Hi all,
I thought I would relay a few of my fishing stories on this wet weekend. I can't go fishing, so I might as well put pen to paper.
I have been fishing with Kontikis all my life. Started off with my Dad when I was a youngster.
I remember as a young teenager driving along Muriwai Beach when we saw something in the shallows, and he suddenly stopped the car and went rushing to the water's edge. He ended up giving mouth-to-mouth to a man and saving his life. It turns out it was a priest who still had his collar on. My dad died young, at 50, so it didn’t do him much good. Such is life.
In those days, we used to blow up a plastic bag and wait for Easterly winds to take the bag out. I haven’t seen it since, but on one occasion we pulled in a full line of snapper (about 20 to 25), and every one was completely bitten in half. I thought sharks were worse now, but maybe not.
After those early years, I progressed to kites, which were quite good but once again had to always have an offshore wind. Then onto torpedoes, which were also very good, but as I got older, the big Predator seemed to get heavier, particularly when I had to retrieve it a kilometer up the beach, which happened quite regularly. So when I semi-retired 6–7 years ago, I decided to look at drones, and after a lot of research, I decided on the AeroKontiki, and as they say, the rest is history.
My experiences with the AK have been nothing but pleasurable ever since. To this day, I still get a huge thrill out of seeing the AK fly out with hooks dangling, and quite often I will think back to those early days of the plastic bags and think how far we’ve come and wonder how we will be fishing 20 years from now.
I have had a few memorable experiences while fishing with the AK.
Here are a few:
a) I once caught a horse off Orewa Beach. It was during COVID, and this woman rode her horse over all my hooks as they were laid ready for takeoff. The hook section got tangled in its rear legs, and he reared up and tried to throw her. Luckily, the horse managed to free itself, which was indeed fortunate, as there was no way he was going to let anybody get near those rear hooves to untangle a fishing line.
I didn’t consider it my fault as I had flags up warning of activity on the beach, but my ears are still ringing from the Verbal abuse I received from her. She was very upset, but to be fair, it could have been very dangerous, so I have to take some responsibility.
b) I was retrieving my line on Muriwai with a winch on the back of my truck and thought I was reasonably close to the water's edge. Flags up and all. I had my back to the beach as I was controlling the winch, and a vehicle drove straight through my line. I yelled out, and the vehicle stopped 50 meters further up. A young girl was driving and was very apologetic; she said she didn’t realize people fished on the beach. Go figure?
c) On another occasion, I was on Kariotahi, and a car rolled completely and landed back on its wheels right beside where I was fishing. Very dangerous as kids were playing nearby. He kicked out the front window and drove off. There are some Idiots around, and a lot of them seem to be attracted to the beach. So be careful.
New developments:
a) As Max said in his website post, I have been experimenting with grapples and anchors for a number of years now, and strong drifts are now not a major problem, so that is a plus.
b) Flounder netting. I experimented for a little bit with taking out a 40-meter flounder net, but found the Beast not quite big enough to take it out consistently. I got it out a couple of times, but that was all. Kyle thinks we should try bigger props on the beast at minimum, which would help, but ultimately, I think the Max Beast is probably the answer. I will look at this again at the next upgrade.
c) Lures: I have recently purchased four Lures from China and have another four on the way. Some are battery-operated, some are not.
The challenge: I am looking to add a different dimension to the retrieval process and am looking for a lure that I can attach to the end of the hook section that floats about a meter below the surface and will wiggle and jiggle on the retrieval to attract a Kingfish or Tuna. Dare I say it, even a Marlin could be quite fun? It's been done before, but not with a lure. I think the Marlin went for a small KY, got itself wrapped up in the hook section, and was pulled in off Bayleys Beach in Dargaville.
The challenge is that Lures normally only work at 7 to 8 Kilometers an hour, and we pull our lines in at 3 kmh, which is why we need the right lure, the right color, and the right movements to attract the big fish at slower speeds. Watch this space.
Cheers and tight lines!
Les Viskovich
Kyle's response
Thank you, Les. We like your idea of adding the lure at the end of the hook section. Hey, since the line is out, use it in all the ways possible. And the group is keen to see you catch the founder using the AK to carry out the net. Just tell us what you need to make that happen. Looking forward to it. :) .
Many thanks and happy fishing!
Kyle
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