I think the engine wasn't reaching it;s full revs,I've not tried it yet.It's the first boat I have owned,and I'm 71.
I have always been out on mates boats in the past,we used to camp and take the boats.
Benlech was our favorite haunt for camping.
At my age,and with a broken foot that they can't do anything with,I was cramping their style.
So I decided to get my own boat.
I'm hoping to launch at Rhyl or Prestatyn next summer.
What do you reckon on the 30hp yamaha idea?

Great report Rhod.

Nice to see something different from pin Whiting at this time of year!

Sorry for the delay Valvebounce, I do not know much about glass boats except they are heavier than alloy ones, so if 18 was not enough, you will have to up the horsepower. Probably your best idea would be contact the boat builder or a marine boat trader for recomendations, they should also know what prop would be best for your circumstances

Hi Rhod,no probs,I might trundle the boat down to the guy that has the dry dock and marina locally,it's on the canal and he mainly does barges and boat storage.He's a good engineer
and boat builder,he does outboards etc.