Tough Weekend Fishing

Once again the double figures got away. There are some big fish which has been lost, but with this kind of determination I am sure we will reach double figures before the end of the year. One thing is for certain, these carp are very elusive, and only the smart angler with the most wit gets to catch them.

Let the foto of me and medium pacer be an example to you all, not only does it take teamwork to land the big ones, you also need determination, motivation, and a bloody warm afternoon.

........

Good Morning "Beginners Luck", Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to catch the heaviest bag of snapper over five gruelling days on the remote West Coast of Northland, New Zealand. You will be competing with some of the world's best surfcasters, in one of the toughest environments know to man.... And that's just inside the tent you will be sharing! Once you step into the domain of the West Coasters, you will need guts, (its likely that you will be dropping yours), you will need determination (the place is like a friggin maze, no gps even works there) and you will need the will to succeed, (you will be getting up at 4am most mornings). You will also have to outwit, (only one toilet in the camp), outplay (even a small fish is tough to land in 30 ft swells), outlast (there will be no women to wash your undies) to be the winner.

If you are found to be the weakest link, you will be voted of the island if you are a member from overseas, or just back to doldrums of the south if that's where you are from. There will be no time to phone a friend, and you only have a 50/50 chance of survival! Your skills will be tested, your arms will get tired, and your brain will get fried by some of the best brandy to ever get bottled on this planet! Catching these elusive fish over a period of five days, is not merely a competition, it is the progression of man into survivor, its the purification of your whole being (especially your bloodstream), but mostly it is the bonding of man and fishing rod. The deep sensation that every man feels but once a year. The moment when women and children disappear into the vast corners of the deepest mind, when all instincts return to its primitive nature which sees man as the hunter-gatherer that it was designed to be. No aftershave, no hairbrushes, and certainly no "liefie waar is my koffie"! No this is the stuff that dreams are made of. It is tough and only a select few will ever be good enough to compete, so count yourselves lucky "Beginners Luck". You have been selected..........

This message will self destruct.. No sorry, This message will shift down the blog as soon as someone else posts a new one.....

vote

Beginners Luck

My vote

Beginners Luck
Strayliners
Baitchatchers
Castaway
Catch me if you can

My selection

1. smoko time
2.Baitchachers
3.Strayliners
4.Beginners luck
5.Castaways

Vote now!

So we have 6 names that 50% or more of us liked:
Castaways
Beginners Luck
Smoko time
Baitcatchers
Strayliners
Catch me if you can

Voting works like this: Rank your preferred names from 1 to 5. 1 being the most preferred. This is me:

Beginners luck
Smoko time
Castaways
Baitcatchers
Catch me if you can.

Here are my 5 votes

Beginners Luck
Fin Finders
Hook em Hillbilies
Catch Me If You Can
Strayliners

Begginers Luck

Gaffers

Castaways

Smoko time

Strayliners

here they are.........

Baitcachers
strayliners
castaways
smoko time
Beginners luck

ST aka CarpKiller

Top Five countdown

Ok boys. The time has come. Please post you top five out of the names listed on the blog. To give everyone a fair shot at our name, I will wait as long as possible for everyone to post. Mine are as follows in no particular order:

Baitchatchers

Beginners Luck

Team Spotprize

Castaways (from me or Im gonna bash your head in!)

Catch me if you can!

The piggybank is smashed

I've wired my money to Just Another Medium Pacer and will go in overnight. If not there in the morning, let me know, 'cause then someone else got it!

Some more name suggestions:
The 3 fishers and the wannebe
Here fishy fishy!
Catch me if you can!
The naked fishermen

Cheers
Oupa se baard

tick tock.....

Ok boys, time is ticking, so get your submissions in!! Snapper Trapper dit come up with a valid point. As a team we may well want to fish other competitions, so names that limit us to snapper, or the 90 mile are probably not ideal.

The lazy fishos
Fin Finders
Smoko time
Any More Sinkers?
Biteless

Name game

Hook em Hillbilies
Strayliners
Baitchatchers
The fantastic four
The bigger the better
Somethin smells fishy
It was this big............
Fisholics

ST

Money

Ok I am buyng the tickets. My bank account number: 12-3171-0046971-00. The tag is $275. Paaling Scavenger het reeds betaal. I will buy these tickets on Friday evening. We have had several good team name suggestions. I will list the lot on Thursday, and telly the votes on Friday before our entry is made.

Fellow team members, first I would like to thank you all for the invitation to join you in this challenging event. I am honoured, and to show my appreciation I would welcome you to tap into my huge wealth of fishing knowledge. Unfortunately I left all my precious fishing gear to a friend in South Africa plus all my fishing trophies & photos. Luckily New Zealand give you the opportunity to start a fresh:-)

I am looking forward to the competition. I would appreciate it if you could by the ticket online - give me a call with you bank account and I'll transfer the money to you ("Just another medium pacer").

Some suggestions for our team name:

• The Huge Ninety Mile Snappers
• The Keen Mean Snapper Machine (KMSM)
  
• The Mad Fishermen
• The Elusive Snapper Trappers

This is in no particular order.

PS: I believe in beginners luck.

Greetings
Oupa se baard

Tickets.

Now that we have 4 members, we need to buy our event tickets. To be in the early bird category we need to be ticketed buy the 1st of December. I will buy our team ticket on Friday. To do this we all need to already have a individual ticket for the heaviest snapper competition. I can buy these for you, or you can do it yourself online.

To purchase any ticket, we will need to have a name for our team. Suggestions starts now!!! and then we can have a vote on Friday. Lets do it like this: We take submissions via the blog until Friday morning, at which point each of us will rank the names from 1-5 (1 being top) for our top ones we then take the top 5 ranked ones and rank them again from 1 - 5. The one with the least points wins.

I will start the suggestions. Keep in mind that we probably want an English name to avoid confusion.

Team Spotprize
Team Fish & Chips
The Springbok Snapper Snatchers
No-Wife-No-Life
Brandy n Coke

Keep it Going............

Kiwi's, Friends, countrymen lend me your eyes!

I don't have a lot to say today I let my rod do the talking.

Snappertrapper aka Carpkiller

Preperation under way.

Ek het met Oupa se baard gesels en hy is keen. Het vir hom n paar boeke gelos wat hy kan swat, en hengel gereedskap sodat hy so bietjie kan oefen as hy n kaansie kry.
Het met glen gereel vir sy katrol as Snapper Trapper dit vir hom kan terug vat AUS toe.
Ons gaan nog n champion fisherman van oupa se baard maak.
Dis al amper DEC en nog so baie om te doen.

Out of the blue!

We have a winner! Well it seems that our last member has been confirmed...... Drum roll! A warm hand of applause for "Oupa se baard" aka Tjaart Grove! We are yet to finalise the details, but as it stands I have been informed that Tjaart got the pass and is raring to go!

Boilies and how to make them

After a careful inspection of the photos recently posted on the Blog something has come to our attention. I am sharing this information with the Kiwi carp enthusiasts for the better of the carp species. We have found the recent batch of boilies that was used to catch the carp pictured was prepared incorectly. We would suggest next time you make a batch of boilies that you go easy on the damn orange colouring. Yes look at the poor fish now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Always here to help

ST

Member number four.

I have approached Luaan and he is very keen. Its a bit early to speculate if he will perform on the day, but in saying none of us as ever fished the 90 mile classic.
From what I can gather he enjoys fishing from the beach and is more than capable of bringing fish to the table for the team event.
It might take some coaching from our senior members to get him going, and to school him in the NZ way of fishing, but he is one to be reckoned with.
Also his birthday will occur during the classic, so there will be at least one night of cellabration.

I think at this stage is to make sure that we sort our gear out, because its a long way to go with the wrong gear. I think that buying the sinkers togther will save us money, the only problem is sorting out the payment.

We have also decided that the new platypus line range is the one that will work for us. Very thin diameter, Low abrasion and very low trech.

The other thing is to decide how much gear we are going to take with us. The phrase (the more the better) is out of the question. Medium pacer and myself will make a list and place it on the blog so that every one can vote.
We also have to remember that as much as we are there to enjoy it, we are also there to compete, so bring your happy smile, but know that we are there to work.

Koi virginity broken!

As promised, photos of the past weekend's excursion. At least two very decent fish did not make it to the bank, but the technique has been refined, a landing net has been arranged and the boilies are being made MUCH bigger!

What a wonderful experience! Ngaroto is a lovely lake, with fun for the whole family. These carp might look like the fishpond variety, but boy, they scrap much harder than most commons in well fished areas! These two both fell to the magic bunspice boilie.

I hope that this irrefutable proof will go a long way to silencing the critics across the ditch. NZ 1 Aus 0. (unless you can count a 4.5cm yellowbelly, but from my understanding they must be at least 35cm to e legal!)

Making progress.

Ok I now have our accommodation booked. It was less costly than what I first anticipated, we are however going to be staying about 20 minutes north of the competition base. The good news is that we will be sleeping 500m from the legendary Houhora wharf! I guess there will be a bit of "brandy and baitcatching at night"!

We are staying at Pukenui Holiday Park. The powered tent sites are costing us $13pp per night, in other words, $78 per person. I have paid the $100 deposit. Please note now that this place does not have eftpos, and we need a caravan plug to access the power grid. I will actually inform them that we will rent one of theirs @ $20 for the week. We will have to pay a $150 bond for it.

Ok now to the 4th team member status. Damo is at this stage trying to arrange his life in order to get a week long fishing pass. I think he has a 50/50 chance of going, not due to a lack of commitment, but more because of over commitment! (to fishing!) A request of interest has also been sent to Luan as the possible final member.

As far as gear is concerned, yours truly has found a great little sinker shop that sells break out sinkers at around $25 for 10 in your choice of weight. We can place an order together to keep the freight down if anyone is interested.

Accommodation

It seems that I have managed to track down some possible cheap accommodation. Powered tent sites at $16 per person per night. Thats around $96 for the six nights. Not too bad at all. If we then add say another $150 per person for food and drink, then it is just petrol and fishing stuff on top. So the calculation looks like this:

Comp - $275
Accom - $96
Food - $150
Petrol - $120 ( I have allowed for six tanks of my vehicle - This is for practical purposed only, and assuming we take one vehicle and a trailer.)
Total: $641 - This estimate is probably not too far off.

I guess the best way to make this easier is too start buying food now. I think that we will be best to try and make a list of what we will have every meal and then shop for that plus snacks.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have also had one member confirm that he will not be taking part. Oh Glen... What could have been! I promised you that we wont laugh at you shocking casts! Never mind. So we have to recruit a new member let me know your ideas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Purchase of tickets.

Ok This is how it works:

It costs $250 per person to enter into the heaviest Snapper contest.

It costs $100 to enter a team into the teams event. To enter into the teams event all the members (max 4) must be entered into the Heaviest snapper event. This price increases to $120 after the 31st of December.

So in effect it is $275 per person to enter into both the Heaviest Snapper, and team event for a team with 4 members. You cannot register for, or book tickets without paying. We can wait untill January before buying the tickets, but we will run the risk of missing out as previous years have sold out by early January.

As for other spending, this is going to cost a fair bit of money. We still need to book accomodation, buy food and drink, petrol etc. I will atempt to make a budget so we no what it will work out to. Whatch or for my next post.

Payment

So what do we do if we dont have the money right now to purchase the tickets before 31 December, but will have it before end of Jan? I know that if we purchase the team ticket before Dec it only cost $100 instead of $120. But do we have to purchase our heaviest snapper ticket before Dec aswell.
And are we already registerd?

The sad truth

Once again there has been speculation from abroad that potential big fish were hooked and released in the classic fashion of not being able to land the fish.
Small crocs should not be mistaken for elusive 14 pounders that may or may not have been hooked and lost without providing hard evidence.
It seems that thunder storms led this pour victim to become histerical in the hunt for turtels which led to futher illusions thinking he had hooked and lost the elusive 14 pound croc.
As for the comment (falling like flies) which was directed to team mebers, should be stricken from the record due to the points gained for effort in fallen economy, and the for the fact that our main target species is carp (not turtel,crocs or 4.5 cm gappies).

Mayhem in the logan river

SnapperTrapper spent this weekend chasing the elusive logan river carp, early successes, on a thundery friday night was spoilt by a large specimen breaking his trace on sunday. This fish surfaced and is a bigun. This fish will be targeted over the next few weeks. I recon about 75 - 90cm maybe around 7kg +
Among other species a 4.5cm yellow belly was caught and an ugly flat mouth big eye fish.
The normal herd of skillroads was also on the menu.
The spot a great discovery for big specimen.

Furthermore the men of this team seem to be falling like flies.

ST

Plaas vervanger

Due to recent events that are soon to follow (12.00pm) Wensday 12/11/2008 - the team might have to aquire a plaas vervanger for the big fish fest that will occur between the 1st and the 8th of March 2009.
Rescent feedback from the auctioneer has stated that hell would have frozen over by the time I sold my house for a price that would make me happy.
Even though National has come into goverment, it may take up to 20 years before we see a rise in the market which will deliver me from evil.
In such an event I will sacrifice myself the pleasure of being able to attend such a fine event, which might enable the rest of the team of catching the big one.
Or I might be able to donate certain organs to science in order to attend, but the problem being that there are not many people out there which are capable of addapting to smoker lungs, or a heart filled with viagara.

Alkohooliese Middels

Na n baie slegte naweek van drink by n sekere Mr. medium pacer, is daar strek oorweeg om te stem dat daar geen Alkohooliese middels saam geneem word vir die groot hengel fees wat gaan plaas vind tussen die 1st en 8st maart 2009.
Om dinge slegter te maak het Mr. Paaling Scavager op n tiekie toer gegaan opsoek na die verneemde Ngroto Lake aan die Suide van Hamilton, en nadat hy tien keer rondom die vernoemde lake gevat is op sy tiekie toer het hy verneem dat drank nie met sy lyf ooreenstem as hy die volgende dag op tiekie toe will gaan nie.
Daar is baie bespiegel dat die vernoemde Ngroto Lake die grootste goud vis aan die suidelike Hemisphere bevat en dat daar n sterk pooging gaan verneem word om die merkwaardige goudvis te vang.

Dirty Tactics...

In Recent times it seems that an ugly, distasteful side of the fishing blog has risen to torment and scare its innocent citizens! Posts are being published without the full details of the event, which in turn is reflecting negatively on the members. This type of behaviour will not be tolerated!

Let this be a warning to all the would be "news reporters" out there; Your posting preferences will be revoked, if you do not give due consideration to broadcasting ethics.

Carpless in the land of the long white cloud

In a dramatic change of events reports have been filtering across the tasman. Initially we deemed these reports as pure rumours, but we confirmed these reports with 'just another meduim pacer' it became apparent that no carp were caught.
After a very public debate about 40 pounders in the media leading up to the latest 'dwaling' this may come as a suprise to many punters.

SnapperTrapper will set out today to silence his kiwi critics in an unprecedented attempt two double what was caught by the team involved in last nights dwaling.

Watch this space.......

ST

Anticipation

Moday will be the day!!!!
Upload these fotos of the monsters caught on the weekend.
Snappertrapper will do the same.

Game on

Don't let recent failures affect you''re a Game.

SnapperTrapper reigns supreme in carp cull

In hotly contested effort in the paradise of goondiwindi The SnapperTrapper has yet again confirmed his dominance on the carp scene. 40'tempratures, 10kg flies and bats with a wingspan of 9m didn't put SnapperTrapper of his game as he reeled in the big ones.
All you punters out there should avoid these waters for a while giving the fish time to replenish stocks.

Lets get the ball rolling!

Ok boys, we have plenty to do before March 3 2009,, if we are going to be a serious competitor in the 90 Mile Snapper Classic. I have itemised the things I think will need doing, and the dates they need doing by. These are a rough guide, and are up for discussion, hence the blog! Firstly you all need to go to the competition homepage and make sure that you are still keen. Click here: https://www.snapperclassic.com/index.html

1) Team members need to all be confirmed. ASAP

2) Tickets for both the heaviest snapper and team event needs to be purchased. 31 December, earlier is better. We need to buy together so we can avoid pull outs nearer the time.

3) Team and individual nick names needs to be decided. End november

4) T-shirts printed 31 December

5) We need to start organising some practise trips in order to sort our gear etc. These trips will also serve as bait catching trips. I suggest that we catch and process kawhai into bait sized fillets and freeze them individually. We also need to collect some shellfish, cook and freeze. ASAP and ongoing

6) We need to book accommodation. To do this we need to decide whether we will camp or cabin, etc. As soon as tickets are obtained.

7) We need to compile a list of things that we will need on the trip. I suggest we make a huge list with everything we can think of, and then weed the extras. Start as soon as members are confirmed, review ongoing.

8) Complete this to-do list! ASAP - ongoing.

Ok I hope we are all on the same page and keen as! I certainly am!