The Lateral Line

The boys check the forecast to see some spectacular weather predicted over the coming days. An off shore fishing and camping adventure is planned. A beautiful island group is the destination and brother from another mother Andrei and his son Luke are getting in on this over night fishing mission. The forecast was bang on and the fishing was just as good. The usual suspects were hooked and landed, Snapper, King Fish, Trevally and a Pig fish makes a small cameo appearance. There was a little bit of drama at the end…. but, nothing a helpful man driving a huge digger couldn’t sort out. Chur chur Kerepehi Transport.

The month of December is an awesome time of year to go fishing in New Zealand’s beautiful harbours. But, Nato has been wanting to cast lures along the wild west coast of New Zealand for years and the weather is finally going to allow that to happen. The boys are fishing in the harbour on day one. All going to plan? day 2 the boys will be leaving the shelter of the harbour and attacking the mighty West Coast. As always it’s all about trying to have as much fun as possible and catching some thing to eat.

The very first fishing mission for 2022 is gonna be a land based fishing mission on New Zealand’s Wild West coast. Milan has some very good family friends that have farmed a beautiful piece of coast line for generations. Milan is lucky enough to have permission to enjoy this amazingly beautiful slice of paradise. Brother Toby is tagging along for this one and as always the boys have there sights set on catching something to eat. It’s been 6 weeks since the boys have had fresh fish to eat and as always that is the main goal but, Milan ends up landing the biggest Snapper he has ever caught in his life after it eats a bait off the surface right before his very eyes.

The boys have been invited to go land based fishing on the east coast of New Zealand by Hamish from NaCL Lures. The boys done a very similar trip with Hamish last year and it was good fun and some beautiful fish were landed. Hamish believe’s February to be a great time of year to be on the rocks targeting big King Fish. Which suits Milan perfectly. Nato really enjoys trying to capture beautiful scenery in amongst the fishing and this is a great place to do just that. As always a good feed of fresh fish is on the hit list and everyone involved is hopeful that the mighty Green Machine makes an appearance.

This time is gonna be a little bit different. This time, The boys are have a crack at Marlin fishing with Luke on board Evo. Evo being a 7.5 meter Marco boat that was custom designed and built to target Marlin. An over night mission is planned. The weather isn’t the best and Milan ends up getting sea sick on the first day and the trip gets cut short by some less then desirable weather on day 2. Snapper for dinner as per normal and luke managed to catch a nice king fish before the weather packed in. It was a good first outing on board Evo and Luke is happy as to take the boys again when the weather plays ball and the Marlin are out in force.

The boys are off on there first Fishing and camping mission on board Sojourn for 2022. The boys are again spending a few days in, on and around there favourite island group. Milan is doing what Milan does and what he loves most, that being swimming big live baits on the weed lines close to shore. Hopefully a big hungry king fish has chosen the same weed lines to hunt down breakfast. There will be a big berley trail or 5. Nato is hoping for a feed of freshly caught fish and some down time to get off the boat and film time lapses. When it was all said, done, filmed and edited, it was good clean fun.

Nato has his fly rod rigged and ready before the boat even hits the water. The first half of the day will be spent trying to get a fish to eat a fly. After that the boys are heading wide to some deep water pins to drop big live baits 100 meters plus down on one of Nato’s crazy deep water rigs. The boys are intercepted by schools of skip jack tuna on the way out to the deep pins, the plan changed instantly and the boys are live baiting a skip jack tuna hoping a Marlin eats it. Milan is on dinner as per normal and fish Tacos are on the menu. Day 2, see’s the boys back to the original plan of deep water live baiting for something massive, before again attempting to hook a Marlin on the way home.

Milan for years has talked about investing some time into trying to catch snapper in a harbour. That time to be invested by waiting until there is a perfect weather forecast and going as far up the back of a harbour at dead low tide as you could possible go and just see what we can find. The perfect out come would be to find something amazingly “fishy” and then coming up with a plan to fish that area. The boys executed the plan well but bump into a school of snapper and Trevally randomly and end up spending the afternoon trying to catch them on a fly. The boys have only ever been lucky enough to see fish schooling like this in the shallows a handful of times over the years. Transcript

Huge School of Snapper in 1 Meter of Water!

The last 2 times the boys have been fishing the camera man has done most of the fishing, so on this fishing mission It’s Milan’s turn to fish and Nato is stuck behind the phone filming. Milan of course is super keen to hunt shallow water King Fish in his favourite fishing spot. The last few fishing missions the boys have done in the area no king fish have been landed, but This time the fish are biting and Milan is on form.

The last time the boys went fishing Milan managed to land a solid kingfish in his old stomping ground. Milan hadn’t landed a king fish in that area for over a year. Milan had a blast and was super keen to go back and have another go and see if he could do it again. Nato agreed, but, only if Milan fished in spots the boys had never fished before. There is a small group of islands in the area that the boys have “over looked” in the years gone by. Milan studied a chart and has a few points picked out that have all the ingredients needed to produce big king fish. Can he do it again?

The boys had big plans to land base fish a spot that they have wanted to fish for years but never have. The weather forecast completely destroyed those plans and the boys run for cover. The area where the boys are headed gives North, West and East coast land based fishing options. It won’t matter which way the weather comes from there will be some where to hide. The boys will make the most of what is available and there will be fish to eat for sure.

last time on The Lateral Line the boys went on a land based fishing mission and on the last day they had a big beautiful King Fish at there feet that would not eat. This time around the boys are faced with a Tragic forecast and decide it’s best to go give land based fishing another crack and see if they couldn’t land a monster King Fish. The weather forecast was correct and the boys get hammered with rain making filming the adventure a struggle for the camera man. On the last morning the boys get a break in the weather and a big King Fish eats a lure right at the boys feet.

The boys go fishing twice a month and the last 2 times the boys have been fishing they have been landbased fishing because of tragic weather forecasts. That means the boys haven’t been fishing on the boat for 6 weeks. The boys also have a good weather forecast ahead of them for a change. After seeing big king fish from the rocks during the last 2 fishing missions the boys decide to try there luck at fishing the landbased spots again but this time doing so in the boat. Milan again struggle’s to catch a king fish so the boys decide to try something different. On the last morning of a 3 day long camping and fishing mission the boys put squid at the top of the hit list. Targeting squid is something Nato use to do a lot but hasn’t done for years. Will squid be on the menu…….

The Spring season is just around the corner and The spring season is the best time of year to be fishing top water lures for king fish. Milan is flat out building his house at the moment and can’t get away for the usual 3 day fishing mission. This time around the boys are just out for the day to test the waters. Builder brother Andrei is up for a fishing mission and is onboard for the day. It wouldn’t be fair fishing while Andrei was left working. Nato thought it would be a little bit early in the year for top water fishing? but he was happy as to be proven wrong when Milan hooked into a jumbo……..

Luke is the proud owner of the boat Evo, which Nato calls “The Marlin Machine”. Luke watched the last episode of The Lateral Line where the boys were top water fishing out wide for the first time for the 2022 spring top water fishing season. Milan hooked into a couple of solid king fish and got railed by a jumbo. After seeing that, Luke was super keen to head out wide and have a go top water fishing for a good Kingfish on his boat. The boys plan to camp on board Evo for a night making it a 2 day long fishing mission. Wild Venison and Bacon are packed into the chilly bin in case there is no tablefish caught.

The boys only have a day to go fishing this time around as the weather forecast has been full of rain, rain and more rain, Milan has been on kid duty more the normal and there has been lots happening on the building site also. The boys are staying close to home and even closer to the boat ramp on this one. The boys will be super happy just to take some fresh fish home to eat.

Nato manages to drag Milan away from building his house to go fishing for a day. The boys head to one of their favourite fishing locations and camp the night on the boat. The plan is to be ready to go fishing at first light the following day. Catch a few snappers to take home, then get live baits and be anchored up at high tide ready to live bait the outgoing tide, the target being big kingfish. At the end of the day, fish are put in the chilly bin to take home and the boys get a visit from some big hungry kingfish. Live baits are eaten off the surface right behind the boat and Milan lands a big kingy, happy days!

Recently life has been getting in the way of fishing, but, they're back and reeling in the action! While the boys usually drop an episode on the 15th and 30th of each month, they had to skip a round due to Milan's house construction hustle. This time they're casting off close to home with a promising weather forecast. Plus, there's a twist in the tale - those elusive kingfish lurking around the marker buoys, putting the boy's fishing skills to the test. They love a good challenge!

A few weeks back while fishing Milan had an opportunity to set a hook in a huge yellowtail kingfish. The kingfish smashed 2 live baits off the surface in spectacular fashion, however, Milan didn’t hook the fish! Ever since that day Milan has kept a constant eye on the weather trying to find a day with similar conditions - same tides, same time of the day, and using the same live bait. Then the plan was to head back to the same spot in the hopes to see that same big kingfish again and have another crack at landing him.

The boys are driving Sojourn for an hour up the coast to some amazing fishing grounds, where they’ve heard big yellowtail kingfish are in the vicinity after talking to a keen land-based fisherman called Ricky. Ricky said he’d landed some solid kingfish off the rocks the day before. The boys are in for some big kingfish action!

November & December are one of the best times of year to chase yellowtail kingfish in New Zealand. The boys had planned to do as much fishing as the weather would allow over November and December. However, there was very little fishing done as the weather was less than ideal. On this trip due to a bad forecast, the boys chose to leave Sojourn at home to brave the elements to fish from the rocks. Everything happens for a reason and the decision to fish land-based leads the boys to the best day they have ever had land-based fishing in NZ. Big packs of hungry yellowtail kingfish turn up and try to eat everything