Serious fun with the Kaitaia jetset

Craig Harrison brings the Jet Runner in to the beach to load quad bikes.

'This jet unit squirts out 20,000 litres of water a minute," said Craig Harrison as he turned the jet boat in the Awanui River, near Kaitaia. It is a serious jet on a serious boat.

"I wanted a boat that can operate in really shallow water. So I got the plans for a landing craft from the States and got a naval architect to design it." The result is an aluminium craft he built with a flat bottom and a hydraulic ramp in the front for loading vehicles.

As you meander down the river flocks of ducks and sea birds like pied stilts take to the air, and, as Harrison explains the history of a former dairy factory now in disrepair, a line of white dots along the tops of nearby trees materialise into large birds. They look like herons but are actually royal spoonbills: a rare wading bird that colonised this country from Australia in the late 19th century.

"I set a net this morning to see if we can get some fresh bait," said Harrison as he pulled alongside the bobbing floats. The river runs into the vast, shallow Rangaanu Harbour, which must be one of the best-kept secrets in the country. The harbour is rich in kingfish, flounder, sharks, piper, sprats, parore and rays. And snapper. A lot of snapper. The net yielded a fish box of fat, silver mullet and a few other fish like herrings and parore. Some mullet would be converted into bait, and others were destined for the smokehouse, for the local fishermen in the far north prefer smoked mullet to any other fish.

Once in the harbour, Harrison pushed the throttle forward and the jet unit roared as the Jet Runner lifted out of the water and raced across the shallows.

The next stop was at Rangiputa, a lovely holiday settlement by the harbour entrance. A quad bike and a Polaris were driven up the ramp for the short journey across to the other side where the ramp dropped on to the sand and the vehicles were unloaded and packed with mullet and the GT Kontiki for a run up East Beach. With not a soul in sight and no houses on the horizon, it is like going back in time to a time when the bright white sand concealed tuatua and crabs, and scallops were still washed up on the beach after storms at sea. The kontiki was sent out, but the engine was a bit quick for the crew hooking on the baited traces and only 18 of the 25 traces were pulled out into the water which was so clear it looked like air. It is mid April, a prime time for finding snapper all along the Northland coast and this is one of the best sections of that coast. So when the winch started pulling in the heavy line it groaned under the weight. "It's either loaded with seaweed, or fish," predicted Lionel Korach, who had organised the expedition through his Memorymakers fishing tour business. It was fish: seventeen of the hooks carried snapper, beautiful silver and pink fish from the sand, bright as a newly minted coin.

The next stop was a shallow bank up the harbour where Harrison dropped the anchor in a metre of water, and set up a clay target thrower on the ramp. Raising and lowering the ramp allowed the targets to be thrown at different angles, and the competition heated up.

Then, as the tide started the flow, Korach set berley bags on each corner and baits were cast out. This is one of the most rewarding ways to fish for snapper. Light spin rods with 4kg monofilament line and unweighted baits are used, and when a snapper bites it must be allowed to pull line from the reel with no resistance as it mouths the bait and swims away. Observation of snapper in tanks shows how they will swim around with food held in their mouths before eating it, and canny fishermen know that if they resist the urge to strike at the first nibble they will hook more fish. And when hooked the snapper can run in only one direction in such shallow water, so the fight is magnified.

As the sun dropped into the mangroves, the bites were swift and savage and only the occasional fat fish of 2kg was kept for the table. The rest were carefully released back into the green water.

Freshwater
Lake Rotoiti anglers can now get out on Ruato Bay after Fish and Game changed the regulation which had previously prohibited fishing from a boat in the bay during the trout spawning season. Boat fishing is permitted in the bay, but if within 200m of the stream mouths the boat must be anchored; and it is restricted to fly fishing only after April 1.

Bite times
Bite times are 5.30am and 6pm tomorrow, and 6.20am and 6.45pm on Sunday.

Tip of the week
When baiting traces for a torpedo long-line on the beach, a handful of sand over each bait will deter seagulls. Tracers can be clipped on to the backbone in advance and the line carefully laid out in zig-zag fashion on the beach.

More fishing action can be found on Rheem Outdoors with Geoff, 6.30am Saturday, TV3, and at GTTackle.co.nz.