After a nice weather gap formed off the west coast, Makara was the go.

A crisp 5am launch in low single digits—it was a good frost.
The paddle out was magic, as usual.
Fog was being sucked out of the gully and rolling across the water—3 degrees in the air versus 15 degrees in the water.

As we paddled south, it was strange—just barry after barry, apart from the smallest snapper.
But as the sun came out, the barrys disappeared and the fish came on.

My mate got a nice snapper, and the kahawai were thick and big. My son already had some from the weekend, so they went back.

With wind versus tide not playing ball, we headed north to a cod spot I know—25m to 70m depth.

As we drifted down the ledge, I deployed the jig cam.
We started hauling in cod in the early 30s. After releasing a few, the larger ones came in. Reviewing the jig cam footage later, there were some nice 40 to 50cm+ ones down there.

I hooked a nice cod at 38cm, which was welcome to come home. As I was dispatching it, I had the jig bouncing around below—and it went off. On the new Catch Double Trouble 30g jig, I landed a stonker at 52cm.

Later, drifting the deeper shelves, the jig got hit. It went slack, and I thought it was a bucket mouth (aka scarpy), but then it started swimming in circles. I instantly knew what it was—my tasty friend JD (John Dory). I paddled back over the reef and saw what looked like more on the sounder. Slowly working the jig—sure enough—hooked another JD, and a good-sized one too.

All in all, it was a great day and a good paddle with the guys.
Four solid cod between 38 and 52cm, and two JDs.
To top it off, one of the locals pulled up for a chat—and offered me some crayfish.

#catchlegends
#theoceanismychurch