The winter waters are delivering the goods, with the colder currents and chilly mornings making for some exciting catches. A typical day out on the Storm Petrel involves alternating between diving and fishing, then a break for lunch.

We launched early at Mana and headed south to our dive spot. The divers enjoyed the clear blue water and collected some winter bucks.

I drifted over a reef, catching only parrot fish and Jock Stewarts. I was using a 7" Catch Livie Power Pilchard with a 56-gram Harrier head and an assist hook (since 90% of the hookups are on the tail), paired with 12lb Tasline PE1 on the IRT300RT reel and a Kensai spin slow pitch rod.

As I drifted in 60m, I noticed a slight rise on the bottom. Working the soft bait with the cod twitch, it suddenly went slack on the fall, and I knew I had one. Bang—hook in! As I started to retrieve, I had to back off the drag since I was fishing PE1. When I saw it coming up the water column, I could tell it was a big blue cod. I got really excited and scrambled to find the net, which was still in the hold—always better to set up for the fight beforehand, e.g., net out, GoPro up and recording.

I opted to leader land, which haunts me as I had snapped the line on another huge cod last time I did this. Luckily, I landed it and let out a shout of joy, relieved that it was safe and well within legal size.

As I continued fishing, catching more cod, I decided to measure a few and realised I was throwing back legal ones because they looked so small compared to the big cod. When the divers returned, they had a heap of crays and kina, and during the second dive, more blue cod were caught.

All in all, it was a good day in and on the water.

Tight lines everyone,

Jason Grimmett
#letthefishbethejudge